When Marvel Studios officially brought the character of Spider-Man (Tom Holland) over to the MCU, they immediately paired the teenage superhero with Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) as a portal into the world and also a mentor. That relationship, which started in Captain America: Civil War, grew throughout Spider-Man: Homecoming… especially when Tony had to save Spidey’s ass on the State Island Ferry. And it took a tragic turn in Avengers: Infinity War, when Tony failed to save Peter from the Snap.
The MCU doesn’t have Tony Stark anymore, but Spider-Man will still have help in his next adventure, Spider-Man: Far From Home. As you guys likely saw in the trailers, Samuel L. Jackson will bring Nick Fury across the “pond” to hijack Peter Parker’s European vacation, and recruit Spider-Man in his battle against the Elementals, dangerous creatures from another universe.
CinemaBlend got the opportunity to visit the set of Spider-Man: Far From Home and interview director Jon Watts, and we learned that he wants Fury in this story to be the complete opposite of what Tony was to Peter in Homecoming. Watts said:
I always wanted to put our idealistic teenage hero Peter Parker against a jaded, world-weary super spy like Nick Fury. I always thought that would be such a great combination of conflict and relationship to explore. That was something that was in my very, very, very first pitch, and my very first meeting at Marvel. I was like, ‘I want to see this kid go up against this bad motherfucker.’ You know? And Tony Stark is like the cool, supportive rich uncle. Nick Fury is more like the mean, new stepdad. And I just thought it would be really fun to see those two worlds collide.
When Nick Fury approaches Spider-Man to help him on this mission, Peter initially refuses. He asks if Thor (Chris Hemsworth) or Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) might be better fits, as Peter still sees himself as that friendly, neighborhood Spider-Man.
But Fury is putting together a team to fight the Elementals, and it will include Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) and Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal), who appears to be from a multiverse Earth.
While visiting the set, we spent time with Executive Producer Eric Carroll, who elaborated on the decision to bring Nick Fury into Spider-Man’s corner of the MCU, and how Fury will fit. He told us:
One of the themes we wanted to play with was youth. It's the timeless theme of these coming-of-age movies. Why do adults operate in the grey? Spider-Man is like, ‘This is easy. Let's just do the right thing.’ Or, ‘Let's just tell people what's going on and everyone will be okay.’ And Nick Fury's like, ‘That's not how the world works, kid.’ So, [Peter] just gets wrapped up in this sort of spy adventure, being driven by Fury and getting more and more caught between how he wants to operate and how he's being told he should operate.
This led to a big question on the set: Who is Nick Fury working for? S.H.I.E.L.D. is a complicated organization, and Fury has been off the grid for some time. Eric Carroll didn’t address the situation directly, but instead told us:
Nick's still doing what he does -- operating out of the shadows. I think he probably gets some funding from his buddy Tony [Stark], and stuff like that, to keep up this thing. There's even a line in the movie where he's kind of like, ‘Any other interesting case files come in?’ So it sort of seems like he's just trying to keep the planet safe in the way he does, which is looking out for these sort of extra-normal events. And making sure he and whatever team he puts together is there when the... you know.
He likely has a direct connection to all surviving Marvel heroes, and that would include Captain Marvel. But for this mission, he wants Spider-Man, whether Spider-Man wants it or not.
Take a look at the teaming of Peter Parker and Nick Fury in the latest Spider-Man: Far From Home trailer:
We will have even more from our set visit to Spider-Man: Far From Home. The movie hits theaters on July 2. Are you planning on checking it out?
