Spider-Man: Far From Home is now playing in theaters, and while we're still waiting on in-depth spoiler interviews with the minds behind the Marvel Studios/Sony Pictures sequel, writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers have touched on a number of topics in a new chat about the movie.
The topics covered include more details about the decision not to include Anthony Mackie's Captain America, why Mysterio was chosen to be, you know, and whether an earlier version of the
Spider-Man: Homecoming follow-up was going to include Michael Keaton's Vulture. Needless to say, there are some
spoilers for the sequel throughout this post!
We'll have a lot more for you on the movie later today, and will keep you guys updated when and if those spoiler interviews start popping up as there's obviously a lot to talk about in the film!
For now, check out these
Spider-Man: Far From Home details by hitting the "View List" button below!
Why Plans For A Captain America Cameo Were Abandoned
We recently learned that the Sam Wilson version of Captain America was going to make a cameo appearance at the end of
Spider-Man: Far From Home, but was he ever actually in the script?
"Not an outline," McKenna confirms,
"but as we were building toward the end of this movie, we were thinking about [who we could bring in]. It's always great to draw on MCU characters and bring them into the fold. Happy [Jon Favreau] and Nick Fury are such great characters. ... It could have been a day or less of going, "Hey, can we bring in someone like Falcon in to the third act?" and Peter sort of teaming up and sort of being a team leader and stepping up in that sort of way."
"So, it was discussed," he concluded, revealing what could have been in the Marvel Studios movie.
The Origin Of One Of The Movie's Best Lines
Nick Fury's "Bitch, please. You've been to space," line was particularly memorable and stood out in the trailers. So, where did it come from?
"That was one of our first jokes," McKenna confirmed.
"I think it was Erik who pitched that one early on when we were first coming up with the storyline. It got a big laugh in the room. Everyone knew that's going to be in the trailer."
"It's funny how those work," Sommers added. "Jokes pop up and end up in the movie at all stages. That's just one of those jokes that popped up really early and just stuck with it the whole time."
When Was Mysterio Chosen As The Movie's Villain?
"The school trip came up quite early," Sommers revealed when asked about choosing Mysterio to face Spider-Man.
"Identifying who the exact villain was going to be didn't come up as early, but we did know that was a villain we were going to want to use, and it was just a matter of trying to find how he would fit in with that story and the themes we wanted to get across."
"He's an iconic character we could turn on his head," McKenna added referencing his apparent heroic turn. "We were kicking around these classic villains like Hydro-Man and Molten Man and figuring out how to use those as these Elemental creatures. We were trying to figure out a way to use these iconic characters from Spider-Man comics and put a modern MCU spin on them."
There Were Never Any Plans For The Vulture
At the end of
Spider-Man: Homecoming, The Vulture was confronted by Mac Gargan and it appeared as if Marvel Studios might be teasing the return of those villains in the sequel. Well, there's no sign of either of them, but with the trades reporting at one time that Michael Keaton would be back, is there a version of the screenplay that included the villainous Adrian Toomes' return?
"I recall maybe that was floated," McKenna says,
"but I don't think there was ever any serious consideration about that for this movie." So, that officially puts an end to those rumours.
How Avengers: Infinity War Changed The Sequel
At the end of
Infinity War, Tom Holland delivered an incredible performance which saw him die in the arms of Tony Stark. Did seeing that change their approach to writing Peter Parker?
Here's what McKenna said about the impact that scene had on
Spider-Man: Far From Home:
"We all knew he was great, but that ending in Infinity War, it really shook me. It was an emotional, devastating moment. So much of this, we are being told plot points [as we write our films]. "Oh, this thing happens in Infinity War, and this other thing happens in Far From Home." We're not reading the scripts. We didn't even see Endgame until the premiere. But we did know that coming off of Infinity War, there's going to be an emotional bill to pay. That emotional moment [Peter's death], you know the reverse of that is going to be at the end of Endgame. It's going to be something we're going to have to deal with.
"Peter just wants to have fun. As much as we're being told to have fun with it, we're like Peter. We want to avoid all that [dark] stuff, but ultimately, it's his avoiding all the darkness of Endgame that gets him into hot water in this movie."
Did A Previous Version The Movie Delve Deeper Into The Snap?
Spider-Man: Far From Home only briefly touches on the ramifications of The Snap, but it does pick up a whole eight months after the events of
Avengers: Endgame. Asked if there was ever a version of the movie that devoted more time to this, Sommers explained why they approached the fallout in a somewhat comical manner.
"There was an agreement among the whole creative team that we needed to address those things, but we needed to do it as efficiently and economically as possible so we could move past it and start enjoying the story of the movie," the writer explains.
"Early on, the idea was floated using the school news to do that, and that was just one of those key ideas that someone on the creative team had, and we all quickly saw how well that would work and allow us to do what we wanted, and it was really fun to do."
Why They Chose To Include Brad Davis
Spider-Man: Far From Home introduces Brad Davis as a romantic rival to Peter Parker, and it's revealed during the course of the movie that he wasn't among the dusted, hence why he's now the same age as Peter, MJ, Ned, Betty, and Flash Thompson. So, why exactly was he included in the movie?
"Jon is very cognizant of drawing from the MCU," McKenna says.
"Once we came up with the idea of that kid [Brad Davis], Jon immediately turned to one of the Marvel people and said "Can you get us the names of kids we can name this character after?" There's definitely an attempt to always draw on the Marvel universe when you can."
In the comics, Brad was a football player who dated MJ for a time so this lines up.