At last, after so many months of waiting, the first trailer for 'Spider-Man: Far From Home' has been set loose on the public. Tom Holland's new solo adventure as teenage superhero, Peter Parker, will be coming to cinemas in July of this year, only three months after the release of 'Avengers: Endgame', Marvel's (potentially even 2019's) most highly anticipated upcoming film. However, in this 'Spider-Man' trailer the world seems to have reverted completely to normal (or as "normal" as Marvel's worlds ever are), thus begging the question: at which point in the Marvel Cinematic Universe timeline do the events of this film take place?
The most burning question is, of course, about how Peter Parker survived; the last we saw of the superhero he was dissolving into a cloud of dust after Thanos' genocidal click of the fingers in 'Avengers: Infinity War'. Similarly, both Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) were other of Thanos' victims, yet both characters are alive and kicking in the 'Spider-Man' sequel. There is no hint in the trailer itself as to whether Parker's new adventure takes place before or after 'Infinity War', let alone 'Endgame'. However, it is worth noting that in this trailer we see Fury and Parker meeting for the first time, which either means that the two simply never crossed paths throughout the 'Avengers' films, or perhaps it could suggest that this film takes place before he joins forces with the other superheroes in 'Civil War'.
The only clue which could ring some alarm bells is that Peter's great mentor, Tony Stark, is nowhere to be seen in the trailer, while beforehand he was always close by to carefully guide the young hero. Although, there is an appearance from Happy Hogan (Stark's head of security, Jon Favreau) and a check signed by Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow). Both these characters survived 'Infinity War', so this does not tell us much, yet it could suggest that they also survive the coming battle too.
The giant check Happy holds in the new Spider-Man trailer is signed by Pepper Potts, who uh I guess survives Avengers: Endgame pic.twitter.com/ce38R9ab6D
? Tristan Cooper (@TristanACooper) 15 de enero de 2019
Taking a closer look at what is shown in the trailer, we can see Marvel being as illusive as ever with details about its franchise; Jill Pantozzi, from io9, pointed out that in the image of the passport that we see, the dates have been completely erased, including Peter's date of birth, leaving the chronology of the film even more mysterious.
Fans: Marvel, please tell us Peter's ok after Infinity War!!!!
? Jill Pantozzi (@JillPantozzi) 15 de enero de 2019
Marvel: Here's his passport with no years on it. pic.twitter.com/7vDH7t0Rsr
The official synopsis release by Sony does not shine any more light on the matter: "Peter Parker returns in 'Spider-Man: Far From Home', the next chapter of the 'Spider-Man: Homecoming' series! Our friendly neighborhood Super Hero decides to join his best friends Ned, MJ, and the rest of the gang on a European vacation. However, Peter's plan to leave super heroics behind for a few weeks are quickly scrapped when he begrudgingly agrees to help Nick Fury uncover the mystery of several elemental creature attacks, creating havoc across the continent!"
So, without any grounding pieces of information here, we instead must turn to the official declarations from Marvel themselves. In April of last year, Kevin Feige (the head of Marvel Studios) let slip that 'Far From Home' would be taking place after the 'Avengers' films, saying to IGN: "What is it like to try to go back to a normal life after what happens in this movie [Infinity War]? Not to mention what happens in the next [Avengers] movie. It's fun to see that, because he can represent, you know, the world as a whole, as they try to move forward. And you can do it in a way that is tonally unique, and tonally different than, certainly, the two Avengers films that people are about to see." This seems to be one point in favour of the argument for the film being set afterwards. But that still leaves so many questions unanswered, not to mention why the world looks so normal and calm after being ripped apart by Thanos.
On the other hand, Amy Pascal (the head of Sony Studios), was far more concrete in her response when speaking to Fandom: "What I think we should focus on is this Spider-Man who started in 'Civil War' and then has this movie, and then will be in the 'Avengers' movie. And we are starting now the next one which will start a few minutes after 'Avengers 4' wraps as a story." A few minutes after!? Of course, we could always be seeing a situation in which the film indeed begins only minutes after the final 'Avengers' film, but then jumps to events taking place several months (or even years) later. Because surely, after a catastrophic battle, Peter would not be so focused on with his crush on MJ (Zendaya) or by the flirting between Happy and Aunt May (Marisa Tomei)...
"Minutes After"
Assuming that Feige and Pascal are telling the truth, this then confirms that 'Far From Home' takes place after the events of 'Endgame'. But consequently, does this trailer surely not reveal massive spoilers about which characters manage to survive the war against Thanos in 'Endgame'? And seeing as the victims of 'Infinity War' also very much alive, could this confirm the fan theories about time travel being a significant part of 'Endgame'? Or perhaps it supports the theory about the characters traveling across alternative universes in order to defeat Thanos? We could spend days speculating the endless possibilities about how everything adds up.
And as if all of this were not enough to have all of our brains in agony with the effort of trying to bring everything to some sort of resolution, by taking a closer look at the officiation poster for the upcoming film, we can see other elements relating to timelines which do not add up. The stamps on the Spider-Man suit declare "Arrival: 24th July 2019"; while this definitely seems to confirm the setting of the film after 'Endgame', it also creates its own issue regarding how Parker managed to arrive both in London and Berlin on the same day...
It is likely that, given their own way, Marvel would not have chosen to release this new Spider-Man film so soon after 'Avengers: Endgame', but considering the fragile relationship with Sony, who currently shares the complicated rights to the comic book character, the Marvel Studios were pressured into setting the release date for this year. And while it has consequently has given fans a great deal more of an insight into what may happen in 'Endgame', something which Marvel Studios have fought hard to keep under wraps, there is still so much left unanswered that we can rest assured that the film will remain a mystery until it's release date in April.
'Spider-Man: Far From Home' comes to cinemas on 5th July.
