Avengers: Endgame was the supposed conclusion to the multibillion-dollar-generating franchise that is the Marvel Comic Universe. It's been cynically re-released this weekend with extra footage in a last-ditch effort to topple Avatar from the all-time-biggest-grossing-film-in-history spot.
Now new efforts are being made in the realm of the superhero blockbuster to maintain Disney's supremacy of the only real sure bet amid uncertainty about mainstream movie moneymaking potential.
First out of the gate is the second in the Tom Holland-starring Spider-Man franchise, Spider-Man: Far From Home, following 2017's successful, teen-based debut Spider-Man: Homecoming and last year's Oscar-winning animation Into the Spider-Verse.
It's not so much a sequel as the MCU's first presentation of what a post-Avengers world might look like, beginning with a sly tongue-in-cheek memorial to the characters who died in Endgame including - and most notably for this story - Robert Downey jnr's Tony Stark/Ironman.
Peter Parker is still a geeky teen with a big secret struggling to balance on the tightrope between his worlds as a nerd in love with MJ (Zendaya) and a superhero trying to save Queens from crime.
When the opportunity for just being himself and going on a school tour to Europe with high school chums presents itself, Peter is determined to leave Spider-Man behind and just go and have a good time, declare his love and forget about the worries of the world.
Of course, things aren't as simple as that and Peter's European vacation is swiftly interrupted by his meeting with Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) and slick parallel-dimension accomplice Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) for an adventure that, before its descent into all-too-familiar and boring CGI-infused action nonsense, delivers pretty well on its teen-comedy premise and expectations.
There's the fun introduction of Matrix-like philosophical elements and a generally enjoyable zippy back and forth between its twentysomething-actors-playing-teens stars but ultimately it's really just another cog in the MCU machine that does little to upend expectations or disrupt the colossal franchise juggernaut's essential interest in making money while the sun still shines on its susceptible and all-too-willing fans' desire for more of the same.
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