Spider-Man: Far From Home — Tony Stark’s Greatest VS. Worst Creation

Spoiler alert: This article contains MAJOR SPOILERS for the new Hollywood blockbuster Spider-Man: Far From Home. Please continue at your own risk.

“You’re not Iron Man. You’re never going to be Iron Man. Nobody could live up to Tony. Not even Tony. Tony was my best friend, and he was a mess. He second-guessed everything he did. He was all over the place. The one thing that he did that he didn’t second-guess was picking you. “

Happy, Spider-Man: Far From Home

To start off, I want to say this, Spider-Man: Far From Home is carrying more weight than you can ever imagine. It is the sequel to one of the most popular and anticipated franchises (Spider-Man) in the currently dominating cinematic universe (Marvel), directly following the events occurred in arguably one of the greatest superhero movies of all time (Avengers: Endgame). These, and the skyrocketed expectations of hardcore fans and moviegoers for this movie. If that is not enough pressure for you, I don’t know what is.

Official poster for Spider-Man: Far From Home.
Source

However, after seeing the movie for the first time today, I truly believe Spider-Man: Far From Home is now having a seat in my All-time Top 3 Spider-Man movies. I love it and I’m not saying this effortlessly. Overall, the film handled its events in a very subtle way. We can see people, ordinary people, suffering from the consequences of The Blip (our universe calls it The Snap). We see them paying tribute to the heroes that have fallen to restore the universe to its original state. Moreover, we still see Peter Parker as the 16 years old kid struggling to find ways to balance his real life and his hero life. That’s what we all lowkey want, right?

I still have plenty to talk about Far From Home, but to show you guys what I meant when I say I love this movie, I’m going to dig a little deeper into this one scene which I believe is the BEST scene of the entire movie. Are you ready? It’s going to have MAJOR SPOILERS and PERSONAL OPINIONS on Spider-Man: Far From Home up ahead, so continue at your own risk.

You remember when Peter and Beck (Mysterio) were in a pub, drinking after defeating the Fire Elemental? That scene. After the duo successfully defeated the final Elemental with Beck’s heroic act (yes, I did that) and Peter’s being criticized by Nick Fury, they entered a pub to get a drink. The two talked about the fight, how Beck was willing to sacrifice himself to save the world and Peter just didn’t think he was qualified to be the next Iron Man. After which, Peter left the pub, passing access permission of E.D.I.T.H (Tony’s A.R. assistant) to Beck, only for us to find out that Quentin Beck is a fraud leading a team full of Tony’s haters, and they just got what they wanted. The scene ended with Beck’s victory toast to his crew, grateful for everyone who made their plan a success, including Tony Stark and Peter Parker.

Fire Elemental — Mysterio’s final act to gain the superhero’s trust.
Source

The first and foremost reason on why this scene was so powerful to me was because it carries the tone for the ENTIRE movie, back and forth. As we were only able to perceive the story from Peter’s point of view, most events that happen prior to this scene were just typical rom-com issue: A high school kid having trouble expressing feelings for a girl he likes on a school trip. We don’t really see Peter’s mind focus on anything else besides that, even Nick Fury himself for that matter (well not really, but still…). Even though he is now a widely known superhero, Peter is constantly having doubts and always looks at himself as the “friendly neighborhood Spider-Man”, not the hero that Tony Stark entrusted to guide the next generation, which is definitely another teenager thing. That is what I find this movie to be so similar to Spider-Man 2, the hero still does all the heroic stuff like saving people and defeating bad guys, but in the end, they are just another human being like us. Far From Home did not stray away from this path and I think this is another key point to making this movie a success.

But the main question in the movie remains: Who is the next Iron Man? Who is the true heir to Tony Stark’s legacy?

“The world needs the next Iron Man, and it’s not going to be me. I mean I’m a sixteen year-old kid from Queens.“

Peter Parker, 2019, Spider-Man: Far From Home

That leads us to our next point. After seeing Beck’s resemblance to Tony in his glasses, and the fact that Beck was seemingly sacrificing himself earlier to save the Earth, Peter completely entrusted him to be the next big superhero and he can stay on his ground being the “friendly neighborhood Spider-Man”. What Peter did NOT notice was that everything he did was according to Beck and his crew’s plan since the beginning. Mysterio only showed his true face (at least to non-comic fans) after he achieved his goal, which is the access to E.D.I.T.H, Tony’s final gift to Peter.

E.D.I.T.H (Even Death I’m The Hero) — Tony’s A.R assistant integrated into a pair of glasses. Source

But still, why is it such a POWERFUL and MEANINGFUL scene, you ask? Because it has done 2 great things. First, because we were able to see the true villain in this film, the final trial to see whether Peter is Tony’s greatest creation, is in fact Tony’s WORST creation ever: Tony’s Legion of Haters (dun..dun..duunnn…). All the people that resented Tony Stark now gathered into one room to make their voices heard, from the lab scientist who failed to replicate Tony’s arc reactor in Iron Man 1, to the unstable genius who lost his lifetime achievement into Tony’s hand and see him calls it “B.A.R.F” (Mysterio himself). Through 11 years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there were many times we see characters have to deal with Tony’s actions, heck, even Spider-Man’s first villain is another guy who hates Tony Stark. But after Robert Downey Jr. ending his contract with Marvel Studios in Avengers: Endgame, we will inevitably look at this detail differently. This is Marvel’s final tribute to Tony Stark. And what better way to pay tribute to MCU’s godfather by having the hero he had chosen fight his devil?

Secondly, along with introducing the main villain of the film to the audience, this scene also illustrates Beck (or his team) as a HIGHLY DANGEROUS manipulative genius and is not a force easy to be reckoned with. How Beck is ready to spend time by Peter’s side while no one else is (even Ned is with his girlfriend) and talk with him about “superhero stuff” only to gain Peter’s trust. The way he “heroically” nearly sacrificing himself to save an Earth that’s not his, acting superior to Spider-Man to imply that he should be the next Tony Stark. Considering Peter’s mental state after the fight with the Fire Elemental, this is a confirmed way out for him from all the big superhero actions. If it was me, I’d probably have done the same.

Mysterio talking to Peter on the rooftop.
Source

Another factor to strongly contribute to this scene’s success is Tom Holland and Jake Gyllenhaal’s acting skills. For Holland, his performance brought to us a confused kid who just failed his big mission looking for an escape from all the responsibilities. And shout-out to Tom also for his performance in the prior scene when Fury was questioning Peter’s capability to step up and be the next Iron Man. Most of his face was covered by the black mask, but we can see his eyes wide open, slowly tear up, and oh man it was too much for me to handle. As for Jake, his great transition from an understanding friend to a manipulative villain within a few minutes of screen time is out of this Earth (yeah..I did that also). It’s hard to imagine anyone else beside these two to pull off such a performance like that.

Above are the key factors that I find to be crucial to make this scene my favorite in Spider-Man: Far From Home. Although there are many other things in the movie need to discuss, like how Peter is now designing his suit to his preference, these few minutes are what made me fell in love with the movie. And to me, while MCU Spider-Man may not be the next Iron Man role-wise, we will always see the image of Tony Stark through the young Peter Parker. So if you have not seen the movie, grab a ticket now! If you have, please share below what do you feel about this latest cinematic interpretation of the web-slinger. This is not for asking for comments, it’s a blog post for all I care, but because I have been a fan of MCU Tony Stark for a while now, I want to share about this special movie. Thanks for reading!