Why Spider-Man: Far From Home Doesn’t Work (and How We’d Fix It) | Kinolime Fix It 5
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Show Notes
Spider-Man: Far From Home is one of the most debated films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but what if one major character change could make Peter Parker's story even stronger?
In this episode of the Kinolime Podcast, Meara Owen-Griffiths breaks down why Tom Holland's Peter Parker feels like a passive protagonist, explores the importance of want vs. need in screenwriting, and rewrites the MCU sequel to give Spider-Man more agency, stronger conflict, and a more satisfying character arc.
From Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Nick Fury to Iron Man's legacy and Peter's responsibility as Spider-Man, we examine how small structural changes could transform Spider-Man: Far From Home while keeping the elements fans love.
In this essay, you'll learn:
⚡Why passive protagonists can weaken a story
⚡How want vs. need creates stronger character arcs
⚡The difference between reactive and active heroes
⚡How to give characters more agency through their choices
⚡How small structural changes can transform a screenplay
Whether you're a Marvel fan, aspiring screenwriter, or filmmaker, this episode explores the storytelling choices behind one of the MCU's most interesting sequels.
Full Transcript
[00:00]
This summer, Spider-Man brand new day is becoming the fourth entry into the Marvel Cinematic
[00:08]
Universe chronology of Spider-Man films.
[00:11]
I could make a pretty strong argument that some of the Tom Hall and Spidey Web slinging
[00:15]
is the greatest that we've ever had.
[00:17]
But that is not to say that it's perfect by any stretch of the imagination.
[00:21]
Today I want to look at the awkward middle child of the trilogy, Spider-Man, far from
[00:26]
home.
[00:27]
Pretty confusing naming scheme.
[00:29]
We've got homecoming, far from home, no way home, and now brand new day.
[00:34]
I love Spidey.
[00:35]
I have read it all as of the time of recording this video, 994 issues of the amazing Spider-Man.
[00:40]
This is my oldest issue.
[00:42]
It's a 316.
[00:43]
I think it's 1989.
[00:46]
I enjoy a superhero movie.
[00:48]
But as a screenwriter myself, I always want to look at things and say, how could this
[00:52]
be better?
[00:53]
And I cannot shake the feeling personally like Spider-Man far from home leaves a little
[00:56]
something to be desired.
[00:58]
Whether you are a writer yourself at home or you're just trying to understand story better,
[01:02]
let's today look at why some protagonists command an audience while other times they
[01:06]
may feel strangely passive.
[01:08]
And I bet you'll find it usually comes out to just one thing, how they're want and their
[01:11]
need interact.
[01:13]
Failing this, no amount of great dialogue or flashy VFX are going to save your story.
[01:19]
I'm Mira and welcome to Keenolimes Fixit.
[01:23]
Spider-Man far from home is the only Spider-Man film where Peter Parker is actively trying
[01:27]
not to be Spider-Man.
[01:29]
He's running from that responsibility, you know, the one that comes with great power,
[01:32]
Yada Yada, you know the rest.
[01:34]
He's looking for any excuse he can to hang up the red and blue spandex.
[01:38]
A character's want is the superficial surface level desire, driving their actions at the
[01:43]
start of a story.
[01:44]
It's often misguided, but look, it's what propels the plot.
[01:47]
A need on the other hand is loftier and represents an internal or emotional truth that resolves
[01:52]
the character's arc.
[01:54]
Usually this is tied to identity, belonging or moral clarity.
[01:58]
It's a spiritual or thematic truth that they rarely recognize until an epiphany means
[02:03]
the need eclipses the want.
[02:04]
In homecoming, Peter wants prestige.
[02:07]
He wants to be an Avenger, he wants to impress Tony Stark, prove he's bigger than just
[02:11]
Queens, and eventually win over Liz, his love interest.
[02:15]
Eventually he learns that helping ordinary people without recognition or reward is far
[02:19]
more meaningful than chasing accolades.
[02:22]
Tony is rather didactic when he says, if you're nothing without this suit, then he should
[02:25]
not.
[02:27]
Great drama often occurs when the want and the need are in direct conflict and homecoming
[02:31]
thrives there.
[02:33]
Peter cannot pursue the deeper truth of his need without sacrificing the recognition he
[02:36]
craves.
[02:37]
Far from home immediately flips that equation.
[02:40]
Peter's want is defined by a negative objective instead.
[02:43]
I just want to be Peter Parker for a while.
[02:45]
It's a desire built on inaction rather than action.
[02:48]
Instead of embracing the friendly neighborhood ethos he's learned in homecoming, he's
[02:51]
instead trying to step away from it.
[02:53]
Now, Peter's need is what exactly?
[02:56]
The thesis of the film is that it shouldn't be Peter's responsibility to fulfill or identify
[03:01]
a successor role for Iron Man, being Spider-Man is enough.
[03:06]
Unlike homecoming, these wants and needs never collide, they're sort of just parallel.
[03:10]
Worse, they're both largely internal.
[03:13]
Our webhead isn't pursuing a tangible objective that forces him to confront a truth.
[03:18]
These are distractions, temptations, there's plenty of keys to jangle in front of him
[03:22]
sure, but nothing with the same dramatic friction that made homecoming compelling.
[03:28]
There are three major categories of protagonist, active, passive, or reactive.
[03:34]
Peter rarely feels like he falls entirely into one camp, like he's got a foot in each
[03:39]
and three feet for some reason.
[03:42]
As such, the story lacks the impact that committing to just one of them could have.
[03:46]
By and large, Peter is a reactive protagonist.
[03:49]
A reactive protagonist is not, as you'll often hear in screenwriting circles, always a poor
[03:55]
one.
[03:56]
If you look at Ellen Ripley from Alien, Marty McFly from Back to the Future, or indeed
[04:00]
Max from Mad Max Fury Road, these characters are reacting to plot rather than directly
[04:05]
initiating it.
[04:07]
Peter isn't entirely reactive to be fair, he does drive the plot forward, but count
[04:12]
how many times he's just saying, whoa, how did I just do that?
[04:16]
Ah, that's awesome.
[04:17]
His saving grace is the moment he willingly hands over Edith, Tony's drone strike system,
[04:22]
to Beck at the midpoint, a decision that informs the third act.
[04:26]
On paper, this is exactly what a midpoint should be, it's bold, it's character driven,
[04:31]
and it's structurally decisive.
[04:32]
Yet it doesn't pack a punch like it should because the choice is grounded in a somewhat
[04:36]
apathetic want rather than a burning need.
[04:39]
To reset the table, it's worth revisiting the oddly cursory next Tony Stark angle.
[04:44]
The film repeatedly insists that the world is searching for a successor to Phil Tony's
[04:48]
absence, but this expectation is never meetingfully grounded in Peter's own perspective.
[04:53]
It's instead projected onto him from external voices that don't really connect to his immediate
[04:58]
emotional reality.
[05:00]
Do you ever feel like this is something Peter is truly concerned with?
[05:04]
So the question becomes, what?
[05:06]
Exactly is Peter's growth here if the end point already mirrors where he started.
[05:11]
I'm going to propose an alternate structure which keeps Peter's desire to pursue MJ intact
[05:16]
but puts him through the same fundamental lesson Tony Stark learned in homecoming.
[05:21]
Responsibility cannot be delegated.
[05:23]
Following everything Peter has endured, including literally being erased from existence
[05:28]
for five years, he should be living in a state of hyper-vigilance.
[05:31]
In his mind, letting his guard down for even a moment risks people getting hurt.
[05:36]
His want shouldn't be taking a break, it should be never taking a day off, ensuring nobody
[05:40]
ever gets hurt on his watch.
[05:43]
Like Tony, he overcorrects, convinced every problem is his responsibility to solve.
[05:48]
He's exhausted and constantly on edge, spending night after night patrolling instead of sleeping.
[05:54]
His grades begin to slip, his relationships stagnate, and life passes him by while he's
[05:59]
too busy trying to save everybody else.
[06:01]
And now, someone who cares about him, let's make this happy though it could be Aunt May
[06:05]
or Ned, recognizes the toll it's taking on him and insists he needs a proper break.
[06:11]
Making it happy adds a comedic layer since he's already trying to romance Aunt May while
[06:16]
Peter's away, giving Peter an extra reason to be suspicious.
[06:20]
Peter books the trip but he can't shake his anxiety.
[06:22]
He refuses to leave the suit behind, wearing it under his clothes despite the European
[06:26]
heat wave.
[06:27]
He's a sweaty mess at all times.
[06:29]
He cannot truly experience Europe like his peers because his mind is elsewhere.
[06:34]
This smoothly sets up his need, which we can maintain, that being Spider-Man and doing
[06:38]
his best is all he can ask of himself.
[06:41]
It's a satisfying role reversal, this time happy as the one insisting Peter's warnings
[06:46]
deserves to be taken seriously, putting the shoe on the other foot from the first film.
[06:51]
It feels weird to have a spidey movie not set in New York and everybody knows it, so
[06:56]
let's not lose that setting entirely.
[06:58]
Rather than abandoning the setting, why not keep checking back in?
[07:02]
Make a Queen's this constant presence in Peter's mind.
[07:05]
As we're wondering Europe's cobbled streets in Canals with Peter, we're also wondering
[07:10]
hey what's happening back home.
[07:12]
Is Aunt May okay?
[07:13]
What about Del Marzbo Dagacat?
[07:15]
Peter's anxiety keeps pulling him back across the Atlantic.
[07:19]
That's why he only agrees to the trip on one condition.
[07:22]
He can find somebody to watch over Queen's and New York in his absence.
[07:27]
Enter Quentin Beck.
[07:29]
Instead of someone who Peter is introduced to by Nick Fury, an authority which Peter
[07:33]
would never doubt, Beck should be someone who Peter uncovers.
[07:37]
A local scrappy, minor league hero, someone who stepped up during the blip to fill the vacuum
[07:43]
Peter and other heroes left behind, Peter reaches out because Tony instilled mentorship
[07:48]
and delegation into him.
[07:50]
Beck adopts a hero moniker and for the sake of clarity I'm going to model him on Darkhawk.
[07:55]
Another character from Queen's.
[07:57]
We're introduced to Darkhawk now not as a moniker of Quentin Beck, who anyone who's
[08:02]
ever read a comic book will no will become a villain but as a genuine anonymous do-gooder.
[08:07]
Peter von terrorly appoints Beck as his replacement, telling himself Darkhawk held down New York
[08:12]
during his absence, hey what's another couple of weeks?
[08:15]
On being known to Peter, Beck now has two roles, Darkhawk physically in Queen's and the
[08:21]
CG Mysterio traipsing around Europe.
[08:24]
This makes the reveal that Beck is Mysterio more surprising.
[08:28]
He can't be in two places at the same time we tell ourselves so he never anticipate that
[08:32]
he kinda was.
[08:33]
Beck's jewel role now works on two levels.
[08:36]
He's using a misdirect slight of hand to keep Peter busy, referencing his magician origins,
[08:43]
and the longer he keeps Peter away the tighter his grip on New York becomes.
[08:47]
Peter's discovery should come from intent.
[08:49]
Eager to improve as a hero and reduce collateral damage, he asks Ned to film the elemental
[08:55]
encounter so they can review and adopt Mysterio's tactics.
[08:59]
This allows Ned to maintain his guy in the chair roll.
[09:02]
From there they start spotting inconsistencies.
[09:05]
A bird passing through solid matter, visual glitches in the environment, small continuity
[09:10]
errors in the illusion.
[09:12]
What is essential is that Peter needs to be active in uncovering this ruse, it cannot
[09:17]
simply fall into his lap.
[09:19]
Now, the blame for Beck's eventual villainous reveal falls entirely on Peter.
[09:24]
He's the one who introduces him, trusts him, and fails to spot the warning signs.
[09:29]
This isn't a shared institutional failure along with Nick Fury and Maria Hill, no it's
[09:34]
personal.
[09:35]
Peter's idea therefore, Peter's mistake.
[09:38]
From Beck's perspective, he doesn't need to convince shield the media, the world at
[09:41]
large about this elaborate false narrative.
[09:44]
He only needs to endure himself to a grieving kid who's already desperate to hand over
[09:48]
control.
[09:49]
That's a much more believable path to power than Beck's current meteoric rise, which
[09:54]
relies on never encountering anyone smart enough to see through his facade.
[09:59]
He's not already inside the system trying to climb the wrongs of the ladder, he's on
[10:03]
the outside trying to get noticed by them at all.
[10:06]
Additionally, let's make Peter drive the rerouting of the toured, follow the trail of
[10:10]
the elementals rather than letting Fury handle all of this.
[10:14]
This is difficult and it requires Peter to make sacrifice as like his Eiffel Tower fantasy
[10:18]
in order to accommodate saving the world.
[10:21]
It also puts him in difficult positions where he has to endanger his friends by leading
[10:25]
them into the lion's den.
[10:26]
This forces Peter to make awful decisions, but it forces him to also be proactive.
[10:32]
Peter does not have shields resources, so the loops he has to jump through get exponentially
[10:36]
tighter.
[10:37]
He's taught in lies within lies and has frequent crossroads where we see him making these
[10:42]
decisions.
[10:43]
Do I prioritize my want or do I prioritize my need?
[10:47]
Now Beck is making inroads in Queens stealing technologies to improve his illusions and further
[10:52]
his villainous goals.
[10:54]
We already have the perfect POV to see this happening, and it made his doing community
[10:58]
work to help the displaced victims of the blip, so what better position is there to see
[11:02]
the effects of the new hero in town who's actually making things worse.
[11:07]
The people on the margins of society are either weaponized as staged villains for Beck to
[11:12]
defeat or employed to facilitate the thefts of advanced tech.
[11:16]
What looks like a rising local hero from Peter's distant perspective starts to feel increasingly
[11:21]
predatory up close.
[11:23]
Dark Hawk appears hypercompetent by design, but he's only actually contributing a net
[11:28]
negative.
[11:30]
On the streets, people are feeling those negative effects begin to trickle down on Spidey
[11:35]
leaves.
[11:36]
This gives May something to investigate and owes the opportunity to learn more about
[11:41]
her, endearing those to the character further before she's killed off in the third movie.
[11:47]
The likes of Jay Jonah Jameson at the Daily Bugle can interpret Dark Hawk as a more effective
[11:52]
local hero than Spider-Man ever was, feeding into the conspiracy theory that Spidey was
[11:57]
actually a problem the whole time.
[11:59]
This causes Peter to feel disillusioned, feeding into the pre-existing, I'll never be good
[12:03]
enough subplot that's already present.
[12:06]
Additionally, we now have a more fleshed out reason for why the public turns on Spiderman,
[12:11]
and this ties into the post-credit scene in the main story much more closely.
[12:15]
During Act 2, Peter can slow let his guard down, learning to enjoy himself and focus on
[12:19]
things beyond heroism.
[12:21]
As his trip is extended due to disruptions, he can see that Queens is actually prospering
[12:25]
without him.
[12:26]
Maybe he even feels that Europe needs him more, here he's taking out apocalyptic threats
[12:31]
versus the petty criminals back home.
[12:34]
When it seems that Dark Hawk is more suited to the street level stuff, perhaps even more
[12:38]
so than Spidey, he can hand over the Edith system, blinded by his want and not yet understanding
[12:43]
of his need.
[12:44]
It's once we learn that Dark Hawk and Mysterio are both back, that Peter is forced to undergo
[12:49]
a paradigm shift and re-evaluate his actions.
[12:52]
To bridge the gap between Mysterio and Dark Hawk, May and Happy, uncover cryptic actor
[12:58]
auditions for Beck's villains.
[13:00]
This is an Easter egg for Mysterio's comic origins.
[13:03]
Imagine this playing out like Robert Downey Jr.'s audition in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.
[13:07]
Now Peter's eventual discovery of Mysterio's misdirection directly corresponds to the
[13:11]
very technology going missing from New York.
[13:14]
Peter gets what he originally wanted when he hands over Edith to Beck, but it wasn't
[13:18]
what he needed, so he's never at peace.
[13:21]
To achieve this, he's forced to pursue his need protecting his own little corner of
[13:25]
the world.
[13:26]
Ultimately, Peter returns home, defeats Beck, accepts that New York is his responsibility
[13:32]
and that his best is all he can offer.
[13:34]
He may not be this perfect hero, but he is enough.
[13:37]
This fulfills his arc in a pretty satisfactory way.
[13:41]
So there you have it.
[13:43]
What do you think of these changes?
[13:44]
Let's take a look at a revised synopsis that takes these amendments into account.
[13:49]
Supposed by the grueling demands of being Spider-Man, Peter Parker appoints friendly neighborhood
[13:53]
Dark Hawk to watch over Queens while he enjoys a summer, school, Euro-trip.
[13:59]
He plans to confess his feelings to MJ and experience a normal teenage adventure.
[14:04]
Perfecting this balance act proves difficult when his holidays interrupted by a series
[14:08]
of devastating attacks by mysterious elemental creatures.
[14:12]
Soon teams up with the charismatic Mysterio, a magician with the knowledge to defeat the
[14:16]
elementals.
[14:17]
Back home, Dark Hawk is proficiently dispatching escalating threats and endearing himself to
[14:22]
the media, but Aunt May is noticing some discrepancies from the bottom of the societal pyramid.
[14:28]
Feeling inferior and incapable of carrying on Iron Man's legacy, Peter considers handing
[14:33]
up the red and blue as his vacation is derailed and his chances of romance seem completely
[14:37]
dashed.
[14:39]
But when he and his friends uncover Mysterio's deception, he and Dark Hawk are one on the
[14:43]
same.
[14:44]
Peter has to confront his insecurities, take back his mantle as a hero and wrestle
[14:48]
back his responsibility as the protector of Queens.
[14:51]
He must accept that he cannot save everybody, and if he doesn't find the right work-life
[14:56]
balance, he's only going to burn himself out.
[14:59]
I believe that these amendments give Peter a more balanced character arc, a better
[15:03]
third act synthesis, and more obstacles to overcome.
[15:07]
He still wants all of the same things, but now he's conflicted by his burgeoning responsibilities
[15:11]
instead of just trying to run away from them.
[15:14]
As I set up top, I like this film, and I like this screenplay, but everything can always
[15:18]
be improved.
[15:20]
For any of you screenwriters at home, never settle for it, this will do or this is good enough,
[15:24]
strive to always make things the best version they can be.
[15:27]
I hope that these lessons on one versus need are useful for you writers in your own work,
[15:31]
and this lesson encourages you to assess how your character balances their objectives.
[15:36]
Alright, I've been Mira, thank you for watching, and until next time, Keanu Limers, see you
[15:40]
later.
[15:41]
That's something out of today's podcast.
[15:43]
Please share it with your filmmaking and screenwriting community, and hit subscribe.
[15:46]
It genuinely helps us keep making these.
[15:49]
We need them, and we'll see you in the next one.
