Warning: MAJOR SPOILERS for Spider-Man: Far From Home ahead.
Kevin Feige teases what Spider-Man: Far From Home's after-credits reveal means for the Marvel Cinematic Universe moving forward. The Jon Watts-directed flick has some of the best post-credits scenes in the franchise. True to their original purpose, the stingers provide fans a hint on what to expect in the MCU in the future.
There are two separate post-credits scenes in Far From Home. The first has implications for Spider-Man's future in the MCU, thanks to his identity as Peter Parker being exposed, and the official debut of J. Jonah Jameson, played again by JK Simmons. The second one is more impactful to the MCU as a whole, as it revealed that Skrulls are back on Earth, with Talos (Ben Mendelsohn) and Soran (Sharon Blynn) impersonating Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Maria Hill (Colbie Smulders) throughout the movie. Apparently, the real Fury is up in space, working with the Skrulls on an unknown project. This poses a lot of questions regarding what it means for the franchise, with the former S.H.I.E.L.D. director manning a brand new organization that could be S.W.O.R.D. According to Feige, this goes back to the relationship that Fury formed with Talos when they first met in Captain Marvel 25 years ago.
Speaking with Screen Rant during the press junket for Far From Home, Feige addressed questions fans might have about the Fury/Talos twist. Obviously, he couldn't talk about anything plot specific, but he leaned on the idea of the two's relationship that goes back to 1995.
Screen Rant: Sam Jackson plays Nick Fury, we all know that. The way he plays him was a little bit different. I was able to catch a couple Easter Eggs, but I didn’t know what was going to happen. Does that set up a bigger picture type of thing? I wouldn’t say Secret Invasion so much, but maybe SWORD?
Kevin Feige: I think the fun of it, without talking about anything specific that’s to come because we are still holding off on that until this movie comes out, is it does bring up a lot of interesting things. The most basic of which is Talos and Nick have stayed in contact over the years and clearly have some sort of tit for tat going. How often have they done that?
Screen Rant: That’s the first question I had when I walked out.
Kevin Feige: How often have they done that, and why are they doing that? Where’s Nick, and what is that thing?
Jon Watts: Now that you know that secret, you can watch all of the Nick and Maria scenes again. There’s a lot of little things like that.
While Feige wouldn't say anything about what lies ahead for Fury and Talos, it seems safe to say that this type of identity-switching will play into what Marvel Studios is planning for Phase 4. At this point, they remain tight-lipped about what comes after The Infinity Saga, but they definitely used Far From Home to plant potential plot seeds that can then grow during their future projects. Perhaps fans won't have to wait that long to find out what's down the road for the MCU, with Marvel Studios hosting a 90-minute Hall H panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2019.
Fury was largely missing in action in MCU's Phase 3, and had very little to do in both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, so it's possible that he's been working with S.W.O.R.D. for the better part of the last few years prior to Thanos (Josh Brolin) attacking. This means that he could've been in contact with Talos and the Skrulls for quite a while before the events of Spider-Man: Far From Home, and that's fine, because Captain Marvel established that these are the good ones. However, that also leaves the door open to having antagonistic members of the shape-shifting race pave the way for a Secret Invasion storyline. Jackson recently revealed that Fury knows another threat is coming, and because of that, fans can expect for the Avengers to re-assemble again eventually. Whether that has something to do with Skrulls or an entirely different villain's arrival, it makes sense that Fury is being pro-active about stopping this new threat.