Many MCU Viewers Unfamiliar With the Comics Never Saw That ‘Far From Home’ Twist Coming
Two types of fans generally enjoy the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, One is the super-fans who pore over the comics pages and can spot the Easter eggs and storylines that mere mortal fans cannot spot.
The other type is the more casual fan that doesn’t know the comic book world. If they knew the heroes, they know them from older movies or TV shows or maybe animated cartoons.
Now fans on Reddit, which usually lean toward the superfan side, are wondering how the last Spider-Man movie, Far From Home, went over with the less learned group.
Who was Mysterio?
Contrary to popular belief, the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies typically don’t adhere that closely to the comics. The writers typically take a story structure or idea from the comics and add their own embellishments, according to whatever grand design Kevin Feige and company have in mind.
In the comics, Mysterio first came along in 1964, during Spider-Man’s original heyday. Quentin Beck was a frustrated actor whose real gift was being a gifted special effects artist and illusionist.
In the days before digital effects, this involved practical tricks like literal smoke and mirrors, and Beck realized that could serve him well in criminal activity – if it weren’t for that blasted Spider-Man.
In Far from Home, Beck was still a special effects ace, but this involved more advanced effects artistry such as creating giant laser holograms. In the movie he was also a former Stark employee who at first presents himself as an ally to Spider-Man to help him defeat villains called The Elementals.
More seriously, he turns out to be a disgruntled Stark employee orchestrating a nefarious plot to bring Spider-Man down. It’s not a spoiler to say he doesn’t succeed.
What did fans say about the Mysterio twist?
Even fans who don’t keep up with the comics may have had some idea that Mysterio was shady. Mysterio was often featured in Spider-Man cartoons, and he was recognizable as the villain with a goldfish bowl or a crystal ball for a head. Beck would surely hate those references, but it’s the kind of joke Spider-Man would make.
On Reddit, someone asked how “MCU only” fans reacted to the revelation that Mysterio was really a villain. One replied, “My wife had no idea and she was shocked. But there was .5% of me that thought they coulda been trying to establish the multiverse and this mysterio could have been good!!”
Still another fan pointed out,”I feel like anyone who knows the MCU formula could see it coming a mile away, especially with a big name actor like (Jake) Gyllenhaal in there. Who else was the main villain supposed to be? Very well done though.” Another bit of trivia movie fans may not have known was that Gyllenhaal almost played Spider-Man himself in the Tobey Maguire days.
What about the end credits twist?
Another fan replied, “I’m not big into comics but I know some stuff, so I knew he was a villain normally but I hoped he’d stay good for at least FFH. What really got me was the Talos thing and the whole skrull deal in Captain Marvel.”
What that fan was referring to was the second of two end-credits twists, and both of those twists were genuine surprises to fans of all stripes. In the first, not only is Spider-Man framed for Mysterio’s death, but that old thorn in Spider-Man’s side, J. Jonah Jameson, reveals to the world that Spider-Man is Peter Parker.
The second post-credits scene was perhaps the strangest in all of the MCU in that it was revealed that Nick Fury and Maria Hill were being impersonated by Talos and Soren, whom we had met in Captain Marvel. Even some MCU superfans were floored by that one.
The meaning of that twist still remains elusive, and we presumably won’t get the answer until sometime in 2021, when Spider-Man 3 is scheduled to come out.
