Spider-Man: Far From Home is a solid piece of story-telling about the burden of carrying on a legacy that defines you in the eyes of others and aspiring to be your own man.

As the epilogue to Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Far From Home serves that purpose well; not just as an elegy for Tony Stark and the saga of Iron Man, but as a coming of age tale for Peter Parker (Tom Holland) and Spider-Man. Far From Home is a film about Parker and his coming into his own as he struggles to come out from under the shadow of Stark’s influence on his life. As the film begins, we learn that most of Peter’s peers and teachers at Midland High were “blipped” out of existence during Thanos’ snap in Avengers: Infinity War. Peter’s Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) was also blipped and now runs a non-profit helping those people who were displaced and homeless because of the 5 years that have passed since the snap. It’s during this time that Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) lets Peter know that Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) is looking for him. Peter, however, is looking to normalize his daily life; from a summer trip to Europe which he sees as a chance to confess his feelings to MJ (Zendaya). While in Venice, Peter buys a romantic gift for MJ, only to have his ambition to present this gift to her smashed by the arrival of the Elementals, here personified in Hydro-Man, who starts to smash up Venice around him. While Peter is able to allay much of the damage, the day is saved by a mysterious new figure, Quentin Beck (Jake Gyllenhaal), a representative from an Earth from an alternate dimension exiled here and looking to be part of a new saga of heroes ready to take over where Iron Man left off. The question posed to Peter is whether he’s ready to be the vanguard of that new generation of heroes, to be the hero Iron Man wanted him to be, or does he want to just be a kid again?

Director Jon Watts does an excellent job following up on Homecoming with a sequel that really engages you with the character of who Peter is at heart, something most comic book sequels get away from in subsequent installments in favor of pushing a narrative about the villain. Up until now, I think most people would say that Spider-Man Into the Spider-verse set a high bar for Spider-Man films, animated or not. Thankfully, Far From Home comes swinging at that level of quality. Mysterio is a compelling character and Gyllenhaal does a good job of making you understand where he is coming from and the film does a great job of tying elements from past Marvel films up in a nice bow to give the character and his mission a real sense of continuity in terms of Phase 1 to now. The relationship between Beck and Peter is analogous to that of Tony and Peter and this really works well. Zendaya’s MJ has a compelling arc and the lengths that Peter goes to protect his identity remind this reviewer of the Lois and Clark dynamic from Superman II.

Overall, Spider-Man: Far From Home is the Spidey sequel we didn’t really deserve and the films’ 2 codas really serve up an interesting future for the MCU and its favorite friendly neighborhood hero.