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Watching the first trailer for Spider-Man: Far From Home, I now understand how Aragon must have felt when Gandalf appears upon the hill at the battle of Helm’s Deep, having apparently cheated death at the hands of a very angry Balrog. Spoilers for Avengers: Infinity War, but we saw Peter Parker die in Tony Stark’s arms on Titan, reduced to apocalyptic dust alongside half of Earth’s population following Thanos’ cataclysmic click.
So how is Peter Parker seen taking a carefree school trip across Europe in the newly released Spider-Man: Far From Home trailer as if ‘the snappening’ never happened? It all comes down to a question of timing, and more specifically when Spider-Man: Far From Home is actually set. While we can’t yet confirm anything for sure, as Marvel Studios has a habit of deliberate misdirection, there’s three plausible theories for Spider-Man: Far From Home’s place in the MCU timeline, which may or may not take place after the events of Avengers 4: Endgame. We break all three scenarios below, examining the evidence to support and undermine each one.
Is Spider-Man: Far From Home set before Avengers: Infinity War?
First, there is a small but not impossible chance that Spider-Man: Far From Home actually takes place before the events of Avengers: Infinity War, sometime between Spider-Man: Homecoming and Thanos’ arrival on Earth. That would certainly explain why society seems to be operating as normal (transatlantic commercial flights almost definitely wouldn’t be running if humanity had just lost 3.5 billion of its inhabitants), and why we get appearances from Nick Fury and Mariah Hill, who both succumbed to the dusting alongside Parker himself.
Sadly, that would also mean that Spider-Man’s death may not be reversed in Endgame after all, and Far From Home is just another story exploring the hero’s final stretch of life before he inevitably bites the bullet. That would be a very strange storytelling play for Marvel Studios, and there’s not really much evidence to support it, but we can’t rule it out either way.
Is Spider-Man: Far From Home set after Avengers: Endgame?
According to Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, Spider-Man: Far From Home is a chronological sequel to both the events of Infinity War and its upcoming companion piece Endgame. Speaking to IGN earlier this year, Feige said that Far From Home will ask the question of “What is it like to try to go back to a normal life after what happens in [Infinity War]? Not to mention what happens in the next [Avengers] movie."
If that’s the case, then the Spider-Man: Far From Home trailer has essentially ruined the cliffhanger Avengers: Infinity War ending by revealing that Peter, Nick Fury, Mariah Hill, and presumably everyone else who got snapped by Thanos will be revived in some way or another during the events of Endgame. This corroborates with reports that Marvel Studios was reluctant to market Far From Home before the theatrical release of Endgame, for this exact reason of undermining that jaw dropping finale, which has had every comic book fan talking for the past eight months. Sony - which owns the Spider-Man property - apparently pushed for the release of this trailer, however, and, if this theory holds true, Marvel Studios must have unwillingly relented.
Is Spider-Man: Far From Home set in a different timeline altogether?
This is where things get really kooky. In June 2017, Sony boss Amy Pascal told Fandom that Far From Home literally begins “a few minutes after Avengers 4 wraps as a story.” That phrasing is a curious one, as it perhaps alludes to one of the most popular Avengers 4 theories that Endgame will see Captain America, Iron Man, Ant-Man, and Captain Marvel going back in time to prevent Thanos from ever acquiring the Infinity Stones in the first place, thus retconning the events of Infinity War so that everyone else won’t even remember it happening.
With that in mind, what if Far From Home takes place in that alternative timeline, quite literally with Peter Parker on that school bus in Infinity War, only this time Thanos’ ship never shows up? We know that, canonically speaking, Infinity War takes place in the year 2017, which would also explain why Marvel removed any allusions to specific dates in the trailer, even going so far as to digitally Tippex the issue and expiry date on his passport. Why? Because anything referencing 2018 would pretty much confirm this timeline theory to be true, or so we think. Heck, it’s either that, or the entire story of Far From Home is in fact Peter’s lucid fever dream while his essence is trapped in the soul stone.
Did you catch all of the Spider-Man: Far From Home Easter eggs in the teaser trailer? Check out 11 things we spotted that you might have missed.
