Summary
Spider-Man: Far From Homewas a phenomenal sequel film that set theHometrilogy up for a record-breaking conclusion, but one of the film’s more humorous lines might have also set up the central villain for a grand return to the MCU.
Spider-Manhas seen a lot of success with the latest live-action reboot, as the Tom Holland-ledSpider-Man: Homefranchise brought the iconic character into the MCU with a solid solo trilogy and impactful appearances in the mainline Avengers films. Getting off to a good start withSpider-Man: Homecomingand carrying on the fan interest intoSpider-Man: Far From Home,the film series would really cement itself when the success ofNo Way Homemade Holland’sSpider-Manfilms the MCU’s best trilogy.
WhileFar From Homewasn’t exactly the most compellingSpider-Manstory, it brought a lot of levity that helped fans adjust to a post-Endgame Spider-Man film, including a few memorable memes by way of Jake Gyllenhaal’s quippy antagonist Mysterio. One of the most popular of these moments is the line “Now this is an Avengers Level threat,” a throwaway part of Mysterio’s ridicule of the super team that fans turned into a viral meme template that’s been used ever since. However, this line could be seen as foreshadowing for the absence that came after it and has become far more interesting with hindsight, as there hasn’t been a threat big enough to get the cast of theAvengerstogether sinceFar From Homereleased months afterEndgamedropped in 2019. This effectively explains the time taken out for solo projects and side quests, ironically giving a much more interesting justification for theAvengersnot assembling than any in-universe explanation or exposition given.
From a meta perspective, it’s clear why the MCU’s new Avengers team hasn’t been assembled yet, but there really hasn’t been any good canon exploration of the issue. In the time since the last lineup of the Avengers came together, there have been tons of significant threats to Earth, both from within and without. The sheer amount of streaming shows and films that have come and gone without the Avengers coming together in the MCU makes it almost impossibly difficult to justify the assembly of a new team, and many fans were unsure that Marvel Studios had any antagonists worth stepping up to that level. That was the case until the studio revealed Robert Downey Jr. would be returning as a villain, and there’s precedent thatthis recasting will work inAvengers: Doomsday.With Doom, a villain that has been everything from a Saturday morning cartoon villain to an existential threat to humanity and even an ally in the past, there’s a lot more confidence that an Avengers-level event could be waiting in the wings.
Judging from the stacked schedule and increased interest generated byDeadpool & Wolverine2025 could be the year the MCU finally reinvents itself, and if so then there’s no doubt that there’ll be a lot of callbacks to the few post-Endgame projects that actually resonated with fans over the last few years.Spider-Manis almost guaranteed to play a much bigger role in the film, bringing that memeable line from his solo series back in an impactful way.
