In the current landscape of the MCU, it seems as though Doctor Strange has become a pretty central character for nearly every other Marvel hero (or villain), including Thor, Spider-Man, Scarlet Witch, and even the entirety of the Avengers. Now, it has been revealed that Doctor Strange is linked to yet another MCU character–a shocking connection that was established in this particular villain’s Marvel Comics origin.
Quentin Beck aka Mysterio made his debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the film Spider-Man: Far From Home. In the film, Mysterio claims to be a warrior from another universe who traveled to the MCU’s Earth-616 to stop a group of powerful multiversal entities of destruction who were hellbent on wreaking havoc on every Earth across the multiverse. However, it is soon revealed that Mysterio made up that entire story just to gain the trust of Nick Fury and, by extension, Spider-Man so that he could steal a powerful piece of technology that the late Tony Stark left to Spider-Man. While he initially came off as a hero akin to that of Doctor Strange, Mysterio was just a fraud who used cheap tricks and holograms to make himself seem like a mystical being.
In the Web of Spider-Man #4 story “Gauntlet Origins: Mysterio” by Fred Van Lente and Barry Kitson, readers are given a more detailed look into Mysterio’s origins as a supervillain prior to his official first appearance in Amazing Spider-Man #13 in which he framed Spider-Man for a string of crimes in an effort to make himself look like a hero. In Web of Spider-Man, Quentin Beck is having drinks with his mentor, a retired movie special effects master named Ray Bradhaus. Mysterio asks him how he pulled off one particular effect in a movie titled Il Mysterio. The effect in question was a far too-realistic-looking demon crawling down a wall behind a terrified actress. Beck needed to know how Bradhaus did this so he could do the same thing when creating his phony Spider-Man. However, Bradhaus refuses to reveal his secret, so Mysterio knocks him out and ventures into his secret back room where Beck discovers a haunting setup seemingly committed to the mystic arts.
While the truth is lost on Mysterio–as he still believed his mentor was simply unbelievably good at special effects–this issue revealed that Bradhaus used real magic to conjure a demon that he bound to himself in order to use it in his movie–the very movie that inspired Beck to be Mysterio. When Mysterio enters the hellish room committed to the occult, he has a run-in with the demon that inspired his career, though he thinks it is just an illusion. Little did Mysterio know, Doctor Strange was in his astral form right next to him, and exorcised the demon before it could do any harm to Beck. Once the demon is gone, Mysterio leaves the premises, at which point Doctor Strange enters Bradhaus’ house and helps him recover from Mysterio’s poison gas. Upon their conversation, readers learn that Doctor Strange helped Bradhaus way back when the foolish movie-maker first bound his soul to the demonic entity just to make a successful film. The only reason Beck became Mysterio was because of real magic that he perceived as a doable stunt, and because of its unbelievable nature, Mysterio committed himself to replicating that trickery through his villainous schemes.
Plus, Mysterio only lived to torment Spider-Man and the rest of Marvel’s heroes because Doctor Strange saved his life the night he unwittingly encountered real magic–making Doctor Strange directly responsible for Mysterio’s villainous actions and forever connecting him to this unlikely MCU villain.