Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame has been out for just over 2 months now and last weekend, Spider-Man: Far From Home hit theaters. For the following post, I will be revealing some very spoilery moments so if you have not seen either or both, remember…. the rest of this post is in the Spoiler zone. Spider-Man: FFH closes the chapter of the Infinity Saga as the 23rd film in a series of stories pulled right from the pages of the comics. There is a moment in FFH during a high school student lead announcement show where they showcase footage of all of those snapped returning to the very same spot that they were dusted at, as if they never left. While this moment is played for laughs showing members of the school band reappearing and colliding with their classmates, the implications of their return, not only to the same spot, but performing the same motions as before…. the MCU’s triumphant return of humanity has some dire repercussions.
While the audience I watched FFH with were still laughing after seeing the band members collide with their classmates, I blinked slowly, eyes growing wider as I instantly thought: “Um… what about the people that were on flights?”
After the movie, I started thinking a little deeper on the subject and the horror of this realization began to unfold. On average, there are over 500,000 people in the air on flights at any given time. If Thanos truly removed half of humanity, we can, for the sake of argument, halve that number for this example. Imagine… at the moment of the snap, 250,000 air passengers vanish out of the seat beside you… right before your eyes.
Let’s fast forward five years later and the Hulk has just snapped his fingers, bringing everyone back home. I’m just going to let that simmer for a moment. Ready? Because that means we now have 250,000 people materializing in thin air! But this isn’t the only issue here. Based on FFH’s depiction, the motion you were making at the time of the snap, is exactly what you’ll be doing when you come back. The average speed of a Boeing 757 is approximately Mach 0.8 (or 533 mph). With the snap bringing everyone back, the skies are now filled with 250,000 meat rockets coming in HOT. Some will be over the ocean while others will be high above cities, farms and neighborhoods. Queue “It’s raining men”.
It doesn’t stop there. During the after credit’s of Infinity War, Nick Fury and Maria Hill witness the aftermath of helicopter pilots that were snapped causing them to crash into high rises moments before disappearing themselves. When the snap is reversed, there are now thousands, perhaps millions of motorists that are now pedestrians tumbling down the road, mid traffic, at anywhere from 15 to 75+ mph becoming the embodiment of road rash and human speed bumps.
People that were on boats? They return to the bodies of water they were in, sans a way to be topside. That’s a lot of people on their way to visit Atlantis. Factory workers, miners, astronauts, divers and more are now all in compromised situations. But not every one of these will be a life or death situation. In FFH, Aunt May mentions during the fundraiser that there were people coming back to spouses that have grieved, moved on and remarried since the snap. Imagine re-appearing in your home to see your spouse with someone else. To you, it’s only been 5 minutes or so. How about inmates that disappeared and re-appear in cells now occupied with other people. As you can see, the implications of the return have incredible stakes.
Obviously Marvel is not going to go THAT dark (that’s… like “DC” dark) but somewhere, there is a universe where people are watching a movie with the entire plot being the fallout of the death show that re-introduction of half of humanity would cause! I wonder what the mid/after credits scene would be!?
