Actor Jake Gyllenhaal has been named as Mysterio, but many don’t know who that is.
It was announced earlier this year that actor Jake Gyllenhaal will be the next Spider-Man villain to hit the big screen in Spider-Man: Far From Home, and all I could think was ‘Thank God we don’t have to see another rendition of the Green Goblin or Doctor Octopus again’.
But now that the dust has settled, and the entire the cast is rounding into shape, it occurred to me that there’s an entire generation of people who don’t know who Mysterio is because, quite frankly, they grew up watching Spider-Man on the big screen rather than reading the comic book. We’d bet a dollar to a donut that many hardcore Jake Gyllenhaal fans were cramming like a final exam to understand the significance of Mysterio. It is to that fanbase that we present these Mysterio fast facts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XABfTaa_aqo
First appearing way back in Amazing Spider-Man #13, Mysterio was one of Spider-Man’s earliest, and most frustrating foes.
Created by Stan “The Man” Lee and Steve Ditko, Mysterio has abilities that seem perfect for negating Spider-Man’s abilities, his spider-sense in particular. Quentin Beck is described as a special effects wizard and stuntman at a major motion picture studio who dreams of making a name for himself. He eventually becomes disenchanted by the industry, never scoring his big break..
In the depression that was spawned by rejection, Beck becomes Mysterio. Initially, Mysterio is depicted as not only using the special effects and illusions, as well as hypnosis, to battle Spider-Man, and later Daredevil as well.
However, as real life technology began to advance to the point where his feats would no longer seem supernatural to the observer, he was given the ability to teleport and create robotics.
After he is arrested and serves time for his first run-in with Spider-Man, Quentin Beck takes on the alias Dr. Ludwig Rinehart and uses his newfound hypnosis abilities to try to push the already psychologically taxed Peter Parker to his mental limits-a ploy he’d also use against Daredevil. In both instances, he was eventually thwarted.
After being beaten by Spider-Man time and time again, Mysterio eventually joins the Sinister Six along with founder Dr. Octopus, Sandman, Electro, Kraven the Hunter and Vulture. Even with a Dream Team of bad guys, Mysterio is eventually beaten by Peter Parker.
Every tactic he has ever tried on Spider-Man was eventually tried on Daredevil as well but with no success. For the most part, Mysterio was only able to be a thorn in Spider-Man’s side for so long because of Spider-Man was a teenager back then, and because Mysterio himself was limited by his own imagination.
However, a very interesting scenario was alluded to in the Old Man Logan story arc in which it is said Mysterio tricked Wolverine into killing his fellow X-Men with next level illusions. But, thus far in the main Marvel Comics continuum, Mysterio remains a low-level super criminal despite constant technology upgrades, pacts with demons and much more.
