Here's Everything Marvel Fans Need To Know About The Blip
Spider-Man: Far From Home has the awkward job of attempting to re-right normality in a post Endgame universe. The first film set in the present day to come out since Infinity War snapped away half of humanity, and then a couple of more snaps brought them all back again (but removed the bad guys), Far From Home has to explain how that actually worked in real terms. Referred to as "The Blip," some people aged five years, while others have basically been suspended in time like no time passed at all. But what is "The Blip" exactly, and how are people explaining it? Warning: Spoilers from Spider-Man: Far From Home follow.
As viewers of the last two Avengers films, fans understand what happened. After all, they witnessed Thor's failure to aim for the head in Infinity War, and then saw Hulk and Tony's snaps in Endgame. But for those who live in this world, most of whom did not see any of these events, the experience is far different.
Understanding that explaining how this all worked in the world of the MCU, Spider-Man: Far From Home opens with a YouTube tribute to the fall of the Avengers, which helpfully juxtaposes footage from both the first snap and the second. In it, the students explain how life has altered since "The Blip," with cell phone videos of both events as they were experienced by everyday people.
In the first video, Thanos' snap comes in the middle of a basketball game's halftime performance. As the students cheer, half of Midtown High School's band disappears, as do many of those sitting in the audience. Those around them begin to scream in horror as their friends and family turn to dust.
This is then followed by a second video, taken from the exact same vantage point five years later. Once again, it's basketball season, and Midtown High School players are racing down the court, when out of nowhere, those band members and spectators suddenly reappear, standing right where they had been the moment they disappeared as if nothing had happened.
The resulting car crash of basketballer running smack dab into the band members suddenly standing in the middle of the court is played for full comedic effect.
But despite how ridiculous it all is, that's part of the point. What happened was utterly unbelievable. And yet it did happen. These people winked out of existence with no warning, and then just as suddenly reappeared. For them, it was "A Blip."
Though the film doesn't dwell too much on the aftereffects, May does mention a little later on that upon reappearing, she tried to go back to her apartment. When she arrived, she discovered a new family was living in it, as both she and Peter disappeared. (The wife thought she was the husband's mistress, which, awkward.)
In fact, most of the fallout is in the form of Brad Davis (Remy Hii), the small nerd in Peter's class in Homecoming, who is now Parker's main rival for MJ's affections. What a difference an accidental five years can make.
