The marketing campaign for
Spider-Man: Far From Home led us to believe that Quentin Beck/Mysterio hailed from another world but
[SPOILER ALERT], we quickly find out that he's a fraud.
However, while Mysterio may have used drones to create his illusions, it sounds like Marvel Studios was planning to take things in a very different direction during a much earlier stage of development. According to writers Erik Sommers and Chris McKenna, they mulled over outing the villain as a shape-shifting Skrull (presumably setting up
Secret Invasion in the process).
"There were some early, early versions of this movie where Mysterio was a Skrull," Sommers said.
"There were a lot of Skrull versions of the story early on. When you’re doing a con artist movie, what we finally landed on—we sat down and talked about how do we keep on fooling the audience, how do we keep on having a lot of fun reveals? How many distractions can we get away with before people want to murder us? [The Mysterio skrull reveal] was an early idea about why he was doing everything he was doing," he revealed without elaborating on what that might mean.
After all, Mysterio being an alien definitely would have shaken things up, and the sequel probably would have focused more on how Earth changed after Thanos' attack (with an invasion from aliens like the Skrulls) rather than the ramifications and fallout from Iron Man's shocking demise.
"I don’t think it ever made it to paper, necessarily, but we talked about it for a while," McKenna added. "But we talked about a lot of stuff. That’s what it is, in those early stages. It’s just a lot of talk. Going down different roads and just gradually refining things until you have a story."
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There Was A Version Where Mysterio Was A Villain From The Start
Around the halfway point in
Spider-Man: Far From Home, Mysterio's villainous nature is revealed, but for comic books fans, that wasn't exactly a surprise. However, there was a version of the movie where Quentin Beck would have been bad from the start.
"With Mysterio, there were versions of the story where he was at the forefront as an out-and-out villain that Peter and Nick were chasing around Europe as he pulled off these events," McKenna reveals, "all building to this back story of why he was doing it, which was a wholly different third act. We went down a lot of different roads."
"[Ultimately], because Mysterio deals so much in deception," Sommers adds, "it was sort of natural that it led to a story structure where his entire identity was a mislead for a while."
Why The Sequel Included "The Multiverse"
Mysterio claims to be from another Earth and says The Elementals destroyed his planet and killed his family. It's all nonsense, of course, but there's a very good reason why the Multiverse was referenced.
"Any time we find ourselves with a twist or surprise reveal of something like this," Sommers explains,
"we want to do as much as we can to protect it and distract from it ahead of time."
That explains why the Multiverse was mentioned in the movie's trailers. McKenna adds:
"What we kept saying is that he had to feel like a real character, so we wanted to give him a tragic back story with all the details of coming from another world, and make sure that the Elementals he’s fighting felt like a growing, Avengers-level threat...we wanted to make it as believable as possible."
Outing Nick Fury As A Skrull In The Sequel's Post-Credits Scene
In Spider-Man: Far From Home's post-credits scene, we learn that Nick Fury is actually in outer space and the version of the character we've spent the movie with is really Skrull leader Talos.
According to McKenna, it was meant to explain how Fury could be fooled by Quentin Beck.
"Thematically, we wanted to have as many illusions and twists as possible, and up through the end of the movie, we wanted to make you question everything you’ve seen beforehand. But it was definitely an idea that came later in the process, and it helped, because if anyone in the audience had issues with Nick Fury falling for Quentin’s nonsense, it was a nice safety valve to have."
How Much Did They Know About Avengers: Endgame Before Writing The Sequel?
"We were like, 'Wait, who goes away? And how do they come back?'" McKenna says in regards to how much Marvel Studios clued them in to the events of
Avengers: Endgame.
"We didn’t actually see 'Endgame' until the premiere — maybe if we’d known more in advance, we would have made a joke about Valkyrie riding a Pegasus, because you definitely want to reference that."
"The two major things we knew were the five-year gap and the ramifications it would have for the people who did and didn’t get blipped away," he continued.
"And, obviously, the Tony of it all."
Whether Tony Stark Is The "New" Uncle Ben
We know that Uncle Ben existed in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but we don't really know how he factored into Peter Parker's origin story. When the interviewer put it to the writers that the note that came with Tony Stark's glasses might as well have said "With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility," McKenna admitted that Peter's relationship with Iron Man is now just as important.
"The other 'Spider-Man' movies obviously dealt with Uncle Ben, and 'Homecoming' hinted at it, but you’re right: In a lot of ways, the gravitas really comes from Peter’s relationship with Tony."
Sommers adds: "It’s assumed that there probably was an Uncle Ben and the pain of that loss is lingering there, but this gave everyone the chance to create a whole new friendship between Peter and his mentor, Tony, and to deal with the loss of that, which is a very powerful, emotional event in his life."
Why They Decided To Reveal Spider-Man's Secret Identity To The World
"We were challenged by the producers to come up with something that Peter sacrifices by the end of this movie," McKenna explains when asked to elaborate on the decision to have Mysterio reveal to the world that Peter Parker is Spider-Man,
"and when we hit upon that as a group, it became a very scary idea: 'Oh, no, we can’t do that! Then it’s not a Spider-Man movie anymore!'"
"It’s such a bold maneuver that it became inevitable, particularly with a tricky character like Mysterio, who’s this dark father figure," he continues. "From the grave, is he trying to give Peter his 'I’m Iron Man' moment? It’s thrust upon him, but is this a lesson or a punishment?"
How Spider-Man Being Framed As A Villain Changes The Hero's Future
Mysterio has managed to fool the world into believing he was a superhero murdered by the wall-crawler, and it definitely sounds like Spidey's newfound "criminal" status will be explored down the line.
"We were definitely debating, should we just reveal who Spider-Man is, or should we frame him for something and turn him into a pariah?" Sommers says.
"Ultimately, we decided that both was the way to go. It’s such a triumph at the end because he’s got the girl and finally earned a big swing through the city, so we want to knock him down as far as possible."
Spider-Man: Far From Home's Alternate Ending
While it was always the plan for the movie to end with Peter Parker's biggest secret being revealed to the world, it sounds like an earlier version of the script saw things play out much differently.
"We played with the idea that Peter is the one who sacrifices his identity out of necessity during the final battle, then it seemed more interesting if Mysterio tricks him into doing it, but any time we wrote a version where he was being revealed to the world in that battle, it felt like it diminished the victory," McKenna reveals. "So before it became a tag, it was really just the end of the movie: Right as he feels he’s stepping up as Spider-Man, he has the rug pulled out from under him again."
That definitely would have been interesting, but the way it was ultimately handled was much better as it left things on a huge cliffhanger and obviously took the choice from Spider-Man.
Bringing Back J. Jonah Jameson
"There had already been some interest in possibly using J.K. Simmons when we brought J. Jonah back," Sommers confirms after revealing that they've been mulling over the idea since
Homecoming,
"so once it was decided that we were going to reveal Peter’s identity at the very end instead of the final battle, it all fell into place very naturally that J. Jonah would be involved."
McKenna then went on to talk about this new take on JJJ.
"Something that had been floating through this entire movie was the idea of 'fake news' and how can you believe everything you see? We had been toying with the idea that Mysterio would turn Spider-Man into a villain, just like he did in the comic books, and it felt like that then tied into this J. Jonah 2.0 as the Alex Jones of the MCU."
Future Plans For TheDailyBugle.net
Thankfully, it doesn't sound like Simmons' return will be one and done.
"It’s the 'Whiplash; version!" says McKenna.
"It’s a little less comic-book — we’re taking him in a slightly different direction. But we’re excited that if this continues on and we get to work on the next one, hopefully, it’ll involve a lot of J.K."
Many thanks to The New York Times for the quotes used in this article.
Continue reading below to see the 10 villains we
want to see in the Spider-Man: Far From Home sequel!
Hobgoblin
Does Marvel really want to go back down the Goblin route? The Green Goblin’s story was covered in-depth in all three of Sam Raimi’s
Spider-Man movies and even factored into
The Amazing Spider-Man before Harry Osborn took up the mantle in the sequel.
However, despite the similar look and name, the Hobgoblin is a very different kind of bad guy. A number of men have held the mantle, while the initial mystery of who was beneath the mask could make for very entertaining viewing on the big screen.
A successful fashion designer, Roderick Kingsley became the Hobgoblin when he discovered one of Norman Osborn’s caches of weapons, and managed to alter the Goblin formula to avoid going insane. Those ties with the Green Goblin mean that his origin story would have to be greatly retooled, but he’s worthy of a movie appearance.
Spider-Slayers
J. Jonah Jameson has revealed Spider-Man's secret identity to the world, and seeing as he's now an Alex Jones-type personality on the fringes of the mainstream media, how better to prove that the wall-crawler is a "menace" than to attempt to take him out with some killer robots?
He gave it a good go in the comic books, and while Aleister Smythe may not be as exciting on the surface as some of the other villains listed here, the Spider-Slayers would make a good secondary villain if nothing else.
Jameson trying to take the glory for stopping Spider-Man makes perfect sense, and considering the fact that both The Vulture and Mysterio have had ties to Stark Industries, Smythe could also have history there (perhaps he was instrumental in creating the Iron Legion?). Regardless, seeing Simmons' face on one of these robots chasing after Spidey would be beyond awesome.
Electro
We got to see Electro in action in
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and the results were...disastrous? The villain still has a lot of potential, though, and a comic accurate take on him would be a lot of fun.
Due to the amount of the spotlight he's received in the past, Electro would have to be a secondary bad guy on the same level as someone like Shocker, and Marvel Studios should be able to do justice to his classic yellow and green costume (and not the awful blue skin/black rubber suit combination we got back in 2014).
Kevin Feige has said that Marvel Studios wants to move away from bad guys who got their powers in scientific accidents, but there are always ways around that, and they could even use the female Electro!
Jackal
Is it too soon for The Clone Saga? One of the coolest pieces of imagery in
Spider-Man: Far From Home was the wall-crawler fighting off duplicates of himself during Mysterio's illusion attack, and there's a lot Marvel Studios could do with both The Jackal and Ben Reilly. The problem is, this would be a lot to tackle in just the one movie so perhaps the slow burn approach would be best.
Miles Warren could be introduced as an ally of sorts to the wall-crawler who has an unusual fascination with his powers, and a pretty perfect mid-credits scene would be us seeing a duplicate of Peter in a containment tube.
Then, a fourth movie could really delve into what it means for there to be "another" Spidey and even Kaine could be brought into the fold. Ultimately, Ben would die or disappear and the stage would be set for us to learn that the man funding The Jackal's operation was actually Norman Osborn!
Scorpion
Scorpion is one of Spider-Man’s classic enemies, but perhaps not as A-List as the likes of Green Goblin and Doctor Octopus. Even so, his story is perfectly suited for the big screen, especially after he made an appearance in
Spider-Man: Homecoming and The Daily Bugle has been re-introduced with J.K Simmons back in the role of J. Jonah Jameson.
In the comics, Jonah hires private detective Mac Gargan to find out Spidey’s secret identity. When he fails, he agrees to be bonded to a suit which will grant him the abilities to take the hero down and unmask him. Unfortunately, it also drives him insane, and a vengeful Scorpion ends up targeting both Spider-Man and Jameson thanks to his newfound powers.
That origin would need to undergo some changes on the big screen, of course, but Jameson hiring an ex-con with a grudge against Spider-Man so he can confirm that he and Peter Parker are one and the same definitely makes sense, and would be a fun story to see play out.
Kraven The Hunter
A fan-favourite choice (even with director Jon Watts), Kraven the Hunter is in desperate need of a big screen appearance. Marvel could head down any number of routes, but should go with exactly what the name implies – a hunter. He originally arrived in New the US with the goal to take out New York’s newest hero, but no doubt the best story for Marvel to adapt would be Kraven’s Last Hunt.
The leaked emails from the Sony Hack revealed that it is a story Sony are interested in, and we've since heard that they might be thinking about adapting it for a solo movie featuring the villain.
That tale is both critically acclaimed and loved by comic book fans, and, as we're sure you know, it takes the wall-crawler to some very dark places. With Spider-Man at his lowest ebb now that he's perceived as a villain and his identity has been outed, someone like Kraven coming along to make his life a living hell definitely seems pretty fitting!
Green Goblin
We mentioned Norman Osborn earlier in this post, and while the Green Goblin has been done to death on the big screen, there are still a lot of stories that haven't been told. Marvel Studios has the opportunity to not only give the wall-crawler a powerful new enemy, but to create a "Dark Reign" over the Marvel Cinematic Universe and build to the formation of the Dark Avengers.
We could see a monstrous version of the Goblin similar to the one in the Ultimate line of comic books, or a version who looks exactly like his comic book counterpart; either option would be something new.
The previous movies got a lot right about the Osborn family, but failed to nail every aspect of the characters, and if Marvel reveals that the spider that bit Peter was an Oscorp creation, that would immediately explain why the Green Goblin is looking to take the web-slinger down. Honestly, there's a lot that could be done with this villain that would make him feel fresh.
Doctor Octopus
He may be another bad guy we've seen before, but it's been over 15 years since Doctor Octopus made his big screen debut and after his impressive turn in the
Spider-Man video game, it's clear that there's still more that could be done with Otto Octavius.
The difficulty here is that the 2004 version was so perfect, it's hard to imagine what Marvel Studios could bring to the table that's new, so a complete reinvention of the character could be in order.
With something of an overhaul, the new Doctor Octopus could be Spidey's best big bad yet and seeing as the last version very nearly destroyed New York City, a more personal tale might be for the best. Either way, Doc Ock deserves another shot, and the Sinister Six would suffer without him.
Morlun
Morlun is not one of Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s original creations and is a fairly new villain (he was introduced in the early 2000s when J. Michael Straczynski took over writing duties on
The Amazing Spider-Man). However, despite not having decades worth of history, he’s still one of the Spidey's most powerful foes, and Peter Parker very nearly failed to survive their first encounter.
Mystical in nature, Morlun arrived on the scene at the time Peter discovered that his powers may be more magic than science based. He relentlessly tracked Spider-Man through New York and started murdering civilians whenever the hero managed to hide to take a rest.
With so much focus on Peter’s parents and science in The Amazing Spider-Man movies and technology being such a huge part of his MCU adventures, delving into another side of the hero's powers could be truly fascinating, and bringing in Ezekiel (who had identical abilities to Peter) would definitely open the door to some unique new storytelling possibilities.
Black Cat
Black Cat has flirted with being good and bad over the years, so bringing her in as an enemy of Spider-Man’s who eventually becomes one of his closes allies (and lover in the comic books) could definitely work. She’s a strong female character – something that's now a priority for superhero movies – and could be introduced in a number of ways.
One possibility is Felicia Hardy being Peter’s classmate in order to avoid the awkward age difference between them if Marvel ends up exploring their romantic feelings for each other. But now that his identity has been outed, it's just as likely that they could meet out in the world.
Spider-Man and Black Cat have clashed many times, though he often comes out on the losing end thanks to her ability to project bad luck onto others, and while Sony is reportedly considering a spinoff movie for the character, she's arguably an individual who would benefit greatly from some more direct links to the web-slinger.