Spider-Man: Far From Home's Worst Part Hurts Iron Man's Legacy

Spider-Man: Far From Home dealt with the aftermath of the final snap in Avengers: Endgame and the death of Tony Stark/Iron Man, but the addition of a new AI created by Tony ended up hurting his legacy. Spider-Man: Far From Home marked the end of the MCU’s Phase 3 and with that the Infinity Saga, which reached its highest point with Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.

The film followed Peter Parker as he went on a school trip to the other side of the world, only to be followed by Nick Fury (who ended up being Talos posing as him) and a new threat: Quentin Beck a.k.a. Mysterio, a former Stark Industries employee who was looking for revenge and concocted some truly elaborate illusions to get what he wanted. Although Iron Man died in Avengers: Endgame in order to save the world, his presence was still felt in Spider-Man: Far From Home, especially through the addition of a new AI: E.D.I.T.H.

E.D.I.T.H. (Even Dead, I’m The Hero) was created by Tony and handed to Peter, as he trusted the young hero to inherit it. E.D.I.T.H. granted the user access to the entire Stark Industries network, including but not limited to the company’s satellite network and hundreds of tactical drones – which is why when it fell into the wrong hands, it was a very dangerous weapon. But as much as it had a role in the story of Spider-Man: Far From Home, E.D.I.T.H. ended up raising many questions and messing with Iron Man’s legacy.

E.D.I.T.H. Doesn’t Make Sense In The MCU’s Timeline

Although it played an important role in the film by making it possible for Beck to continue with his evil plans in a bigger and more dangerous manner, not much is known about E.D.I.T.H., and trying to place it into the MCU’s timeline is a bit tricky. The only “backstory” to it is that Tony Stark created it, and was intended to be passed on to someone of his trust – not Pepper, not Morgan in a few years, but Peter Parker, Tony’s “mentee”.

But when was it built? If he worked on E.D.I.T.H. around the same time he recorded the message to his daughter (that is, between the planning of the time-travel heist and the battle against Thanos’ army), that would mean that the system was already operating by the time the battle began, so why didn’t he use it? It would have certainly been very useful, given the weapons and number of soldiers Thanos brought. The same applies if it was built ahead of Avengers: Infinity War – why wasn’t it used to their advantage? There’s also the five-year time jump in Avengers: Endgame, but it seems unlikely Stark worked on it as he was supposed to be retired and focusing on his family, and the only thing he built during that time was the Rescue armor as an anniversary gift for Pepper.

E.D.I.T.H. was nothing more than a plot device for Spider-Man: Far From Home, to the point that there wasn’t much thought behind it. After the chaos created when it was used by Beck, and with Spider-Man’s identity now exposed, it’s unknown if E.D.I.T.H. will return in the third Spider-Man film – but if it does, the writers should work a bit more on it and fill in some of the plot holes it created.

E.D.I.T.H. Strongly Resembles HYDRA’s Project Insight

Arnim Zola Computer Screen Captian America Winter Soldier

Project Insight was introduced in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. It was a secret S.H.I.E.L.D operation involving three heavily armed, satellite-linked Helicarriers designed to strike out against any potential threats before they happened. Due to HYDRA’s infiltration, the operation turned against S.H.I.E.L.D, and they planned on using Arnim Zola’s algorithm to target those who were a threat to their goals (such as Bruce Banner and the namedropped Stephen Strange). This algorithm used every variable of a person’s life, including bank records, voting patterns, and much more. In short, it was a massive invasion of privacy, with the purpose of murdering anyone they wanted.

Project Insight ended up in the wrong hands, just like E.D.I.T.H., and was a big threat as it targeted many people who didn’t really deserve to be murdered – such as Steve Rogers, Maria Hill, and Tony Stark, all because they were a threat to HYDRA. Its main purpose was twisted to HYDRA’s will, and the same happened with E.D.I.T.H. when used by Mysterio. In fact, the program wasn’t even totally safe in the hands of Peter, as he almost killed Brad Davis by accidentally initiating a drone strike against him. Both Project Insight and E.D.I.T.H. used the invasion of privacy to fulfill the goals of their users, and that is never good.

E.D.I.T.H. Hurts Iron Man’s Legacy

Avengers Endgame Tony Stark last message

E.D.I.T.H.’s existence goes against what Tony Stark learned since Avengers: Age of Ultron – it’s basically a lot of steps back in Tony’s character development. In Avengers: Age of Ultron, Tony and Bruce used the mind stone (found in the scepter) to complete Tony’s “Ultron” global defense program, which would allow the Iron Legion to operate independently and keep Earth safe under the direction of an advanced A.I. Ultron turned out to have a different idea of what “peacekeeping” was and was convinced that, in order to save Earth, humanity had to be eradicated. Chaos ensued, of course.

Later, in Captain America: Civil War, the Sokovia Accords were created as a consequence of the disaster brought by Ultron, prompting Tony to support the oversight and regulation of the actions of the Avengers. E.D.I.T.H. completely ignores all these events, and suggests that Iron Man, after everything he went through, didn’t learn anything. Ultron and E.D.I.T.H. both have the capacity to kill, no matter if they are targeting a real threat or an innocent individual. Tony’s views went from “superheroes should be held accountable” to not caring about invading everyone’s privacy and ordering drones to do whatever the user wants, including murder.

Tony’s death, although heartbreaking, was a satisfying one, as he went from a self-centered billionaire with no purpose to a true hero – he went through a whole journey of character development, culminating with him sacrificing himself to save the universe. E.D.I.T.H.’s inclusion in Spider-Man: Far From Home hurts Tony’s development, and unless there’s a proper explanation or “backstory” to it in future MCU films, it will be implied that Tony didn’t actually learn from his biggest mistakes.

Next: How Iron Man Could Return To The MCU (Without Undoing His Death)