by Anthony Herring Tuesday, July 2nd saw the release of Spider-Man: Far From Home, the whopping twenty-third installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film acts as the final film of the franchise’s Phase Three, and the conclusion of the Infinity Saga, which are the first three phases as a whole. In the film, Peter Parker and his classmates go on a trip to Europe, where Peter hopes to have a normal summer vacation after the climactic events of Avengers: Endgame. However, things quickly derail when Nick Fury and Maria Hill task Peter with working alongside Quentin Beck, aka Mysterio (an interdimensional warrior), in order to stop four Elemental creatures from destroying the planet. As per the usual MCU standard, Far From Home has one mid-credits scene and one post-credits scene. Now, while the typical formula would be to have the mid-credits scene actually tease a future film and the post-credits scene played just for comedy, the ones present in Far From Home actually tease potential films while also using comedy. Let’s start off with the mid-credits scene. Beginning shortly after Peter and his girlfriend MJ stopped web-swinging through the streets of New York City, they, along with numerous other people, find themselves watching a news report on a billboard. The report shows footage of Mysterio claiming that Peter—who had successfully defeated him in London at the end of the film—was actually the one attacking the city. The footage ends with Mysterio revealing that Peter is Spider-Man, with our hero comically about to swear as the credits roll. Such a bombshell isn’t new to Peter Parker, as his identity being revealed to the world has happened in the comics, most notably during the 2006 Civil War event. During that, Peter willingly chose to reveal his identity, which had disastrous consequences for not only himself, but also his loved ones. That soon led to the infamous 2007 One More Day storyline, where Peter made a deal with a demon named Mephisto which allowed his identity to become a secret once more. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wOxfJlBbSU While it is impossible to go the Civil War route (as the storyline was already adapted into Captain America: Civil War back in 2016), and extremely unwise to go the One More Day route (Marvel fans would loathe this), it would be more practical to have this lead into the introduction of Kraven the Hunter in the next Spider-Man film. In the comics, Kraven is a hunter that seeks to track down and kill Spider-Man in order to prove that he is the greatest hunter in the world. For the MCU, the next film could have Peter be a fugitive on the run, with Kraven acting as a bounty hunter obsessed with finding him. Should the film want, it could potentially have a post-credits scene where it’s revealed that Kraven was hired by a major corporation—say Oscorp, an infamous company from the comics—which could help make things direr in Spider-Man’s future. Now onto the post-credits scene. Fury and Hill are driving down an empty street, sitting in silence while listening to music. Things turn interesting when they transform into their real selves, the Skrulls known as Talos and Soren, respectively. (The alien couple was first introduced in the ‘Captain Marvel’ solo film, as refugees that were looking for a new home after the warlike Kree Empire destroyed their old one). Soren tells Talos that he needs to contact Fury and tell him about what happened with Peter and Mysterio, and after some light banter, the latter relents. The scene cuts to Fury, who received Talos’ message. In yet another reveal, Fury walks into the hangar bay of a large spaceship, visibly tired, and tells its inhabitants that there is work that needs to be done. The biggest concept that this post-credit scene could potentially hint at is the establishment of SWORD (Sentient World Observation and Response Department). In the comics, SWORD is an intelligence agency dedicated to protecting the Earth from alien threats. Due to this, the organization essentially acts as the interplanetary version of SHIELD (Strategic Homeland, Intervention, and Logistics Division), which dealt with more Earth-based problems. Since Nick Fury is at the forefront of his potential development, it is possible that he could be developing SWORD as not only a replacement for SHIELD (which is effectively defunct at this point within the MCU), but also as a way to create a new team of heroes to defend the Earth (the Avengers are also defunct at this point). If this happens, it is possible that Captain Marvel might be the leader of this new team, as she has spent the past several decades in space, protecting planets that have been affected by the Kree-Skrull War. Not only that, but her friendship with Fury may also aid matters as well. Last but not least, the inclusion of SWORD within the MCU can help introduce a plethora of space-based characters into the universe, such as Richard Rider (a hero that calls himself Nova), and Galactus (a gigantic, planet-devouring alien). It was hard to picture Spider-Man: Far From Home having such important post-credits scenes, especially since this is on a much smaller scale when compared to Avengers: Endgame. Alas, here we are, with two scenes that could push the Marvel Cinematic Universe into new and fascinating directions.
