Spider-Man: Far From Home Writers on the Challenge of Updating Mysterio for the MCU
With the release of Marvel Studios' latest film Spider-Man: Far From Home, fans were treated to [...]
With the release of Marvel Studios' latest film Spider-Man: Far From Home, fans were treated to the first big-screen appearance of the classic villain Mysterio. And while the character is iconic for his history in the pages of the comic books, there was some difficulty in bringing him to life cinematically. From the fishbowl helmet to the elaborate powers, the writers of the film had some challenges in introducing Quentin Beck.
But Erik Sommers and Chris McKenna were ready to tackle all of the best and weirdest aspects of Mysterio, updating him for the Marvel Cinematic Universe while staying true to the core foundation of the character. The Spider-Man: Far From Home writers spoke to Collider about the challenge of introducing the character in the shared universe.
"Mysterio is just an iconic villain, and we discussed various villains, but we kept coming back to Mysterio," explained Sommers. "He really seemed like the next logical choice, but the challenge was how to update the Mysterio from the source material, the comics, into someone that we would see in the MCU. So, it just came down to a lot of conversations with the creative team about how we would update Mysterio, how we would make someone who in the comics is a stuntman, special effects guy with strings on his shoes, into someone that we would see coming up against Spider-Man in an MCU movie."
Added McKenna, "It just seemed like, particularly with, yeah, iconic, top tier Spider-Man villain that really hadn't been done yet, and then thematically it seemed like coming off of some of the chaos of the world, it really seemed to work with a character who thrives off of chaos, and being able to deceive people in that chaos."
Sommers explained that Mysterio doesn't just take advantage of Peter Parker, who is dealing with his own issues after the harrowing events of Avengers: Endgame, but he takes advantage of a world that is also dealing with the same issues.
"The world is sort of traumatized by what happened, and confused, and vulnerable to someone like Mysterio. So is Peter. He is traumatized, confused and vulnerable by what happened to him personally. So, Mysterio is the perfect villain to take advantage of that, to get what he wants." Sommers said.
Marvel Studios' Spider-Man movies have done great in adapting and updating his classic rogue's gallery for the the shared universe. And while it seems like his story is over, many fans are eager to see Mysterio return to the MCU.
Spider-Man: Far From Home is now playing in theaters.