Spider-Man writers describe what happened during Marvel's blip – Variety

(SPOILER ALERT: Do not read before if you have not seen "Spider-Man: away from home".)

What happened to the bees during the snapture that breaks the galaxies of the cinematic universe of Marvel?

"Spider-Man: away from home" writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers have asked these important questions directly at Marvel Studios for the latest edition of Spidey. Oh, and they also had to bear the weight of Tony Stark's death and the repercussions of that end-of-day "Endgame" moment – and channel it through the eyes of high school students. So, how did they do it? Variety had a very spoiler-y conversation with the editorial team, and while None of them will confirm what Nick Fury was doing in space. If they even sign a third Spider-Man movie, we'll uncover some of the most urgent issues regarding Jake Gyllenhaal's beard.

What were some of the repercussions you had when planning "Spider-Man: Away from Home"?

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Chris McKenna: It was a very collaborative process. We sat in the room with Marvel and Amy Pascal, the team – [director] Jon Watts, of course. We were told the great things that happened in Endgame and that we had to respond to. So, of course, there was the time lag, and then there was all of that. These are the two most important things we have to face as we move forward. But also, our main mandate was simply to make sure we had as much fun as possible with this movie … after the disappointment of "Endgame".

In particular, you have Aunt May who is raising money for people displaced by the blip. In what kind of problem have you been involved as a writer?

Erik Sommers: You spend a lot of time in a room with the team just talking about it. We have certainly talked a lot about certain things. "OK, let's say you were on a plane and jumped and you came back, but the plane was not in the same place, so are you just jumping into the sky ? " And so is it half of all life? Does it mean, like cats and animals? And what happens to bees? They already have so many problems, bees. So we got bogged down in the thick of things.

What answer did Marvel give to the question of the plane?

McKenna: We were told that when Bruce [Banner] brings everyone back that he explained, that was part of his wish. Everyone is safe and sound again. We do not have to worry about people falling from the sky.

And the bees?

McKenna: The bees were good too. They all came back in their hives.

But the animals disappeared during the blip.

McKenna: All forms of life. Even up to the bacteria in your digestive system. We were wondering if we could do a lot of digestion on the digestive systems of people who were really screwed up.

Because Peter is a ground-level hero, we wanted to see everything in the most trying part of a person's life in a high school way. We really wanted to get to the heart of the matter, but in the most fun and realistic way to deal with the tremendous cosmic events that happened in previous films.

Much of this film is about manipulation, scammers and conspiracy theories. Why were you attracted to this particular scenario?

Sommers: When the whole team decided to go ahead with Mysterio, and it is clear that Mysterio is largely linked to deception, it seemed quite natural to move in that direction. All the more so because Peter himself was lying about not wanting to get up and not facing the new reality he was in. It seemed entirely organic to me that everything was about deception and lying to oneself or to others.

What was the process of building Mysterio with Jake Gyllenhaal? Do you re-write this character after someone like Gyllenhaal was chosen or do you write for him?

McKenna: We worked a lot with Jon Watts and the producers on the screenplay, then we were lucky enough to have Jake. And Jake had his own thoughts, which were just great and really brought the character to another level. [Mysterio] more than one character, he felt comfortable living. We sat in the room a few times with Jake and went through all the scenes together.

What were Gyllenhaal's ideas or thoughts on Mysterio? What was he wanting to change or add?

Sommers: Jake really liked the idea that he was manipulating everyone's love for superheroes and his need for heroes. He also wanted to make sure that the front half of his character was playing as realistically as possible. We all wanted everyone to believe that what we see is what we get. We really wanted everything to be as accurate as possible so that we really felt like it was a timeless and uncomfortable man, who had to deal with a really crazy situation that He had tragically lived.

McKenna: He had a beard! He wanted a beard. He was right. It was one of those things. He knows as an actor what plays and what is not. What we really wanted was that someone was really a seductive substitute for the father figure for Tony [Stark]. Jake knew how to do that, from his performance to his hair. If you look at it, you think, "Oh! I want this guy to be my new father. "

Mysterio and Vulture from "Homecoming" are both wild and classic cartoon characters that do not seem to work in a film translation. And yet, Vulture was turned into a blue-collar worker trying to do justice by his family and Mysterio into a jaded ex-technician. How do you take these weird characters and anchor them in the reality of 2019?

Sommers: The story of the villain is a big challenge … we call upon a character who is all that you have said, and how does he relate to it, how does it make it more real, how do we integrate it into the MCU? It's always a big challenge and it's really a matter of spending a lot of time in the room going through different versions, looking at the source material and discussing it over and over again. You have just fixed the problem. That's what we did. We spent a lot of time in a windowless room with Jon Watts and the people of Marvel and Pascal [asked]We talked about it in different iterations, we went through different routes and finally opted for the version with which we found ourselves.

McKenna: Ninety percent are castings. I mean, Michael Keaton (Vulture), you'll believe everything he says. Jake, you'll believe everything he says. I do not want to go back, but I'm going to go back to beard. It came out of a logical place for Jake. Jake said, "This guy is supposed to be a soldier from another world, he will not stop and shave. He will not be clean shaven. And we thought, "Yeah, you're right. So, again, beard. It is mainly hair on the face. It was the most difficult thing to solve.

The return of J.K. was the main thing that everyone was talking about the Internet. Simmons. Tell me how you did it.

McKenna: I had never seen the original Spider-Man movies, I introduced it and everyone said, "No … we can not do that!" I am still waiting for Sony to give me my free copies, but they have never offered me the free copy. copies. Once we realized that the news would play a huge role, especially in the base of the film, in terms of facts and fantasies, facts and fictions, we played with the idea that Mysterio in would shoot one at the end. It became obvious that this would be a perfect entry for J. Jonah Jameson. And then we thought, "How can you beat J.K. Simmons? And you know how you stand out J.K. Simmons? You get J.K. Simmons.

When you wrote the script, did you specify "to be played by J.K. Simmons"? Would you have done with someone else?

Sommers: No, honestly. This idea was very successful early in the process. We always hoped it would be him. And then the decision was, in what form? Was he going to be like before? We decided that maybe a better reflection of how things have changed, media has changed, it would be pretty much the same for Alex Jones now. It was the big decision.

He plays well in your plot theory theme. Were you nervous about taking the bugle and twisting it in what looks like Infowars?

Sommers: I do not think so. We thought it would be fun to try. I'm nervous about so many things, but not because of that.

The Skrulls are back with Nick Fury. The team said that Nick Fury's superpower was suspicious, which is why the Skrulls were used because they would not have taken over Mysterio. But why integrate the Skrulls? Was it something that came from above?

McKenna: It's funny, there was a very very early version of Mysterio's story that actually involved the Skrulls that we started earlier in the story writing process. Because this movie has really become a hustler, basically, we have agreed on the number of ways to deceive the public. How many twists can we have? It seemed like an idea that Jon Watts had started very early and we adopted as something that people would like to have. There is always a final turning point, and we would live up to what we were trying to imitate and celebrate.

How important are the Skrulls in Phase Four? Are you preparing "Secret Invasion" right now?

Sommers: We do not know. I hope it would be cool. I would like to see that.

McKenna: We are currently on our way to Marvel, we do not know why or what they want. They do not even show us the menu for lunch.

Has the lunch just appeared?

McKenna: Yes, and then we have to eat food blindfolded. That's how Kevin Feige works.