| “ | More casualties, more coverage. I gotta cut through the static. London is a beautiful city, and it will suffer, but they can rebuild. I mean, if I'm gonna be the next Iron Man, I've gotta save the world from an Avengers-level threat. But, when its new savior descends, all those casualties will be forgotten. | „ |
| ~ Mysterio as he disregards the millions of deaths that will happen in London as a result of his actions. |
Quentin Beck, also known as Mysterio, is the main antagonist of the 2019 Marvel Cinematic Universe film Spider-Man: Far From Home and the overarching antagonist of its 2021 sequel Spider-Man: No Way Home.
He is a former Stark Industries illusions specialist who wants to become the world's biggest superhero in place of Iron Man, feigning attacks from inter-dimensional beings called the Elementals to do so. A spiteful and emotionally unstable man, Mysterio ends up becoming the first real personal threat to Spider-Man/Peter Parker as his actions started a catastrophic chain of events that arguably ruined the boy's life, becoming his arch-nemesis.
He was portrayed by Jake Gyllenhaal, who also played Louis Bloom in Nightcrawler.
What Makes Him Pure Evil?[]
- He staged all of the global destruction caused by the Elementals to pretend to be a hero, not caring at all about any resultant civilian casualties, even telling his crew to have the drones do maximum damage and dismissing the fact that it would claim several casualties, merely saying that it would serve as more coverage.
- With this, he ended up ravaging two villages as well as wreaking destruction upon Prague and Venice.
- He threatened to execute his entire crew with drones over the loss of one of his projectors, even though this loss was actually his fault.
- While he was a genuine friend of Spider-Man throughout the film as evidenced by him noting that they were close, he eventually subverts this redeeming quality once his true colors are revealed.
- He sadistically psychologically tortured Spider-Man by forcing him to go through nightmarish illusions, calling him a "scared little kid in a sweatsuit", and even blaming him for Iron Man/Tony Stark's death. This is made crueler by the fact that Peter had nothing to do with it at all, since Tony sacrificed himself to defeat a past variant of Thanos out of his own volition.
- He intentionally led Peter in front of an oncoming train using his illusions and got him hit by it with the intention of killing him, and would have done so if it were not for Peter's superhuman strength. While he told Peter he was sorry, he makes it quite clear that it wasn't a genuine apology at all.
- He planned to destroy London utilizing the hidden drones in the Elementals, thus putting the lives of thousands of civilians in danger. All of this was done to stage an Avengers-level threat and usurp the position of the next Iron Man.
- He attempted to murder Peter, MJ, Ned, Flash, Happy Hogan, and Betty in order to keep his villainy secret.
- It is also worth noting that the latter was unconfirmed to know his secret, as Peter said Ned might have told Betty.
- He attempted to kill Nick Fury and Maria Hill to sell his cover story and prevent them from investigating him, unaware that the Skrulls, Talos and Soren, are standing in for them while they were on vacation.
- Him and his crew stalked Peter on his trip before the Hydroman attack.
- He faked respect for Peter as he "handed" E.D.I.T.H. over, only to reveal it was an illusion so he could try to shoot the boy to death from behind his back.
- At first glance, it is possible that Mysterio may have had some fondness towards Spider-Man, as he rolled his eyes upon discovering Peter knows his secret and blamed his right-hand William Ginter Riva for killing him. However, he had no problems with repeatedly tormenting and trying to kill him after he uncovered his fraudulence, thus subverting any redeeming qualities he had.
- While his death may seem brutal and somewhat sympathetic, it's not meant to be played for sympathy at all and it's rather well-deserved and treated as a good thing since he can no longer harm anybody.
- He framed Spider-Man for killing him and staging his own attacks, while revealing his secret identity to the entire world posthumously, thereby achieving his own goals in death.
- Tony Stark/Iron Man stealing credit for his invention and firing him is an incredibly petty excuse for his actions for the following reasons:
- He was fired for being unstable. His temper tantrums, sadism, and overall arrogance throughout the film certainly support that claim.
- He misremembers exactly what happened at Tony's presentation where he imagined the audience laughed when Tony unveiled his glasses' names as B.A.R.F. In reality, the audience did not do such a thing, and Tony himself admitted the product needed a much more suitable name; this presents Mysterio as an egotist and a narcissist who possesses a self-serving memory to fit his selfish narratives.
- He endangers countless innocent people that had nothing to do with his lost job at all.
- He hypocritically criticized Tony for using his technology for psychotherapy, despite Quentin himself using this technology for deceptive practices and causing harm (creating the Elementals to make everybody think that he's a superhero).
- It is demonstrated clearly that he felt no gratitude over Tony's sacrifice nor sadness for his death, merely seeing it as a window of opportunity to take his place as the world's greatest hero. This is despite the fact that Tony saved the whole universe (and by extension his own life) from Thanos.
- He calls Tony a "boozy manchild" even though he is way more immature than Tony ever was as he belives that being a hero simply amounts to faking attacks and stopping them just to make oneself look good which is not the case at all.
- Though he does have some comedic moments, such as saying he's not in love with the choreography of the rehearsal of his attack on London and asking one of his henchmen if she will help him do a victory lap, his actions are still played seriously in-universe.
- While many other MCU villains had more scale in the magnitude of destruction that they cause, Mysterio stands out for his lesser resources, his personal villainy towards Peter, and publicly revealing his identity as Spider-Man whilst framing him for his crimes to ruin his life and one up him after his death. This lead to the events of No Way Home, which showed how the lives of Peter and his friends were affected by Mysterio's actions.
- This makes him responsible for Peter and Doctor Strange accidentally bringing villains and two variants of Spider-Man from both Earth-96283 and Earth-120703, as well as Eddie Brock and Venom from Earth-688 into their world (the latter which later left a piece of the Venom symbiote behind in the MCU, which will most likely set eventually) after Strange's attempt to restore Peter's secret identity initially goes completely wrong which breaks open the multiverse in the process, Peter's aunt May Parker being killed by the Green Goblin, and making everyone forget Peter ever existed, including his friends and Strange himself, leaving him all alone with no one to help him.
- Just like with Raimiverse's Venom, Quentin willingly became evil by personal choice for no reason other than petty spite, making him one of the most malevolent villains in any of the film series.
- He is also far more cruel, sadistic and heartless than his comic book counterpart, who at least wanted to be famous in a good way.
Trivia[]
- Despite Mysterio being Pure Evil, Spider-Man: Far From Home director Jon Watts expressed his opinion that he doesn't see Quentin Beck as a villain and that he appreciates his crew. However, the film explicitly demonstrates that Mysterio has no respect his crew, and as Watts' statement may have been in jest, so Mysterio still qualifies. It can also be interpreted that Mysterio genuinely respects/appreciates his crew's work and talent, as they are the brains behind his schemes, but otherwise possesses no regard for their lives and safety.
- He is the first Spider-Man Pure Evil in the movies that has no connection to any symbiote.
- He is the only Pure Evil in the MCU Spider-Man trilogy.
External Links[]
- Mysterio on the Villains Wiki
- Mysterio on the Spider-Man Films Wiki
- Mysterio on the Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki
- Mysterio on the Marvel Wiki
- Mysterio on the Marvel Movies Wiki
- Mysterio on the Disney Wiki
- Mysterio on the VS Battles Wiki
[]
 Pure Evils
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