WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Spider-Man: Far From Home, in theaters now.
Both post-credits scenes in Spider-Man: Far From Home are potential game changers for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While the second one hints at a more cosmic scale for the future of the franchise, the first radically alters the landscape for Spider-Man and redefines his place in the MCU.
The post-credits scene for Spider-Man: Far From Home completely changes everything for Spider-Man (Tom Holland). Peter Parker's world is upended by the release of a video outing his identity to the world and painting him as a menace.
Spider-Man: Hero Or Menace
After the events of the film, Spider-Man is initially in a pretty good place. He managed to defeat Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal), who was apparently killed by his own carelessness during his final battle with Spider-Man. With newfound confidence, Spider-Man swings to MJ (Zendeya) and picks her up for their date once they're back in New York. Having confessed their feelings for each other after his battle with Mysterio, Peter takes her swinging with him for (what he at least seemed to think) would be a romantic outing.
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However, when Spider-Man goes to drop her off, a breaking news report in Times Square blares to life on a giant screen. In the midst of their final battle, Mysterio took the time to record a video to send to the public in the event of his defeat. Specifically, the video was sent to the “controversial” new site, The Daily Bugle and J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons). With most of the world still believing him to be a hero, the video shows Mysterio claiming that Spider-Man turned on him and stole control of the drone fleet. In the process, Mysterio frames Spider-Man for the drone attack on London.
In its most shocking moment, Mysterio reveals that Spider-Man’s secret identity is Peter Parker to the world at large, as Peter Parker's picture flashes across the screen.
Spider-Man's Identity Crisis
The end of Far From Home completely inverts the first Iron Man. Whereas that movie ended with Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) calmly revealing himself to be Iron Man to the world at large, Far From Home ends with a panicked Spider-Man horrified that the world now knows who he is. The moment blows up the tension between his superhero life and his civilian life that Peter felt while in Europe. While this Spider-Man had already been discovered by May, Ned and MJ (as well as most of the Avengers), he had tried to keep anyone else from discovering his secret.
This means that his school will know about his actions, and it probably won’t condone them. It means people like Flash Thompson (Tony Revolori) will have to reevaluate their perspectives. Since Jameson released a video that seemingly shows him attacking Mysterio, who the world still believes to be a hero, the public could see Spider-Man as a potential threat.
Now, Spider-Man now might be looking at a Marvel Universe that’s closer to what he’s used to in the comics, where he’s distrusted by the general public and has to flee from the police as much as he tries to help them.
One More Day
The main reason Spider-Man has always kept his identity a secret is to keep himself and his loved ones safe from his enemies. Many of them would target his family if they were to discover his identity. Vulture (Michael Keaton) threatened to do as much when he figured out who Peter was in Spider-Man: Homecoming. A band of criminals led by Mac Gargan (Michael Mando), the criminal who could become the Scorpion, even asked Vulture if he knew his identity, so they could get revenge on Spider-Man. Although Vulture didn’t divulge that information out of respect to Spider-Man saving his daughter’s life, now Gargan has gained that knowledge for free.
It's unlikely that Spider-Man’s enemies will just let this information lie. Even if the revelation that Spider-Man is Peter Parker is met with some disagreement by the general public, someone like Gargan isn’t likely going to let that stop him. After Peter Parker willingly revealed his identity in the comic book version of Civil War, Peter, Mary Jane and Aunt May had to go on the run to try and avoid the authorities who wanted to arrest Peter. The villains used this to their advantage, with many of them taking turns attacking his friends and loved ones. An assassin for Kingpin even managed to fatally wound May while taking a shot at Peter.
These events led directly to "One More Day," the infamous storyline where Peter and MJ sold their marriage to Mephisto so that he could alter reality and save May's life and make Spider-Man’s identity a secret again. While it seems unlikely that Marvel would release a movie where its flagship character makes a deal with the literal devil after his Aunt May is murdered in cold blood, it looks like Spider-Man is going to have to deal with a new, more dangerous world.
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 and is in theaters now.