The Marvel Cinematic Universe keeps getting bigger. This Summer, it will get even larger when Spider-Man: Far From Home touches down. Prior to Spidey’s adventure, Marvel completed their Thanos narrative. Avengers: Endgame closes the decade-long story that began with Iron Man. Far From Home will jump-start the next era of Marvel movies (although it is the final phase 3 film), so there has undoubtedly been extra care put into this effort. Homecoming was the best Spider-Man movie since Sam Raimi’s second film in the series, and the sequel will be helmed by the same director, Jon Watts.
Tom Holland on the set of "Spiderman: Far From Home" on October 12, 2018 in New York City - Bobby Bank/GC Images/Getty Images
Watts reinvented the classic Spidey villain Vulture for Homecoming. Despite the error in the MCU timeline, Homecoming did an amazing job of re-visioning main characters in Spider-Man’s history. Aunt May is much younger, MJ is an ethnic girl, and Peter Parker is Tony Stark’s young protege. Watts will continue to play with Spidey's lore for Far From Home, something that can already be discerned by the film’s plot. It reads, “Peter Parker returns in Spider-Man: Far From Home, the next chapter of the Spider-Man: Homecoming series! Our friendly neighborhood Super Hero decides to join his best friends Ned, MJ, and the rest of the gang on a European vacation. However, Peter's plan to leave super heroics behind for a few weeks are quickly scrapped when he begrudgingly agrees to help Nick Fury uncover the mystery of several Elemental creature attacks, creating havoc across the continent!” The Elemental creatures that are referenced will bring Spidey in contact with his purported (we'll see) villain: Mysterio.
"Well, there are these threats to the world, the Elemental creatures, and Mysterio is someone who knows about them and who wants to make sure that the world is safe from them, and Nick Fury asks him to come on and help because he’s the only one who really understands them in a way," stated Jake Gyllenhaal of the character. Jacob Batalon, who plays Ned Leeds in the film, also echoed this idea that Mysterio is actually a good guy in this new film: "He reluctantly saves the world again with Mysterio. Mysterio’s a good guy in this, they’re both teaming up to kill the game, to defeat these Elemental monsters."
Gyllenhaal will suit up as Mysterio, whose real name is Quentin Beck. It will be the second time he has been associated with a Spider-Man film (he was slated to play Spider-Man in Spider-Man 2 when Tobey Maguire was uncertain to return). "He teams up with the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man and unfortunately, he has to make him become more than just a Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man," continued Gyllenhaal. Meanwhile, in a brand new trailer that debuted today, we learn even more about Mysterio's character. In the clip that's almost 3 minutes in length, Nick Fury tells Spider-Man: "Beck is from Earth, just not ours. The snap tore a hole in our dimension." Peter Parker responds: "Are you saying there’s a multiverse?" Fury doesn't respond directly to this, he just replies firmly, "We have a job to do, and you're coming with us." The multiverse has been teased previously by the Avengers: Endgame directors, thus essentially expanding the Marvel Cinematic Universe and making for endless possibilities.
The Russo Brothers spoke about the multiverse concept with the LA Times, citing their love for Back to the Future: "Back to the Future is one of our favorite films, and the rules of that movie are ubiquitous; they have informed pop culture for 40 years. And we wanted to do something different. We didn't realize how complicated it would be to create new rules and have people go with us, but we learned very early on in the test screenings that people are really committed to those Back to the Future rules — if you shoot yourself, you should die. We spoke with a few physicists, and there’s a lot of theories about how time travel could work. We chose the multiverse theory."
While Mysterio is set on the path of Spider-Man's ally (as far as we know), in the comic books, Quentin Beck was far from it. Beck was a special-effects wiz who worked for a major movie studio and had dreams of being an A-list celebrity. Like many of Marvel's historic characters, Mysterio was created by Stan Lee (and artist Steve Ditko, who is also legendary). Beck began as a stuntman in Hollywood before becoming obsessed with special effects. He excelled as a special effects coordinator, but he was unsatisfied with being famous behind the scenes. Beck wanted to be on the front page of the premiere magazines. He tried to pursue an acting career, but he wasn't very good. Trapped and frustrated, Beck realizes that his expertise in visual effects could make him a formidable villain. Defeating a hero would make him just as famous as any movie star, and so Mysterio was born.
Jake Gyllenhaal and Tom Holland attend Conque 2019 to present "Spider-Man: Far From Home" at Centro de Congresos on May 4, 2019 in Queretaro, Mexico - Victor Chavez/Getty Images
Mysterio has no special powers himself, but he uses a mix of a holographic projector, and gloves and boots armed with nozzles to emit hallucinogenic gas. He creates hallucinations that look, feel, and even smell real enough to trick the most talented heroes. Even Wolverine, who has super senses, was fooled into slaughtering the entire X-Men team due to Mysterio’s potent hallucinations. Mysterio hides his face behind a one-way acrylic glass helmet, which has made it difficult to pin down the copycat villains who took up the mantle of the villain while Beck handled other issues.
Since Mysterio won’t have the same origin in Far From Home, fans have been speculating what he could set up in the future. In the comics, Spider-Man credits Mysterio with coming up with the name “Sinister Six.” The Sinister Six are a team of six super villains that team up to kill Spidey in the comics. The team changes throughout time, but Mysterio is usually a central piece of the crew. Vulture and Scorpion, two villains that appeared in Homecoming, are also in the Sinister Six. Fans are speculating that the team of villains is slowly being built within the MCU. Although Gyllenhaal’s version of Mysterio is being painted as a hero who helps Spidey and Nick Fury with these Elemental creatures, some fans are very suspicious that the Elementals are just a clever visual effect created by Mysterio in the first place.
There’s no telling where Marvel goes with the new Mysterio, and we have learned to trust the process. That's what we know about Mysterio, but anything is possible for Far From Home.
Do you think Mysterio will reveal himself to be a villain proper in Spider-Man: Far From Home? Let us know your theories in the comments.