Warning: SPOILERS ahead for Spider-Man: Far From Home
Spider-Man: Far From Home's big post-credits twist was kept a secret from just about everyone - including Cobie Smulders, who is in the scene. Smulders plays the former SHIELD agent Maria Hill, a close ally of Nick Fury's who has so far appeared in six Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, as well as several episodes of Agents of SHIELD. However, the post-credits scene for Spider-Man: Far From Home reveals that the Maria Hill we saw in that movie is actually a Skrull imposter, as is Nick Fury, who is really taking a vacation on a Skrull outpost somewhere in space.
Both Nick Fury and Maria Hill were turned to dust in Avengers: Infinity War's post-credits scene, with Fury lasting just long enough to send a distress call to his old friend Captain Marvel. They returned at the end of Avengers: Endgame, and it seemed that they were back to their old ways in Spider-Man: Far From Home as they worked alongside Peter Parker to defeat a new enemy called the Elementals. However, at the very end of the credits Fury and Hill are shown driving along, and inside the car they transform into Skrulls - with Ben Mendelsohn's Talos impersonating Nick Fury, and his wife Soren (Sharon Blynn) posing as Maria Hill.
Marvel Studios is at this point notorious for its secrecy and, bar a few unfortunate leaks, very effective at keeping plot points secret. Spider-Man: Far From Home's post-credits twist was on a need-to-know basis, and despite actually being in the scene, Smulders didn't need to know. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, the actress revealed that she only found out about the twist "literally a week before the movie came out." Smulders only filmed the scene up until the point where Hill transforms into the Skrull, and wasn't aware of how it would be used. "It was added [during postproduction]," Smulders explained. "That driving footage is from the first scene that got cut out of the movie."
Spider-Man: Far From Home's post credits scene raised a lot of questions - from how long Maria Hill and Nick Fury have been Skrulls, to what Nick Fury is doing in space with the Skrulls, and whether or not Maria is with him. Needless to say, Smulders doesn't know where exactly her character is, since that's another secret Marvel is keeping close to their chests. However, when asked if she thinks Hill has been a Skrull ever since her first appearance in The Avengers she replied, "They could change it to be that way, but in my mind — no. I don’t know where she is, but my hope is that she’s on vacation somewhere. In this world, she’s probably just on some other mission."
We don't yet know when we'll see Maria Hill again, though there's a possibility that she'll cameo in next year's Black Widow movie, since she and Black Widow worked for the same agency and generally move in the same circles of secrets and espionage. MCU fans are definitely curious to find out exactly how long Maria has been a Skrull - and where she has been while Soren fills in for her down on Earth.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
