WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Spider-Man: Far From Home, in theaters now.
With Mysterio in the mix as a purported hero in Spider-Man: Far From Home, all eyes were on him to see, not if, but when he'd turn out to be a villain. That ended up being the case, of course, but it wasn't the film's only sleight of hand.
In the post-credits scene, Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury and Colbie Smulders' Maria Hill shape-shift in private into the Skrulls Talos and Soren, last seen in Captain Marvel. However, as much as that move surprised audiences, if you paid attention to Fury and Hill's scenes, the clues pointed to that twist.
Talos (Ben Mendelsohn) and his wife, Soren (Sharon Blynn), have been doubling for the former S.H.I.E.L.D. agents because Fury -- and presumably Hill -- are in space, apparently to build some sort of ship in the wake of Avengers: Endgame. The main point at which their identities could be given away comes as Fury and Hill are in Germany after a meeting about safeguarding the planet. Just before that they're phoned with information of a London attack by another Elemental, and you can hear Fury say, "I thought the Kree sleeper cells were supposed to be a secret."
That, of course, references the 1990s events of Captain Marvel, in which the Kree were repelled by Carol Danvers, Fury and Agent Coulson, as well as by the Skrulls. Danvers then left Fury behind to launch the Avengers Initiative as she took Talos' people into space to find a new home. Seeing as that film ended with Talos telling Soren they'll be safe from the Kree now that Danvers is in the mix, a reference in Far From Home to the blue-skinned aliens is somewhat of a giveaway. Add to that Hill referring to Fury as "Nicholas" -- which not even his mother calls him -- these seemingly throwaway moments aren't an accident.
Another clue comes earlier in the film when Fury introduces Peter Parker (Tom Holland) to Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) and the mission to stop the Elementals. When Spider-Man asks him to call in the big guns like Captain Marvel, he responds quite angrily, "Don't invoke her name!," which had previously been interpreted as indication of a rift between the two. However, to the Skrulls, Danvers is a savior. This fleeting moment of reverence shouldn't have flown over anyone's head, because Fury had no reason to fall out with Danvers after she helped to save the universe in Endgame.
Other hints can be found in Fury's repeated admission that he's out of plans, as well as out of contact with Earth's other Avengers. Hill also not having contingencies in case Doctor Strange or Thor are off-world are red flags, too, compounded by the way they allowed Mysterio to run the show.
Further, Fury lashes out at Peter for misusing Tony Stark's EDITH (an artificial intelligence system to control drones), which isn't typical of the one-eyed soldier. Fury's usually cool, collected and calculating, but here he loses patience.
Seeing him surprised by everything, and so easily manipulated by Mysterio, were a dead giveaway. When Hill admits to Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) that Fury -- who never takes anything at face value -- had no clue Mysterio was playing them, you knew it was only a matter of time before that special reveal dropped the facade.
Now in theaters, director Jon Watts’ Spider-Man: Far From Home stars Tom Holland, Samuel L. Jackson, Zendaya, Cobie Smulders, Jon Favreau, JB Smoove, Jacob Batalon and Martin Starr, with Marisa Tomei and Jake Gyllenhaal.