As far as we know, Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) is not set to be in the upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe film Spider-Man: Far From Home. Since that leaves the webslinger short one mentor, some say that none other than Nick Fury should step in to take his place.
Not much is known about the movie as of yet, save that it will be the first entry in Phase 4 of the MCU. Here, Spider-Man (Peter Parker, played by Tom Holland) is still a teenager, but we know that this time he will be on a globe-trotting adventure, despite his usual reputation as a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man; the how and why of this remains to be seen.
Could he now be in the service of Nick Fury, leader of S.H.I.E.L.D. (and, based on the ending of Avengers: Infinity War, possibly now an active agent of it or some other unknown organization)? It would be hard to figure out any other way that he and Aunt May could afford this trip.
Played by the always badass Samuel L. Jackson, Fury is a major player in the MCU, having been in charge of assembling the Avengers. It may surprise some to know that, based on the comics (especially the Ultimate continuity), he has a history with Spider-Man—mainly because his parents, Richard and Mary Parker, were S.H.I.E.L.D. agents before they died. As such, Fury takes a shining to the teenage hero and tries to guide him.
In the MCU, we have so far established Tony Stark as Peter’s mentor. However, Downey’s contract is set to expire, and according to many fans, his character is the most likely candidate to die heroically in the upcoming fourth Avengers film. If that is the case, then Peter will soon find himself standing on his own, or in the need of a Yoda to replace his fallen Obi-Wan. (You know, like in that really old movie.)
This is all just speculative at the moment, though, as Marvel Studios is mostly being mum about all of its upcoming projects; and of course, it would be sort of cool to see MCU Spider-Man standing on his own two feet, no longer in need of a mentor. That said, Fury would provide some interesting possibilities, so for now we’ll wait and see about any further developments.
