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Spider-Man: Far From Home postcredits scenes, explained

Director Jon Watts tells CNET about bringing back a fan favorite, and a Daily Bugle viral website sprang up for the the movie's home release.

Sean Keane Former Senior Writer
Sean knows far too much about Marvel, DC and Star Wars, and poured this knowledge into recaps and explainers on CNET. He also worked on breaking news, with a passion for tech, video game and culture.
Expertise Culture, Video Games, Breaking News
Sean Keane
6 min read

Spider-Man: Far From Home brings Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe to a close with a joyous teen adventure. It also returns to the grand tradition of postcredits scenes after Avengers: Endgame offered only an audio Easter egg of Tony Stark forging his armor in the first Iron Man.

Far From Home's first postcredits scene is essential viewing, and the second is fun but will make you rethink the entire movie.

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If you haven't seen Far From Home yet, be warned that you're about to get caught in a web of spoilers.

Scene 1: Mysterio's revenge and a glorious return

Spider-Man (Tom Holland) swings a flustered MJ (Zendaya) through the Manhattan skyline and drops her off at 8th Avenue and 33rd Street, where a massive screen on the side of Madison Square Garden shows a report from TheDailyBugle.net.

A doctored video makes it look like Spidey killed Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) during the climactic battle in London -- the illusionist's recorded testimony says Spidey is a villain from another universe who was controlling the drones wreaking havoc on the UK capital.

Watch this: Spider-Man: Far From Home director talks postcredit scene shocks

Then Daily Bugle host J. Jonah Jameson (J. K. Simmons) appears on screen to hail Mysterio as "the greatest superhero of all time" and prepares us for more.

"But that's not all, folks. Here's the real blockbuster -- brace yourselves, you might wanna sit down," he says.

Mysterio's final testimony reveals to the world Peter Parker's secret identity as Spider-Man, leaving Spidey and MJ understandably shocked.

Tom Holland (Finalized)

Spider-Man: Far From Home spoilers sneakin' up on you like Peter Parker in his Stealth Suit.

Jay Maidment/Sony Pictures

A Daily Bugle website also sprang up in the wake of Far From Home hitting digital and ahead of the Blu-ray coming out Oct. 1. It includes a YouTube video of Jameson railing against Spidey and hailing Mysterio, a "Blip Blog" featuring people's stories about the period after Thanos' snap (including Peter's hapless teacher Mr. Harrington) and an article Night Monkey.

It's mostly in-universe stuff, but there's one reference to a real-world event worthy of the MCU -- the planned raid on Area 51.

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What it means

Spidey's been outed to the world and framed for murder, meaning his entire life is turned upside down as we head into Phase 4. It's a dark, stunning contrast to the end of Iron Man, where Tony Stark revealed his own superhero identity to the press and a nice reference to the comics' Civil War storyline (which saw Peter outing himself at Tony's urging).

The general public's also been fed Mysterio's lies about the multiverse -- we'll see how they react to that.

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J. Jonah Jameson, as he was seen in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy. His MCU counterpart doesn't have the buzzcut.

Sony Pictures

Even more importantly, this scene marks the glorious return of Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson. He played the cigar-chomping Daily Bugle boss in all three Sam Raimi Spider-Man movies, but those aren't part of the MCU and this isn't the same character -- note the lack of a buzzcut.

From this glimpse, the MCU's Jameson appears quite different to the Raimi-verse's traditional angry newspaperman. Here, he's more of an Alex Jones-type conspiracy theorist (mirroring his role as an angry podcaster in last year's PS4 game) -- one who was willing to paint a bullseye on a teenage boy based on a choppy video.

As for where he got the video, it was probably from Mysterio's assistant William Ginter Riva (Peter Billingsley), who escaped with a hard drive after Spidey foiled his boss' plan in London. We saw earlier in the movie that Riva worked for Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges) way back in the first Iron Man, so he's had two villain employers.

It's also hard to know if Mysterio is really dead -- he could've used his special-effects wizardry to fake that too.

Director Jon Watts told CNET about revealing Peter's identity and bringing Jameson back.

"We knew it had to be on TV for the whole world to see. And we were like what, what news outlet would that be that would publish something like this?" he said.

"It felt like it would be the Daily Bugle and if it's the Daily Bugle, it's gotta be J Jonah Jameson. And once we got to that point, there's no question in anyone's mind, it's gotta be J.K. Simmons."

Watts noted that the actor's approach to the character was pretty similar to the one he took for the Raimi movies.

"But now he's more recognizable as a real-world person than he was in those films. So I don't know; it's kind of interesting to look at how the world has changed around him," he said in our interview.

"There's no buzz cut, no cigar, no suspenders. But for the most part he's still the spirit of J Jonah Jameson -- I wondered like, was he a newspaper man? What's happened? There are so many questions."

There were fears that Far From Home would be Spidey's last hurrah in the MCU, which could have impacted how this plotline played out. Sony owns the cinematic rights to the character and its deal with the Disney-owned Marvel Studios allowed the wallcrawler to join the MCU. That deal expired with Far From Home, and the Sony-Marvel relationship was apparently severed after Disney sought a greater cut of box office revenue from future Spider-Man films. 

However, the companies reached a deal to produce one more solo Spidey movie together -- making fans very excited -- and the character can appear in one more Marvel Studios movie too.

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Nothing is as it seems with Nick Fury and Maria Hill.

Sony Pictures

Scene 2: Nick Fury's vacation

We discover that this movie's SHIELD Director Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Agent Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) weren't the Fury and Hill we know and love.

Talos (Ben Mendelsohn) and his wife Soren (Sharon Blynn), a pair of shapeshifting Skrulls, pretended to be Fury and Hill. You might remember this couple being reunited during Captain Marvel, which takes place years prior to Far From Home in the MCU timeline.

They were working for the real Fury, who ordered them to get the EDITH glasses to Peter. Talos apparently fell for Beck's ruse too.

The real Fury was chilling on a beach … that turns out to be a virtual reality (VR) simulation on a Skrull vessel somewhere in outer space. Perhaps he needed a vacation after being restored to life in Avengers: Endgame. We don't see the real Hill. Hopefully she's enjoying a little leisure time too.

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Turns out Talos (seen in Captain Marvel) plays a major role in Far From Home.

Chuck Zlotnick/Marvel Studios

What it means

Fury and Hill were actually disguised Skrulls for the whole movie, echoing the Secret Invasion comic storyline where Skrulls secretly replaced humans. This is like a benign version of that sinister takeover, but it could foreshadow a future MCU storyline.

There are a few hints about that the SHIELD agents aren't all they seem during the movie too. Fury has an unusual reaction when Peter mentions Captain Marvel.

"Don't invoke her name," he says.

This reverential tone would be out of character for Fury, but is absolutely in character for Talos -- she reunited him with his family back in the '90s. Performances by Jackson and Smulders are a little flat during the movie too; this revelation makes their acting even more impressive.

Maybe Talos was responsible for that Fury poster goof too.

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It does raise the question of what the Skrulls have been doing since the events of Captain Marvel, when they left Earth to search for a habitable planet where their race could live. Maybe even more people have been replaced by the shapeshifters. 

Earlier in the movie, Talos-Fury also makes a passing mention of "Kree sleeper cells" -- in reference to the race that wiped out the Skrull homeworld. He and Soren could be on Earth to hunt the genocidal aliens.

Watts wouldn't reveal too much about any grander meaning behind this scene.

"I don't want to say anything about where we're going next but, I mean, having seen Captain Marvel and now that the world knows about Fury and the Skrulls and all of that, it's just another thing to draw from in this crazy, complicated, rich universe that's the MCU," he said in our interview.

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Originally published July 1.
Update, Sept. 25: Adds details about Daily Bugle site.