Warning: minor spoilers for Spider-Man: Far From Home are in play. If you haven’t seen the film yet, please bookmark this story and come back once you’re caught up.
Ever since Thanos snapped his fingers and wiped out half of all life in the universe, the landmark incident that would define the MCU after its occurrence in Avengers: Infinity War would go by a couple different names.
Some called it “The Snap”, at least that’s the name it went by before Marvel Studios officially renamed that moment “The Decimation.” And now, in Spider-Man: Far From Home, it’s been given a third name to go by: “The Blip.”
We learn this fact at the beginning of the film, during a special news report being given by Midtown School of Science and Technology’s own Betty Brant (Angourie Rice) and Jason Ionello (Jorge Lendeborg Jr.). As it turns out, the incident is colloquially known as “The Blip” in the halls of Midtown, and there were some interesting side effects that occurred because of it.
The most prominent consequence of “The Blip” is the fact that people who reappeared from their departure into another realm did not age a day from when they disappeared. That means if you, or your favorite Avenger, blipped out during Avengers: Infinity War, you came back after five years without so much as an extra wrinkle.
It’s this particular situation that causes Peter Parker (Tom Holland) to have problems when pursuing MJ (Zendaya) as a classmate of theirs who hadn’t blipped grew up in real time to become quite the handsome young man/competing suitor for MJ’s favor. It seems that “Blipping” affects everyone in their own special ways; something that even Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) admits in Spider-Man: Far From Home.
“The Blip” affected Happy by causing him to grow what he called a “Blip Beard.” Which wasn’t too bad of a choice, as by time Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) came back from being blipped, she started a relationship with the associate of the late, great Tony Stark.
All of these consequences, and the ramifications we see Spider-Man: Far From Home deal with are pretty much in line with the portion of the MCU that would call the event “The Blip”. When you say it out loud, or read it in front of your very eyes, it feels like practically a minor inconvenience. “The Decimation” doesn’t sound like an event that makes or breaks people’s dating lives, nor does “The Blip” sound like a moment that brings the world to its knees.
Ultimately, this concept is probably the best reason for allowing multiple canon nicknames for the event that set the table for the end of the MCU’s Infinity Saga, as well as the finale of Phase 3. This particular moment means different things for different movies, and with the changing focus on the fallout and the tone of those events, having flexibility in the name helps keep the continuity of those tones.
Whether you call it “The Snap”, “The Decimation”, or “The Blip”, people will know where you’re coming from when talking about the events that span between Avengers: Infinity War and Spider-Man: Far From Home. Some may take to adopting one name or the other to cover all the bases, but knowing
Spider-Man: Far From Home has snapped, blipped, and/or decimated its way into theaters today, however you choose to acknowledge its presence.
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