Spider-Man: Far From Home -- Our biggest WTF questions

In contrast to the grand, sweeping epic that is Avengers: Endgame, Marvel's Spider-Man: Far From Home is a much smaller-scale romp. That's fitting considering Peter Parker's supposed to be your "Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man." Still, the film did leave us scratching our heads at times, especially when it started stretching in ways that may have ramifications for the broader Marvel Cinematic Universe. 

Far From Home is out now digitally and Oct. 1 on DVD and Blu-ray. As with every Marvel film it's littered with references and details that spur questions or speculation about the future. There are, of course, those wild mid and postcredit scenes, and how this movie potentially sets up Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe -- even if Spider-Man is out of the MCU again after a bust-up between Disney and Sony.

We'll get into that in a bit, but there's plenty from the rest of the film that needs more digging into.

So with that, here's your customary GIANT SPOILER WARNING.

OK, still here? We're going straight into the deep end.

What happens to Peter Parker (Tom Holland) after that daring first postcredit sequence?

J. Jonah Jameson (played by J.K. Simmons in arguably the best cameo of the film) used doctored footage of Quentin Beck (Mysterio, played by Jake Gyllenhaal) to out Peter Parker to the public as Spider-Man.

As my colleague Sean Keane notes, it's a stark contrast (pun intended) from when Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark declared, "I am Iron Man" in the original MCU film. That move catapulted him into further fame as a superhero, while Peter's turn will likely see him become a fugitive.

It would have been interesting to see how Marvel and Sony addressed this. Having his identity reveal hasn't fared well for Parker in the comics, but we may never see this cliffhanger resolved now Spider-Man isn't likely to appear in any more Marvel movies.

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

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Where is Nick Fury?

The second postcredit sequence has real Fury (the one we've seen throughout the movie is actually a shape-shifting Skrull named Talos, last seen in Captain Marvel ) sitting in what appears to be an immense alien spacecraft. Or perhaps it's a starbase? We don't linger there long enough to really get a sense of what we're looking at, but there are clearly aliens and a space setting.

My colleague Oscar Gonzalez suggests this might hint at a conflict between the Kree and the Skrulls, or at the Original Sin storyline in which Fury served as a cosmic defender of Earth.

But Fury could instead have been in the headquarters of SWORD, which stands for Sentient World Observation and Response, essentially a more proactive stellar version of SHIELD.

Or he really could've just been taking a vacation. After Endgame, who couldn't use a break?

How long has Talos been Fury?

Fury and Talos have known each other since the '90s, but presumably the Fury we've seen in past MCU films is the legit one. But at what point did Talos take over? Maybe after he was declared dead? Talos-Fury even brought up Tony Stark's funeral, so was he there in the real Fury's place?

Where is everyone else?

When Fury (Talos) tries to enlist Peter, Spidey lists off alternate heroes who might be better suited to help out. Fury notes that a handful of heroes like Thor and Doctor Strange are unavailable, but was he implying that every Marvel hero was unavailable? As GameSpot writer Meg Downey writes, it's weird to be "putting this on the shoulders of a high schooler" when other heroes were clearly visible during the big finale of Endgame.

The multiverse tease was just a big con?

Beck didn't just con Fury and Parker with his multiverse story -- he whipped us into a frenzy, too. One of the first trailers teased that point, opening up a flood of speculation about alternate universes.

It turns out we were ALL fooled.

But the door isn't shut on a multiverse. In fact, the title of the next Doctor Strange movie, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, makes it clear we'll see some dimension-hopping soon. And it's one way for Marvel to introduce the X-Men and Fantastic Four to the MCU now Disney owns Fox.

What's on Earth-833?

So Beck's story may have been made up, but those designations he touted weren't. He mentioned that Parker and Fury were on Earth-616, which in the comics is the designation for the main Marvel Comics universe. In the comics, the MCU universe is designated Earth-199999. Beck's reference to Earth-833 is actually a place in the comics, too -- the home of a British webslinger named Spider-UK. If it was all made up, how did Beck get so spot-on accurate?

Where's the real Maria Hill?

OK, going back to that second, mind-blowing postcredits scene. We know where Fury is located, but what about Maria Hill (Colbie Smulders)? Shape-shifting Skrull Talos (Ben Mendelsohn) impersonated Fury, while his wife, Soren (Sharon Blynn) played Hill.

Maybe she's on vacation or offscreen hanging out in space with Fury?

Is Beck still alive?

It seemed like Beck was really, really dead, especially when EDITH, Tony Stark's AR super-shades, said no simulations or drones were running anymore. Much of the work at the end could have been handled by his assistant, William Ginter Riva. 

But a guy known for his intricate illusions has to have an escape plan, right? Or maybe I'm just hopeful that one of the better Marvel villains gets a second shot on screen. 

Where did the drones go?

When Parker executed the shutdown of the drones, it's unclear where they escaped to. If you remember, they launched from a satellite in space. It's unlikely that the drones have the engine power to get back up there, so do they just return to Avengers headquarters or to some Stark Industries facility?

How did Happy and the other students get into the Crown Jewel room?

There was a brief scene between a drone and two Queen's Guard soldiers exchanging fire, but that was it? You would think the Crown Jewel room would be locked down in an emergency. How did Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) and a bunch of high schoolers get in so easily? And where was everyone else?

What's the deal with Flash?

The film positions Flash Thompson as a source of comic relief, focusing on his admiration for Spider-Man and disdain for Parker. But it also offered a few glimpses of character development, hinting at an ailing father and parents too busy to pick him up at the airport. This feels a lot like the backstory to Harry Osborne's character -- could Flash be set for a bigger role in future films? It's not the first time Marvel messed with a character's origins -- just look at MJ (Zendaya). 

What happened to everyone affected by the Blip?

The beginning of Far From Home smartly addresses some of the questions we have from the Blip, including Aunt May raising money for folks displaced by the five-year time skip, and some students aging five years ahead of others.

I would love to see more of these little snippets of life after folks returned. How did the government deal with this issues? Did it hand out subsidies? Were you overdue on five years of taxes?

What happened to the Daily Bugle?

Is it a YouTube channel now? Is there even a Daily Bugle newspaper in this universe? The journalist in me weeps.

Are the folks from the Netherlands really that nice?

One guy handed his phone to Parker, no questions asked. I need to put the Netherlands on my bucket list of places to visit.

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Originally published July 3.