There are lots of franchises out there and lots of storylines one needs to remember. Previously On is our way of providing a quick refresher with the plot points you may need to keep in mind for that upcoming sequel or spinoff. This installment updates you on all the happenings in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as it relates to Spider-Man: Far From Home.
Note: More so than usual for this article series, there will be spoilers for Spider-Man: No Way Home. Definitely proceed at your own risk.
Peter Parker
Peter Parker is an average Queens high-schooler with an aptitude for science. After being bitten by a radioactive spider, He soon discovers that he has developed spider-like abilities of his own – the ability to cling to walls and ceilings as well as heightened senses, reflexes and strength. Using his scientific know-how, he builds himself wrist-mounted devices to shoot spider-like webs and begins patrolling his neighborhood as a low-key superhero, Spider-Man. However, he was not able to escape the notice of industrialist Tony Stark, aka the superhero known as Iron Man. Stark recruits Peter to help quell a schism in the superhero community over whether they should be regulated.
Afterwards, Parker returned to his life in Queens, splitting time between being a teenager and a superhero. After foiling a plot by Adrian Toomes to steal a cache of alien weaponry, Stark is impressed enough with the young man to offer him an official spot on the Avengers team. Peter, however, declines. A short while later, Peter’s Aunt May discovers the secret of his superhero double life.
The Blip
A short time later, Peter witnesses an attack on New York City from Ebony Maw, one of the chief lieutenants of the intergalactic genocidal maniac Thanos. Stowing away on Ebony Maw’s spaceship, Peter, alongside Tony Stark and Dr. Stephen Strange, a Master of the Mystic Arts, and confront the despot on an alien world. They, alongside members of the Guardians of the Galaxy, attempt to wrest control of the all-powerful Infinity Gauntlet from Thanos, but fail. When Thanos uses the Gauntlet to wipe out half of all life in the universe, Parker is one of those randomly chosen to die.
Five years later, the Avengers – including Stark, Steve “Captain America” Rogers, Clint “Hawkeye” Barton, Natasha “Black Widow” Romanoff, Bruce “the Hulk” Banner, the Asgardian known as Thor and Scott “Ant-Man” Lang – managed to reconstitute the destroyed Infinity Gauntlet and bring those who were killed by it, including Peter, back to life. The effort unfortunately cost Stark his own life.
With life on Earth trying to return back to normal, Parker goes on a school trip to Europe. There, he witnesses a mysterious, helmeted-man defeat a water monster in Venice. The man reveals himself to Peter as Quentin Beck, a survivor of a parallel Earth, who has come to this Earth to help SHIELD stop the four elemental monsters that destroyed his home from destroying this one. At first Peter is reluctant to help, but ultimately gives in. Peter discovers that Beck is actually lying as part of a complicated plan for him to gain access to Stark Industries technology. In a confrontation on London bridge, Beck is killed by his own weaponized drones.
Mysterio’s Final Trick
Returning to the United States, Peter thought that he would be resuming his normal life as a high-schooler and a superhero, but Beck had one last trick to play. Footage captured by Beck’s drones was doctored by a henchman and then released to the media. Soon, J Jonah Jameson of the Daily Bugle was announcing that not only was Spider-Man actually a kid named Peter Parker, but he was responsible for killing the “hero” Quentin Beck!
The Multiverse
Meanwhile,in the wake of the Blip and the return of the vanished half of the population of the universe, there have been several incidents that have continued to stress the fabric of the universe.
Wanda Maximoff, in her grief over the death of her lover Vision, warped reality around the New Jersey town of Westview trying to create a false reality based on sitcoms in order to live out a life with her deceased lover.
A variant of the Asgardian known as Loki, created accidentally by the Avengers when time traveling to retrieve an Infinity Stone to defeat Thanos, is arrested by and forced to help the Time Variance Authority in their attempt to stop another variant Loki from interfering with their mission to protect the “Sacred Timeline.” Ultimately, Loki meets the founder of the TVA, who created the agency to prevent the creation of a multiverse as he felt that would lead to war. Loki kills him and triggers the unchecked growth of variant timelines.
Meanwhile On Earth-96283
Peter Parker is an average Queens high-schooler with an aptitude for science and photography. While on a school trip to a Columbia University genetics lab, Peter is bitten by a genetically altered spider. He soon discovers that he has developed spider-like abilities of his own – the ability to cling to walls and ceilings, heightened senses, reflexes and strength, plus the ability to shoot spiderwebs from his wrists. After his Uncle Ben is killed by a criminal that he could have apprehended earlier, Peter realizes that with great power comes great responsibility and begins to fight crimes as Spider-Man. Over the course of his career, he has crossed paths with industrialist Norman Osborn, who terrorized New York City in the guise of the Green Goblin; Dr, Otto Octavius, a scientist and mentor to Peter who became mentally unbalanced after a set of mechanical four robotic tentacle arms becomes fused to his spine; Flint Marko, an escaped convict who, following an accident in a particle accelerator, gained the ability to manipulate sand; Eddie Brock, a fellow Daily Bugle photographer whose body is taken over by an alien symbiote; and Harry Osborn, son of Norman Osborn and Peter’s former best friend, who mistakenly believes Spider-Man killed his father and is seeking revenge…
Meanwhile On Earth-120703
Peter Parker is an average Queens high-schooler with an aptitude for science. While breaking into a lab at biotech firm OsCorp to find information on his parents’ disappearance years before, he is bitten by a genetically modified spider. Peter soon discovers that he has the ability to cling to walls and ceilings in addition to heightened senses, reflexes and strength. After his Uncle Ben is killed by a criminal that he could have apprehended earlier, Peter realizes that with great power comes great responsibility and begins to fight crimes as Spider-Man. Over the course of his career he has crossed paths with Dr. Curt Connors, a bio-geneticist who injects himself with a serum designed to regenerate severed limbs, but which causes his body to mutate into a human-lizard hybrid; and Max Dillon, an electrical engineer who after being zapped by genetically modified electric eels gains the power to control electricity. Tragically, Peter’s girlfriend Gwen Stacy is killed during one of these incidents.
Meanwhile On Earth-TRN688
Investigative journalist Eddie Brock becomes attached to an alien symbiote the bio-engineering corporation Life Foundation. The alien, going by the name Venom, is part of a group that is searching the cosmos for a planet where their kind could invade and devour the native inhabitants. Brock manages to convince Venom to help him stop Riot, the only other surviving symbiote from escaping and alerting their kind as to the location of Earth. After saving the planet from invasion, the pair develop something of a “working relationship,” hunting down dangerous criminals in the San Fransisco area. Following a conflict with serial killer Cletus Kasady, who has been accidentally infected with Brock’s own Venom-tainted blood allowing him to create his own symbiote, Carnage, Brock and Eddie head to Mexico. While relaxing in their somewhat dingy hotel room, their accommodations transform around them. On the television is J Jonah Jameson’s Daily Bugle report denouncing Peter Parker as a murderer…
