Spider-Man: Far From Home is packed with Easter eggs and references to Peter Parker's comic mythology and the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe, but fans are connecting some details to characters Disney recently acquired from Fox. After a long period of negotiation, Disney's long-mooted purchase of Fox was finally concluded earlier this year, transferring all of Fox's properties to the Mouse House. Most significantly for superhero fans, this included characters Marvel had previously licensed to Fox such as the X-Men and Fantastic Four, and with both of those franchises now firmly under the Marvel Studios banner, it's only a matter of time before they arrive in the MCU.
Most of Spidey's time in the MCU thus far has been as part of the Avengers, but Spider-Man: Far From Home, released earlier this week, includes a number of small details that fill some of the gaps in Peter Parker's personal history, such as Uncle Ben's initials appearing on the suitcase Peter takes on his trip to Europe and Flash reading out Hydro-Man's comic book origin story. Naturally, there's also the usual connectivity to previous MCU movies, with images of Tony Stark a near-constant presence in the background of shots and Happy Hogan failing to emulate Captain America's shield throwing skills.
However, some fans are also claiming that Spider-Man: Far From Home contains several Easter eggs pertaining to the impending arrival of characters previously on the Fox roster. Towards the end of the film, the camera lingers on the Avengers tower construction site and one prominently placed sign reads, "We can't wait to show you what comes next" separated by "1 > 2 > 3 > ?"
Given that the official Marvel slate is suspiciously light at present, this seems like a direct message from the studio regarding the MCU's future. More significantly, the sequence of numbers seems to be teasing a certain famous superhero quartet - the Fantastic Four - who could absolutely have purchased the building from Stark industries. Alternatively, the sign could be referring to Phase 4 of the Marvel movies, but there's no doubt that the studio knew what fans would infer from that missing digit.
A more tenuous link could potentially exist between Spider-Man: Far From Home and the Silver Surfer character. One sequence finds Happy attempting to deliver a coded message to Nick Fury, and his meaningless story revolves around a surfboard of some kind. Alongside the film's Fantastic Four reference, this could be considered a small nod towards Silver Surfer, another character acquired from Fox who appeared in the studio's 2007 sequel effort. Without the Avengers Tower sign, however, this line would've likely gone unnoticed, and could certainly be a case of looking too deeply for meaning in something relatively innocuous. Still, nothing in the MCU happens by accident.
Fans are delirious with anticipation over how and when the X-Men and Fantastic Four will be introduced to the MCU, and it makes sense that Spider-Man: Far From Home would reference the latter, instead of Charles Xavier's merry band of mutants. Unlike the X-Men series, the Fantastic Four have been inactive on the big screen for some years now and will prove far easier to integrate into the MCU's current setup. As such, these characters are very likely to debut first out of all the heroes Disney have acquired from Fox, and these possible Easter eggs in Spider-Man: Far From Home bring the arrival of Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Human Torch and Thing a little bit closer.