“Marvel: Endgame” may have been the last of the main Avengers arc, but “Spider-Man: Far From Home” showcases that Marvel’s presence on the big screen is anything but fading. Far From Home sees the return of Homecoming writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers along with director Jon Watts and they have settled in to deliver a far stronger film than the prior five live-action predecessors.

Far From Home picks up several months after the events in Endgame. The world is still figuring out how to adjust to half of its population returning after being gone for five years. Half returned as the lanky kids they started off as and the other half are nearly ready to graduate.

Peter is doing his best to be the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, but summer is coming and he’s looking forward to a school trip to Europe and reconnecting with his friends and especially MJ. In Europe things quickly go sideways with a large water monster attack, and Parker winds up fighting alongside newcomer Mysterio (played by Jake Gyllenhaal).

Tom Holland has also settled into being comfortable in the dual roles of Spider-Man and Peter Parker, as has Zendaya as MJ. Zendaya’s acting chops continues to grow in leaps and bounds (as anyone who’s been following her is well aware, especially given her recent work as lead in HBO’s “Euphoria“).

The action pieces are well paced and carry more weight than in Homecoming. It’s like the style and gravitas of Avengers has been blended with the lighter tone of Homecoming with a result that feels more sincere. It’s darker than Thor: Ragnarok, but it keeps the personality of Peter and his friends largely intact. They’ve been through The Snap, so nobody is going to be as happy to lucky as they once were. Parker has the additional weight of seeing Tony Stark murals and tributes everywhere he turns. So he doesn’t really have space to escape the reminders of what he’s lost.

Tony’s former assistant Happy (played by Jon Favreau) gets his largest amount of screen time to date, and it’s to a progressively more sincere effect. He’s not purely a comic character, though he does carry most of the humor of the film. But these characters still have a lot to work through.

The film moves along briskly, and doesn’t feel like it’s been just over two hours by the time the credits roll. Fans of the original Mysterio character will be pleased by the various nods to the source material at various points in the film, and other moments will make people drag out their early MCU films to see, wait, is that really what happened.

It’s fun, perhaps not one for endless rewatches, but fans of the characters or the actors will have a fun time with Far From Home.

Credit Scenes: There is one mid-credit and one end-of-credit scenes. Both are highly relevant.

Review: 4.5 stars out of 5