Spider-Man: Far From Home’s Jake Gyllenhaal Felt “Pressure” Introducing a “Different” Mysterio to the MCU

Marvel Cinematic Universe newcomer Jake Gyllenhaal admits he felt “pressure” when making Spider-Man: Far From Home because his Quentin Beck, a.k.a. superhero Mysterio, is “so different” from his traditional comic book counterpart.

“Walking into the MCU, the Marvel Universe, it’s huge. There’s sort of a lot that’s expected of you, in the process of making the movies and also as the character,” Gyllenhaal told GQ. “And it’s the same kind of feeling of someone giving you that suit and putting it on and going, ‘Is this right for me?’”

Though joining co-star Tom Holland was “fun,” boarding such a storied franchise “feels like a pressure, it feels like a pressure when you’re making it,” Gyllenhaal said.

“I think people love that character and it’s so different from the character in the comics, and when you’re doing something as different from the comics as we did in this, I think you go like [winces].”

And for Gyllenhaal, who learned the secrets of Avengers: Endgame long before release, “it’s fun, it’s fun knowing everything that happens,” Gyllenhaal said.

“I knew the events of Endgame before Endgame came out. I love the speculation,” he added. “Because a lot of times you’ll read something or someone will say something to you and you’ll realize, ‘Oh, oh yeah, that might be true.’ And it was some sort of random idea. I also think a lot of them are wrong, and that’s fun also.”

Gyllenhaal’s Quentin Beck presents himself to Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) as an armor-sporting superhero whose world was consumed by elemental-powered creatures. Beck’s tragic backstory includes the loss of his family, and after Thanos’ (Josh Brolin) snap displaced him from his reality, Beck has come to the MCU — designated Earth-616 — to prevent the Elementals from destroying another Earth. And with the Avengers disassembled, Mysterio and Spider-Man must team up and save the world.

Though Mysterio appears to be radically changed from his storied history as a recurring member of Spider-Man’s comic book rogues gallery, the character is rooted inhis comic book lore.

“Mysterio enters the comic as a hero. So, I always took it right back to the source material and what made that character exciting initially,” director Jon Watts said previously when explaining why Mysterio was always the top pick for his Spider-Man: Homecoming sequel.

“But in terms of how we ended up with Mysterio in the first place, I mean, I wanted to put a character on screen that we hadn’t seen before. Of the big, iconic villains, Mysterio was the one who jumped to the top. Because of who he is, what he may-or-may-not be able to do, it’s really opened up a lot of possibilities for the kind of story we can tell with him.”

Spider-Man: Far From Home opens July 2.