Spider-Man: Far From Home Will Make A Major Change To Mysterio's Origin

Mysterio

We have more questions about Spider-Man: Far From Home than we can count on two hands. How will Peter Parker return from the Snap? Where does he get that sweet Stealth Suit? And what is the deal with Mysterio? While we wait for an official trailer, the cast appeared at Brazil Comic-Con, where Tom Holland and Jake Gyllenhaal dropped some interesting tidbits about the latter's interpretation of the character. For starters, he and Spider-Man will be partners... not mortal enemies. Gyllenhaal said:

There are these threats to the world. Elementals. Elemental creatures. And Mysterio is someone who knows about them, and wants to make sure the world is safe from them. And Nick Fury asks him to come on and help, because he's the only one who really sort of understands them in a way. And then he teams up with friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, and unfortunately, he has to make him more than just friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

The quotes come from an interview that Tom Holland, Jake Gyllenhaal and Jacob Batalon gave to Omelete following the Sony panel at Brazil Comic-Con. It was Batalon who went to far as to call Mysterio "a good guy in this."

That, naturally, is a drastic change from the comic, where Mysterio was one of the oldest, and most consistent, members of Spider-Man's Rogues Gallery. The master of illusion burst on the scene in June 1964 as a failed special-effect wizard in the film industry. He figured he could use the tricks he had picked up in show business to commit crimes -- and even frame Spider-Man.

It sounds like Spider-Man: Far From Home will stay away from that origin story for Mysterio, with the character being hired by Nick Fury to help Spider-Man battle something known as Elementals. So I suppose THEY are the villains of the sequel?

Click here to watch the full Omelete video from Brazil.

In a way, this makes sense. Spider-Man is part of a much larger whole now that he's playing in the MCU sandbox, and so new villains who are brought in need to have origins that fit with what is happening in this timeline. The Vulture (Michael Keaton) had a crafty connection to the Battle of New York from the first Avengers movie. And now Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) will have a bond with Spider-Man, as both will he asked by Nick Fury to complete missions while the webslinger is in Europe.

This fresh approach is what lured Jake Gyllenhaal, as he went on to tell Omelete:

This character Mysterio, when they showed it to me, was so original. And the idea of who he is and why he's there is so original and so special, I was like 'Man, they did it again.' I didn't think [Sony and Marvel] could, and they do it every time.

If only we had a cool trailer to talk about.

Perhaps Marvel doesn't want anything about Spider-Man getting out until they have had a moment to explain him in Avengers: Endgame. We saw the hero on screen listed as missing in that trailer. The word out of Brazil is that the Spider-Man: Far From Home trailer just pretends as if Infinity War and Endgame never happened. Which is weird. It is what it is.

For now, Spider-Man: Far From Home will open in theaters on July 5, 2019. Hopefully a trailer for the sequel arrives eventually. We shall see.

Sean O'Connell
Managing Editor

Sean O’Connell is a journalist and CinemaBlend’s Managing Editor. Having been with the site since 2011, Sean interviewed myriad directors, actors and producers, and created ReelBlend, which he proudly cohosts with Jake Hamilton and Kevin McCarthy. And he's the author of RELEASE THE SNYDER CUT, the Spider-Man history book WITH GREAT POWER, and an upcoming book about Bruce Willis.