Spider-Man vs. Mysterio
The big climax of the film takes place in London on and around the famed Tower Bridge, where Jake Gyllenhaal’s Mysterio has conjured up another holographic attack -- a huge composite of the Elementals from earlier in the film. His plan is to make the world think he has defeated the threat, and then he will be seen as the new protector of Earth -- in the place of the Avengers. Not cool.Spider-Man parachutes from Happy Hogan’s Stark Industries jet and launches himself inside the hologram -- taking out a chunk of the drones generating the illusion. After a prolonged battle with Mysterio, who is controlling the drones remotely, Peter uses his “Peter-tingle” to essentially look through Mysterio’s illusions and take out the drones that are protecting him.Along the way, Mysterio catches some stray drone gunfire and seems to be at Peter’s mercy as Peter regains control over the Stark weapons system known as E.D.I.T.H. that operates the drones. But actually, the villain has one last illusion up his sleeve as it turns out that Mysterio was actually a fake and the real one tries to shoot Peter in the head at point-blank range. But the Peter-tingle -- his spider sense-- kicks in and Peter avoids being shot. Mysterio dies soon after, resolute in his belief that the people of the world will believe anything… We’ll get back to this in a second.
MJ, Aunt May, Happy and Peter’s Friends
While Spider-Man is tussling with Mysterio, Zendaya’s MJ and Peter’s other classmates wind up meeting up with Happy. The plan is to get them to safety in Happy’s jet, but it’s promptly destroyed so they have to escape on foot, winding up in the Tower of London armory where several drones are hunting them down. MJ clobbers one with a mace, Happy unsuccessfully tries to pull a Captain America with a shield, and they all confess their deepest secrets just before the drones stand down at the last minute, thanks to Peter’s taking control of E.D.I.T.H. again. MJ, still carrying that mace, finds Peter on the bridge, and the two finally kiss. It’s very cute. Awww!!!Back home in New York, Peter gets Aunt May and Happy to admit that there’s a thing between them. But it turns out May has considered it a summer fling, much to Happy’s dismay and surprise, and Peter gets out of Dodge -- a web he would rather not get tangled up in! Get it!Later, Peter swings through Manhattan on his way to meet MJ. The plan is to take her for a classic Spider-swing around the city, but in contrast to how this scenario has usually played out in the movies, MJ is actually screaming the whole time and apparently terrified by the experience. Who wouldn’t be, really?
Mid-Credits Scene: J. Jonah Jameson
After a colorful credits sequence, the mid-credits cut to Spider-Man and MJ landing back in the middle of the city, where MJ claims she’s never doing that again. As Peter gets ready to take off, he’s perched on a lamppost -- these Manhattan scenes are very reminiscent of last year’s Spider-Man PS4 game -- from the swinging -- to the Spidey selfie that Peter takes -- and right on down to the appearance of none other than J. Jonah Jameson!And it’s not just J. Jonah, who hasn’t been seen on the big screen since 2007’s Spider-Man 3, but it’s also J.K. Simmons reprising his iconic version of the character from the Sam Raimi movies. Just like in the PS4 game, we hear a radio broadcast break into the action, but now J. Jonah also shows up on a giant TV screen, repping TheDailyBugle.net. He claims to have footage of what really happened in London, and rolls it, showing a doctored version of the final battle that seems to blame Spider-Man for the attack.But even worse, Mysterio’s final act was to record a video message where he reveals Peter’s true identity to the world. Mirroring the end of Spider-Man: Homecoming when Aunt May said the same thing when she learned the truth about her nephew, Spidey yells “What the f…” as he puts his hands to his head in panic, and the scene cuts to black!
Post-Credits Scene: Talos the Skrull
Finally, after the rest of the credits have rolled, one other scene plays out which reveals that Nick Fury and Maria Hill have actually been Skrull imposters the entire movie, all the way from the beginning in Mexico. In fact, it’s Talos and Soren (Ben Mendelsohn and Sharon Blynn) from the Captain Marvel movie, who are now working with Nick Fury. They call Fury to explain to him how things panned out during this week-long adventure -- which is to say, not all that well -- although everything ultimately worked out -- and we see that Fury is on the beach relaxing as he hangs up on Talos. Or is he?The camera pulls out and it’s revealed that the beach is just a hologram, and Nick is actually on some kind of spacecraft, apparently commanding it while various Skrull officers are hard at work. Could this be the MCU beginnings of S.W.O.R.D. -- a.k.a. the Sentient World Observation and Response Department? Basically that’s the S.H.I.E.L.D. type organization in the comics that focuses on threats from outer space. Which, considering everything that happened in the first three phases of the MCU, would make a lot of sense…We’ll have to wait for Marvel’s Phase 4 to find out for sure! What did you think of the ending? Tell us in the comments section! And don’t forget to check out our Spider-Man: Far From Home review and the history of Spidey villain Mysterio. Talk to Executive Editor Scott Collura on Twitter at @ScottCollura, or listen to his Star Trek podcast, Transporter Room 3. Or do both!
