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Poor Peter Parker packs a powerful punch when confronted with evil elemental entities in Europe in the first trailer for Spider-Man Far from Home.

With the events of Avengers: Infinity War still hanging audiences on a cliff, our favorite web-slinging, city-swinging hero is set to return to the big screen this summer in a feature filled with friends and foes lifted from the pages of comic books.

SPIDER-MAN FAR FROM HOME
OFFICIAL TRAILER

As the post-holiday lull hits movie theaters and unexpected box office “hits” are making news in the absence of big budget releases in January, Sony and Marvel Studios drop an exciting teaser trailer for the next Tom Holland Spider-Man movie that’s getting fans warmed up for the summer months ahead.  After a brief introductory clip of Spider-Man swinging into action in his new duds, the trailer reminds us that our humble hero is still a hometown kid at heart by cutting to a clip of Spider-Man on stage at a fundraiser for the homeless.

Humbly Helping the Homeless with Happy

Backstage, as Peter and Aunt May congratulate each other on the successful donations drive, Tony Stark’s faithful friend and constant companion Happy bursts in with a giant-sized check for five grand (Synchrony Bank product placement) and notices how attractive Peter’s guardian looks.  Peter watches the back-and-forth banter with a protective eye as the pair flirt and fluster about like two teens in high school.  Immediately, we’re reminded that Spider-Man is still just a kid, unlike most of the heroes he’s been fighting alongside for many months.

Giddy with Excitement for a European Vacation

The light-hearted tone continues as the familiar rhythm guitar riffs of The Ramones’ “I Wanna Be Sedated” kick in as Peter packs for the upcoming school trip to Europe with his friends.  With all the anticipation of any high school student, the opportunity to see the world with a group of his peers certainly has Peter thinking about the possibilities present when he goes halfway around the world with MJ.  Between his messy room, questionably clean socks, selection of inexpensive travel necessities, and checking his phone for texts while swinging high above the traffic, Peter Parker is still a teenager with a general care-free attitude.  

Perhaps more than anything, this approach to the character (and Tom Holland’s portrayal) has won audiences over to this version of Spider-Man is a way that seems to have surpassed other film and television adaptations of the Marvel comic.  Stan Lee had a way of connecting heroes to young audiences in a way that many have failed to successfully copy.  Sony and Marvel Studios have been doing well in emulating the legend’s style — not to mention the comic book feel that rings out in the alliterative appeal Peter makes at the Post Office, “Peter Parker here to pick up a passport, please.”  

True to form, Peter plans to leave his cares behind on this summer vacation.  After all, every hero needs a break.  Saying as much, he seems to assure himself that Europe doesn’t really need a “friendly neighborhood Spider-Man” as he seemingly leaves his spandex suit tossed carelessly over the rod in his closet.

Awkward Adolescence Abroad

As Peter, Ned, and MJ take in the European experience, teenaged awkwardness persists as we watch Peter watching MJ more than the all the marvels of all the “old world” has to offer.  At one point, Peter tries to emulate the flirtations he had witnessed in Happy, telling MJ, “You look really pretty.”  The generation gap comes blaring to the forefront when the apple of his eye fails to respond to the compliment as his aunt had responded to Happy.  Instead, she shuts down the school boy’s charm with a witty “Therefore I have value?” which causes Peter to stutter and backpedal before letting him off the look with a disconcerting response, “You look pretty, too.”

Boys will be boys, and the friends head back to their room talking about Peter’s interest in MJ, falling in love, and…

The Hero Always Answers the Call

Nick Fury suddenly appears on the scene, revealing that he knows Peter’s alter-ego and enlisting his help in a pressing problem in the European neighborhood.  Spider-Man takes flight (in a new suit) as gigantic villains emerge in several scenes causing chaos, destroying property, and putting lives in danger — including the lives of Peter’s friends.

Vile Villains

A huge creature is the first threat seen in the trailer, and immediately fans think of Sandman, a classic Spider-Man foe that has already been seen in at least one film version of Spider-Man.  But when we see a second gigantic golem, seemingly made of magma, and then a third made of water, thoughts of Sandman are exchanged for a foursome of forgotten foes: the Elementals: Magnum (master of earth), Hellfire (wielder of flame), Hydron (lord of water), and Zephyr (mistress of wind) seem to have been resurrected from the pages of ‘70s comics for this sequel.

But they’re not the only ones to return from the older days of Spider-Man lore.  Mysterio, a strange illusionist many remember from the psychedelic 1967 TV show, appears in a cloud of green smoke to battle the water giant — apparently a heroic act.  But long-time fans know that Mysterio is not what he appears to be.  He has been known to behave as if he is a hero of the people only to deceive them into trusting him.  

https://youtu.be/dRAAgaMi5w4

Mysterio has always been the enemy of Spider-Man, and we can expect that he will prove to be the biggest villain of all in this adventure where Peter Parker is far from his comfort zone.

Fun Facts and Curious Questions

The choice to use “I Wanna Be Sedated” isn’t simply to provide a light-hearted, upbeat tune for the trailer as counterpart to the darker organ-laden Spider-Man theme heard in the second half of the preview.  The Ramones had a hit covering the original Spider-Man theme decades ago.  They even had a cartoon music video on MTV back when the channel lived up to its namesake as “Music Television” with hours and hours of music videos playing all day long.

Fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe also remember that Spider-Man faded from existence at the climax of Avengers: Infinity War.  This opens the question of where Spider-Man Far From Home fits chronologically.  Since the movie comes out after the next Avengers movie, this point may be moot, but it is possible, considering the very successful Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, that Peter Parker ended up in an alternate universe and these events take place after Thanos snaps his fingers and before Ant-Man can save the day (or moment).  We’ll just have to wait and see.

For now, we have a lot of power packed into less than three minutes of excitement in this trailer.