The Risks Taken by ‘Spider-Man: Far From Home’

One hidden aspect of the first trailer for Spider-Man: Far From Home is how it underscores just how risky a proposition the follow-up to Spider-Man: Homecoming is. It also points to the long-term dangers in the series’ current direction in the process.

There’s a certain counterintuitive element in both of the shifts presented in the trailer — that Peter Parker and friends travel to Europe, and that Spider-Man gets recruited by Nick Fury for a mission of International importance — that feel, viewed from certain positions, as if the series has lost track of what makes Spider-Man Spider-Man; New York City is part of the hero’s mythology as much as spider-sense and the Daily Bugle, after all, and Spider-Man is traditionally far more “friendly neighborhood” than “secret-spy-type.” Zigging away from those, especially after Homecoming did such a strong job of setting up the Spider-Man fans know and love, could be seen as a mistake by many.