Jake Gyllenhaal is joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Spider-Man: Homecoming 2's villain, Mysterio. After many years, the unthinkable happened in 2015 when Sony and Marvel Studios agreed to a deal to bring Spider-Man into the MCU. Tom Holland became the third person to play Peter Parker on the big screen and quickly established himself as a perfect fit. The deal brought both studios together to make Spider-Man: Homecoming where they successfully won over fans thanks to the movie's John Hughes style. One of the other major factors behind Homecoming's success was Michael Keaton as the villain Vulture, a performance that instantly put pressure on anyone who would have to follow.

Marvel and Sony have already announced that a sequel is coming just two months after Avengers 4, which gives it a potentially challenging marketing strategy. What we do know is that Spidey is heading overseas for his next adventure thanks to his latest threat. Who the villain is had yet to be revealed and the studios already missed out on their top choice for the role in Matt Damon. But, who they got instead may just be better.

According to a new report from THR, Jake Gyllenhaal is in talks to play Mysterio in the sequel as the film's main antagonist. Gyllenhaal was at one time ready to suit up as Spider-Man himself to replace Tobey Maguire for Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 2, so this has almost come full circle. He is joining a Spider-Man sequel after all these years but will instead be the one to torment the web-slinger.

Jake Gyllenhaal in Enemy 2014

Gyllenhaal is one of Hollywood's premiere actors and instantly makes him one of the biggest names to join the MCU (and that's saying something). He's been nominated for one Academy Award, but his snub for Nightcrawler is largely viewed as a major miss by the voters. Gyllenhaal's range should allow for him to bring every aspect of Mysterio to life. As long as the character is written well, there's little reason to believe Gyllenhaal couldn't deliver one of the best performances of a Marvel villain.

The other big aspect of this is that Mysterio is now confirmed to be the villain of Homecoming 2. The man behind Mysterio's fish-bowl helmet is Quentin Beck, a failed actor turned special effects guru. He uses these abilities to pull off various crimes and escape with ease. There's the potential for director Jon Watts to really have some fun exploring his power set and still gives Peter a villain that isn't completely beyond what he was used to dealing with before Thanos. All in all, Gyllenhaal potentially joining the MCU as Mysterio is terrific news and should only further increase excitement for Spider-Man: Homecoming 2.

MORE: Spider-Man: Homecoming 2 Sends Peter Overseas

Source: THR

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