Spider-Man: Far From Home's Hidden Clues That Mysterio's Attacks and Nick Fury Were Never Real

Spider-Man: Far From Home closed the door on Phase 3 of the MCU, and it hides clues that both Mysterio's attacks and Nick Fury were never what they seemed. Long before the reveals, the film drops hints in the water attack, on a rooftop, in a set of bullet holes and even in a seatbelt.

The movie picks up in the aftermath of Avengers: Endgame and set up the future of the universe. There is a lot going on in it, and below I go through the details within the film and how they tie in to other elements of the MCU. Heavy spoilers follow.

Mysterio uses Tony Stark's memory to manipulate Peter

Tony's absence is felt throughout the film. At the start there are drawings in classrooms and murals on walls, and pretty much every city in the film is paying tribute to him in some way. Tony's memory doesn't just linger over Peter. Mysterio also uses his image as one of the ways he manipulates the character before making his so-called sacrifice play. Mysterio mimics Tony Stark by snapping his fingers to make Peter believe they are similar in their actions. When Peter drops the EDITH glasses, Mysterio picks them up and hands them over, highlighting that Peter is irresponsible and will lose them.

Mysterio also deliberately chooses a look very similar to Tony Stark's in the first Iron Man movie. His hair is slicked back, he has a beard, and once he puts on the EDITH glasses he could be mistaken for the billionaire playboy. This tricks Peter into believing that in some ways Beck is a younger version of Tony, and it's one of the main reasons Peter sees him as the true heir to the mantle.

Mysterio traditionally looked like Spock from Star Trek in the comics, and when we see the character in flashback he is clean shaven. So we can assume his hair and beard choice was made on purpose, because he knew that Peter looked up to Tony.

Mysterio's look borrows from Doctor Strange

Beck also likely knows that Peter has been very close to Doctor Strange, since they travelled together to Titan in Infinity War. Mysterio's magic resembles the runes that Strange uses, which further influences Peter. His armour also resembles Strange's costume in some ways, with a very similar texture, and in the end credits we can see that he did pull from the character's design. Peter has mentioned that Thor used to be a myth and that they now study him in science class, so he would be aware of that character as well.

Beck and his team were stalking Peter in Venice

Beck had clearly been following Peter for some time. He actually appears behind him in Venice after Peter goes to buy the black dahlia necklace for MJ, and you should be able to spot him on the left side of the screen, stalking him.

He isn't alone either. Throughout that scene we also see the man who appears behind MJ and Peter as they stroll along the canal. We learn later that he is the storyteller of the group who writes all the events that happen. He drives the bus for the class and escapes the kill zone, at one point even tipping his hat to the students he believes are going to die. There's also a rather distinctive blonde woman who pops up later as part of Team Mysterio, so it seems she was checking things out too.

The scientist from Iron Man also appears. He's played by the actor who was the kid from A Christmas Story, who appeared in both movies and even shaved his head for the role.

The water attack gives the illusion away

There are several clues that everything is not as it seems long before we learn Team Mysterio is after the EDITH glasses. The first comes during the water attack, where we can see the outline of the drones in the water.

Peter is punched full force by Hydro Man, but if you slow the scene down and look really closely, you'll notice that when Peter is hit, the section of bridge that also gets hit doesn't actually get wet. It just explodes a bit, and then the water from the canal rises up and soaks everything, rather than the punch itself delivering a blast of water.

I believe Mysterio snuck in from a doorway on the rooftop

There's another subtle hint that Mysterio is fake when Peter is out on the roof after being shut down by Nick Fury, or rather Talos. During that scene Mysterio flies in front of him, but in hindsight we know this isn't actually him. So how does he end up sitting next to Peter when the two go to talk?

As Peter is walking, the camera pans from a doorway behind him, mimicking someone walking from the back to sit next to Peter, and then Mysterio joins him. I believe Mysterio was hidden at this point, snuck behind him from the doorway and sat on the ledge, which is where the illusion came together and allowed him to take off his helmet.

Bullet holes in Fury's jeep reveal the drones

Another big hint that it's all an illusion comes when Peter is fighting the fire elemental and Nick Fury and Maria Hill arrive in their jeeps. There's a brief moment where one of Mysterio's Doctor Strange style hand laser beams hits the car, but instead of causing it to explode or melt, all we see are bullet holes in the windshield.

This clearly comes from a drone, which is simply firing at the car to make it stop. It's a nice little hint early on, really a blink and you'll miss it moment, that shows just how much of an illusion everything was.

Peter may have given Mysterio the idea to reveal his identity

The movie ends with Mysterio revealing Peter's identity to the world, but earlier in the film there's a setup showing Peter may have given him the idea. While coming up with excuses for why he can't help Fury, Peter says: "if I'm seen like this in Europe after the Washington Monument my whole class will figure out who I am and then the whole world will figure out who I am and then I'm done".

He said this in front of Beck, and it likely led to Beck making the decision he did.

The clues that Nick Fury and Maria Hill were Skrulls

In the other post credits scene we learn that Nick Fury and Maria Hill were actually Skrulls in disguise while the real versions were on vacation, and several clues point towards this throughout the film. When Fury tells Peter that Mysterio is from the multiverse, he says the character is from Earth, just not yours. If he were from Earth, he would say just not ours.

Later, we hear him and Maria Hill discussing the Kree in one of their conversations, which lets you know they too may not be what they seem. Fury also hates the thought of Captain Marvel being brought into it. So yes, he's a Skrull; the clues are all there. In the post credits scene we catch Nick on a tropical beach, which may be a reference to Tahiti from Agents of SHIELD. As I've heard, "it's a magical place".

A broken seatbelt and frozen police expose the fakes

At one point Peter meets Fury and gets into a top of the range car. The seatbelt snaps quite easily, which earns him a very stern look from Fury. Later, Peter falls out of the sky after Mysterio's illusion comes down and hits a beaten up, run down car. This is the same car he and Fury pulled up in, and it explains why the seatbelt broke so easily.

When a hologram of Fury arrives, it's given away as fake because the police in the background don't move.

Mysterio may remember Tony's presentation differently

The film shows Tony in quite a bad light, making it seem like he was really bad to his staff. However, there's potential that they've all twisted what really happened in their heads in order to villainise him.

In Captain America: Civil War, the audience is silent when Tony Stark announces the project's name. In Far From Home, when Tony says it, the audience starts laughing. This implies that Mysterio remembers it differently and that the reality wasn't nearly as bad.

Flash Thompson's fake followers and Dimitri's encrypted messages

Flash Thompson has some of the most hilarious bits of trivia in the movie. His Instagram account is called Spidey number one fan, and when he goes live we can see that his followers are pretty much all bots, which shows he isn't as popular as he thinks he is.

When Peter puts on the EDITH glasses and looks around the bus, we can see a message from Flash to his mother asking why his parents haven't been in touch. They failed to show up to greet him at the airport, so you can see why he would turn to fake followers, and honestly, I feel a bit bad for the guy now. We can also see that Dimitri's messages are encrypted, because he works for Nick Fury.

Comic and Sam Raimi references hidden throughout

The movie is packed with Easter eggs and references to the comics. When Happy Hogan and Peter talk, we can see a poster advertising a wrestling match between Crusher Hogan and Bonesaw McGraw. The former is who Peter fought in the comics, and the latter is who he fought in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man. When the class takes a photograph they say pizza, and you can very faintly hear someone say pizza time, a nod to Raimi's Spider-Man 2.

Betty calls her class Tigers, which could refer to their mascot, but it's also likely a reference to Mary Jane calling Peter tiger in the comics.

The fake in-flight movies, and nods to Marvel Zombies

We see fake films on the plane, including The Snap, directed by Paul Greengrass. He often makes films based on real world events, so it makes sense he would adapt the events of the MCU. There's also Finding Wakanda, which is funny because the country was hidden for centuries, plus Hunting Hydra, what appears to be a separate title with Dr. Erik Selvig, and a Tony Stark story whose title may be a nod to the Iron Man spin off character Ironheart.

On the plane, Ned plays Beast Slayers and wins using a halberd. Later in the film Happy asks for a spear and gets corrected that it's a halberd. Several suits on Happy's ship are pulled from the comics and have appeared in a number of graphic novels, including the original Iron Spider design from the Civil War series. Marvel Zombies get a nod too, with an undead Tony Stark appearing, and the spiders that crawl out of his eyes are, you guessed it, black widows.

Towards the end, the film also hints at Phase 4, letting us know there were big things in store. When I wrote this, I couldn't wait to see what happened in Phase 4, though I was just really hopeful that we would actually live long enough to see the movies released.

Which of these hidden details in Far From Home did you catch the first time around?