Spider-Man: Far From Home: Nick Fury is Spidey’s ‘mean new stepdad’

Spider-Man: Far From Home director Jon Watts discusses the dynamic that forms between Peter Parker and Nick Fury in the sequel.

Spider-Man: Far From Home will bring a few changes to the web-slinger’s already-chaotic life. One of these changes will be the presence of former SHIELD director Nick Fury, who crashes Peter Parker’s summer vacation to recruit him for a mission. And as expected, the relationship between the two will be a little rocky at the onset.

The film’s director, Jon Watts, spoke with USA Today to discuss Spider-Man’s latest solo outing, including Nick Fury’s involvement. According to Watts, Parker will have a very different bond with Fury than he does with his mentor, Tony Stark. While Stark was the “cool uncle,” Fury is more of a “mean new stepdad” to the young hero:

"“If Tony is like the supportive cool uncle, Fury’s more like the mean new stepdad. Fury doesn’t see himself in Peter Parker.”"

And unlike Tony Stark, Fury doesn’t see many similarities between Peter and himself. To the ex-government official, Parker is just a means to an end:

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"“Fury doesn’t see himself in Peter Parker. Fury sees Peter Parker as an asset that he needs who is too preoccupied with a bunch of high school problems.”"

And believe it or not, Watts has been wanting to use the character for a while:

"“Part of my pitch for the very first movie was bringing Nick Fury in and making him the mean substitute teacher.”"

To hear that Spider-Man and Nick Fury won’t immediately gel in Far From Home probably isn’t too surprising to comic book fans. Over the years, the two characters have had a “complex” working relationship. This was never more apparent than in Brian Michael Bendis’ Ultimate Spider-Man series. In that series, the bumped heads more than a few times, which led to some contentious exchanges between the two.

Getting to see this relationship play out in the Marvel Cinematic Universe should be entertaining, especially with Samuel L. Jackson and Tom Holland’s strong portrayals. Jackson’s stern yet knowledgeable demeanor mixed with Holland’s youthful energy could make for some compelling and comedic moments.

With Fury having mostly managed superhuman adults in the MCU thus far, Spider-Man will likely present a new challenge for him. Hopefully, the two don’t argue too much when Spider-Man: Far From Home hits theaters on July 2.