Spider-Man: Far From Home has dropped its second trailer, getting fans excited for another film of Tom Holland cracking jokes, helping citizens and juggling his responsibilities as hero and teenager. If you thought Marvel was going to slow down after Avengers: Endgame, then you’re sorely mistaken. Everybody’s favorite web-slinger is back to face off against The Elementals and it seems like he may even have a bit of help along the way from Jake Gyllenhaal’s Mysterio who, at first glance, seems to have honorable intentions.

But while the second trailer suggests the MCU’s Phase 3 will bow out with a bang, Spidey movies have struggled when it comes to sequels in the past. Sam Raimi’s excellent Spider-Man 2 aside, of course. So we take a look at 10 mistakes that must be avoided when it comes to Marvel’s latest blockbuster.

Cramming In Villains

Spider-Man films seem to follow a particular formula. Hit the high notes in the first outing, then shove in villain after villain until everybody goes home baffled and confused. Spider-Man 3 was meant to be about Sandman and the Green Goblin, until Sony decided Venom HAD to be in the movie too. The Amazing Spider-Man 2, meanwhile, threw the Goblin, Electro and the Rhino all into the same film. It was to be their last.

So Far From Home must avoid making the same mistake as its predecessors. Already there’s the Elementals - which means they could be explored by breaking them up and giving them individual substance. And with Mysterio known to be a villain, there’s a chance he may show his true colours despite Quintin Beck appearing honourable. Thin ice, Marvel, thin ice.

Too Many Suits, Too Little Explanation

In the Spider-Man: Far From Home second trailer, we get a few more glimpses of the suits Peter Parker will be donning. It seems he starts off in his Iron Spider suit, the one he wore in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. Then there’s the stealth suit, which looks rather slick. And then there’s his new red and black suit, which some are theorizing he creates using equipment left to him by Tony Stark.

The problem is, though, will there be any explanation? The Amazing Spider-Man created an original suit for Andrew Garfield’s debut outing but then changed it up for the sequel - for no reason. If Far From Home is to make the changing of the suits mean anything more than just fan service, they need to give proper explanations for Peter constantly switching them up.

Terrible CGI

To be fair to Spider-Man: Homecoming, this movie DID manage to avoid this mistake. But shambolic CGI has marred Spider-Man films in the past and Far From Home must ensure that it doesn’t happen again. It’s 2019, so there really should be no excuse.

In Spider-Man 3, CGI failed Venom big time. Topher Grace’s character was never going to be a big hit given how last-minute he was thrown into the mix but the poor detail that went into his costume certainly did not help his cause. In the comics, he is meant to be a hulkish figure but in Sam Raimi’s concluding film he appears to be the same height as Spidey - and only slighter beefier. Electro in TASM2 looked like a cheap trick, too. So hopefully the MCU are able to steer clear. The Elementals could be tricky to pull off.

Needless Storylines

This is an area in which Spider-Man Homecoming has already failed, if partially. In the posts credit scene, it’s teased that Scorpion would be involved in Peter’s life one point down the line. Audiences left the screening pondering his involvement in the sequel, with some even suggesting that the MCU was laying the groundwork for a Sinister Six movie. Alas, it has been confirmed that Scorpion will be not be featuring in Far From Home and nobody should be holding their breath for a return.

Spider-Man 3 wasted minutes galore on the Peter/Gwen/Mary Jane love triangle. Predictably, the film ended with Spidey and MJ back together. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 blew time on hinting at a secret involving Peter’s family…something we would never find out. In Far From Home, every minute has to count if Marvel are to continue this hot-streak that they’re on.

Damsel In Distress

If there’s a common theme when it comes to live-action Spidey films - we’re not counting the brilliant Into the Spiderverse for this - then its portraying the females as a damsel in distress. Somebody who needs rescuing at all times, no matter which actresses and actors are involved.

In all of Sam Raimi’s films - and by all, we mean every single part of his trilogy - Peter rescues Mary Jane. from the Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, the New Goblin, Sandman AND Venom. In TASM, Spidey stops Gwen from being killed by the Lizard and in the following film, he fails when she needs saving again. With so many strong females in the MCU, it would be a shame to see them go down the whole ‘help me’ route again. MJ, to their credit, looks like she may be able to handle herself.

Clueless Allies

Aunt May aside, how has nobody registered that Peter Parker is Spider-Man? Like, seriously? How did it take Mary Jane and Harry Osborn THREE years to discover that their friend who was always late, always covered in bruises and CLOSE to the web-slinger himself was actually the masked menace during Sam Raimi’s trilogy? There was a whole school who also saw Peter, nerdy, scrawny Peter, batter bully Flash Thompson and perform acrobatics. There was even webbing from his arm attached to a school tray!

Rant over. But nobody ever seems to pick up on the signs. Look back at Infinity War, Peter leaves the bus and swings away. They were all looking out of the window! They would have SEEN him go past? When the bus came to a standstill, the teacher would have done a register. No Peter, shock horror. Far From Home is teasing that MJ knows about Peter’s secret, saying ‘it’s kind of obvious.’ But if Marvel do what they like to do - use trailers to mislead - that would be another error of judgment.

Villainous Motives

Throughout Spider-Man films of years gone by, film-makers seem to have struggled when it comes to giving the villain a proper motive to go after the web-slinger. Norman Osborn (Green Goblin) and Otto Octavius (Doc Ock) are exceptions. But Electro and The Lizard simply turned evil because…they secured the skills to do so. And Michael Keaton’s Vulture was given the good old motive of needs money. Just like Sandman before him.

With Far From Home, the villain(s) need to have a proper reason to be evil. The Elementals are intriguing because they aren’t exactly earthly and that may be one way around the whole backstory thing. But if, as expected, Mysterio turns out to be not all he’s cracked up to be then he has to have a reason to do so. Judging from the trailer, he seems hellbent on wiping out the bad guys. However, if he changes his mind, we need a real reason why.

Rival Love Interests

Spider-Man: Far From Home, please don’t go there. Already in Homecoming, we had to put up with the film’s protagonist lusting after Liz Allan, when it was clear MJ was best-suited to him. In Spider-Man 2, Peter spent most of the film down in the dumps because the love of his life, the very same girl who had made a move on him three years previously, was going out with someone else. Spider-Man 3 then had Mary Jane fear the affections of Gwen Stacy.

Yawn. With Liz out of the picture now, it makes no sense for the bigwigs over at Marvel to introduce COMPETITION. It’s the last thing a film full of teenagers needs. If they do, they face treading on ground that trembled the first few times around.

Spider-Man films of the past have made it a habit to kill off characters loved by audiences, even if they did make for some blockbuster viewing. Harry Osborn’s death was one of the better and more emotional parts of Spider-Man 3, with his sacrifice bringing the trilogy full circle. And we’re not sure we’ve quite recovered from the sight of Gwen Stacy falling to her doom in The Amazing Spider-Man 2.

But both of those deaths sparked an end to their respective franchises. Though Osborn’s death was not the catalyst for Sony scrapping Spider-Man 4, it seemed hard to imagine a world where Peter and Mary Jane can go on without the third wheel of their relationship. No Gwen also made it a lot harder to make Andrew Garfield’s drab rendition of the character any more interesting. While a third Spider-Man film is not confirmed, it is essentially a given, so it’s best to keep the gang together. Plus, after Avengers: Endgame, nobody needs any more goodbyes.

Mixing Up The Formula

Where Spider-Man movies have failed most in the past, however, is mixing up the formula. Both Sam Raimi’s trilogy and the two Amazing Spider-Man films started brightly only to make too many tinkerings that ended up seeing their respective series’ scrapped.

Raimi’s trilogy had two successful first outings where a dorky Peter would still provide moments of light entertainment. Spider-Man 3, however, was a dark and dreary affair with the tone shift not in-keeping with the two films that had preceded it. Far From Home needs to stick to the same tone as Homecoming, or face being a similar disappointment to its predecessors.