Spider-Man: Far From Home - Mysterio's Doctor Strange Link EXPLAINED

By Simon Gallagher / February 11, 2019

Spider-Man: Far From Home's first trailer was surprisingly heavy on what appeared to be spoilers. Most importantly, we apparently got to see new "hero" Mysterio fighting a trio of gigantic monsters (Hydro Man, Sandman and Molten Man to give them their accepted names). Rumour has it, we aren't seeing the real Mysterio here and that he's living up to his reputation as a master of illusion to spin an image to hide his own reality.

But, seriously, how the hell is he doing that?

What we know of Mysterio in the MCU is pretty limited beyond what the trailer shows. He appears to be a hero with incredible, mystical powers capable of battling the so-called Elementals (rechristened individually in a manner fitting Marvel's usual reclamation of character names). We're supposed to believe he's a good guy because he attempts to protect Spider-Man from their threat.

It's the comics that will reveal more of the character at this stage, so it's important to look there first. On the page, Mysterio is a former special effects genius who didn't get the adulation he felt he deserved in the movie industry and ended up working for OsCorps, where he again didn't feel appreciated. Fundamentally, he's an attention-seeker who believes the skills he has deserve more credit.

That isn't necessarily how his backstory will go exactly in Far From Home, but it seems likely that him seeking fame and recognition will be in there. As it's rumoured he's either projecting the Elementals or has somehow summoned them, in order to appear heroic and channel some of Peter Parker's fandom, it would make sense that he's motivated primarily my fame-hunger.

His motivations, though, arguably aren't the most interesting thing about him. The most interesting thing is how he manages to do what he does. From the trailer, he's capable of unassisted flight (on some sort of cloud) as well as firing energy beams from his hands. The second part could easily be down to something like movie effects work, particularly if the Elementals are in cahoots with him (otherwise, they'd presumably just smush him for firing glorified laser pens at him). Flying, though, is a harder thing to achieve even with great effects skills. It's not impossible, it's just a harder thing to manage.

Then again, it actually makes more sense that this version of Mysterio isn't as closely based on the comics as we might expect. He may not even be an effects wizard.

3. How Marvel Messes With The Source Material

Think about it: there aren't many villains in the MCU whose motivation and backstory is exactly as they are in the comics. Thanos is about as close as it gets, while Ultron, Killmonger and Red Skull are similar (though their backstories are completely changed to fit the MCU's storyline), but almost every other major baddy is changed somehow.

Zemo is nothing like he was in the comics; Yellowjacket was completely rewritten, just as Hela was; The Mandarin was (rightly) remodelled; the Chitauri were unrecognisable from the comics... All of them were shaped to fit the existing narrative of the MCU. What they took from the comics was often no more than their name.

That goes for pretty much all of the villains we've already seen in this Spider-Man continuity too. The Shocker became two low-level goons, Aaron Davis/The Prowler is just a petty thug and obviously, The Vulture became a scrap merchant with a vendetta against the government and Stark Industries. Only The Tinkerer was anything like what he was in the comics.

It's probably better to consider the MCU as another branch of the comics, rather than an adaptation of them. The films use established pieces of lore, retcons things and reimagines others in the same way that new comics continuities do. The most important thing for MCU story-tellers is writing to the brief established by existing continuity in the movie series, rather than a duty to the comics. So, it wouldn't be out of the realms of possibility that this Mysterio is simply a different entity entirely.

All he could be drawing from the comics is his name and the fact that he appears to have magical powers (or does). Oh and his fishbowl costume, which is a surprising but very welcome development for the movie. In that case, then, where does he get his powers from? Could it be he's more like Vulture...?