Jimmy Kimmel’s skeptic sense was tingling when the cast of “Spider-Man: Far From Home” visited his show Thursday night.
During a very amusing interview that involved Tom Holland (Peter Parker/Spider-Man), Zendaya (Michelle “MJ” Jones), Jake Gyllenhaal (Quentin Beck/Mysterio, Cobie Smulders (Maria Hill) and Jacob Batalon (Ned), Kimmel called out the cast on an apparent “Avengers: Endgame” plot hole involving time travel that affects the next Spider-Man film.
(Spoilers for “Avengers: Endgame” below)
The official trailer for “Spider-Man: Far From Home,” which premiered Monday, revealed that “Far From Home” will pick up immediately after the conclusion of “Endgame,” which is five years after Thanos (Josh Brolin) wipes out half of the universe’s population with a single snap. It also centers on a high school trip Peter Parker and his classmates, which include Ned and MJ, take to Europe.
So Kimmel had a pretty valid question. With the knowledge that “Far From Home” takes place five years after the snap, “Why then are you all still in high school? Were there overdue library books?”
Basically the cast was completely stumped by the question.
Gyllenhaal and Zendaya broke out in nervous laugher while Holland covered his face in his hands out of embarrassment.
“Why … why are we still in high school?” Holland asked, turning to Smulders and Batalon.
“I mean, it might be one of the biggest plot holes of all time,” Batalon responded.
When Kimmel pressed Smulders for some insight, she seemed baffled.
“I don’t want to pull that thread,” she said. “I don’t know.”
In their defense, Marvel is extremely protective of its films’ storylines. Zendaya even mentions in the same interview that lines in scripts that contain spoilers are typically blocked out. So it makes sense that these actors are just as confused as the audience. Or maybe they’re just playing coy.
But, according to Jon Watts, the director of “Spider-Man: Far From Home,” there’s an answer to this question, although to some it may sound a tiny bit convenient.
In “Avengers: Infinity War,” half the population, including Peter Parker, poof into thin air as a result of Thanos using the Infinity Stones. In “Endgame,” that deadly snap is reversed five years later. Those who had previously been turned to dust were brought back and unaffected by time. Those who survived the snap aged five years.
A hug between Ned and Spider-Man at the end of “Endgame” reveals that Ned is still around the same age as Peter, so it’s plausible that he vanished just like Peter.
But what about MJ?
Watts confirmed to Entertainment Weekly that Ned, MJ and Tony Revolori’s Flash all didn’t age because they were snapped like Peter, while some of his other classmates aged and graduated. But for Peter, Ned and MJ, it’s like no time has transpired.
So, maybe someone should pass this info along to those poor actors caught in the headlights on Kimmel, OK?