Spider-Man Theory: Mysterio Is A Hero AND Villain In Far From Home

What is Mysterio's role in Spider-Man: Far From Home - and is he really a hero? The first trailer for Spider-Man: Far From Home debuted at CCXP 2018, and it didn't take long for descriptions to circulate online. Sony and Marvel face a lot of difficult decisions when it comes to marketing the film, given it releases just two months after Avengers: Endgame and is set minutes after the Avengers sequel's ending. They appear to have gotten around that by carefully avoiding any references to Thanos, the snap, or the circumstances of Spider-Man's resurrection. Instead, by all accounts the trailer features a lot of character moments, hints at a romance between Tom Holland's Peter Parker and Zendaya's MJ, and teases that Jake Gyllenhaal's Mysterio may well be a hero.

The trailer was expected to release online in early December, hot on the heels of trailers for both Captain Marvel and Avengers: Endgame. It's possible Sony agreed to delay the trailer drop until the hype for Avengers 4 had died down a little; as time passes, though, it increasingly seems as though the studio has adjusted its marketing strategy, meaning it's likely the trailer shown at CCXP has been edited. Spider-Man's death in Avengers: Infinity War makes selling Spider-Man: Far From Home to audiences pretty tricky, after all. While hardcore fans know the characters killed in the snap are sure to return, how would the average moviegoer deal with watching the consequences of the snap in an Avengers: Endgame trailer - and then seeing the very next trailer feature Tom Holland returning as Spider-Man?

Whatever's actually going on, right now Marvel lovers are in an unusual position. A trailer may not have released online, but detailed descriptions of the CCXP trailer have hinted at a lot of plot details for the Spider-Man sequel. They've been reinforced by comments from the cast, who also turned out in force at CCXP. And that means it's possible to speculate about some of Spider-Man: Far From Home's main twists - including just who the villains really are.

This Page: Mysterio Isn't The "Villain" of Spider-Man: Far From Home
Page 2: Mysterio Is A "Flawed Hero" In Far From Home Theory

The Elementals Are Spider-Man: Far From Home's Villains

Speaking at CCXP, Tom Holland revealed that the villains of Spider-Man: Far From Home are four mysterious Elementals who are wreaking havoc in Europe. The Elementals are a pretty deep cut into Marvel lore, four powerful and dangerous beings who were introduced in Supernatural Thrillers back in 1974. Originating from another plane of reality, they first came to Earth over 3,000 years ago, and set themselves up as Egyptian gods; fortunately, they were banished to yet another dimension, from which they've watched and waited for millennia, plotting their return. True to their name, each Elemental has mastery of a different one of the four Elements. Hydron is the self-styled Lord of the Waters, Magnum is able to manipulate the ground itself, Hellfire is a pyrokinetic, and Zephyr calls herself "Mistress of the Winds." Each is arrogant and self-serving, meaning they tend to undermine one another, and don't make a particularly effective team. Zephyr, who was once a serving girl in her reality, is the only one with anything resembling a conscience.

In the original Supernatural Thrillers comic, the Elementals successfully transported N'Kantu, the Living Mummy, to their realm. They revealed that they had been imprisoned in this dimension by use of a mystic scarab gem, and that they sought a way to escape back to Earth. The Elementals originally sought to use N'Kantu as their agent to acquire the gem, and Zephyr was able to use her powers to bend his will to serve them. N'Kantu was able to break free, and the Elementals decided to take direct action themselves. They were ultimately betrayed by Zephyr, who decided to side with humanity against them and allied with Carol Danvers (then called Ms. Marvel); in the comics, they haven't been seen since the 1970s.

In Spider-Man: Far From Home, it looks as though the Elementals are already free and are launching devastating attacks in Europe. They appear to be working independently, with the trailer showing Spider-Man battling one Elemental after another. Assuming their MCU backstory is similar to the comics (they were originally rumored to be Molten Man and Hydro-Man), this may mean that the Elementals have been freed from the dimension they had been banished to millennia ago, and are seeking to set themselves up as gods once again.

Mysterio's Role In Spider-Man: Far From Home

Although Mysterio is usually a villain, Spider-Man: Far From Home appears to treat him as a hero. As Holland explained in an interview at CCXP:

"There are these threats to the world, the Elementals, elemental creatures. And Mysterio is someone who knows about them and wants to make sure that the world is safe from them. And Nick Fury asks him to come on and help because he's the only one who really understands them. And then he teams up with friendly neighborhood Spider-Man and unfortunately has to make him become more than a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man."

Jacob Batalon confirmed this, describing Mysterio as "a good guy in this." These comments have raised quite a few eyebrows; the classic Mysterio is an egotistical special effects artist who became a supervillain because he thought he could become famous for killing a superhero. He's normally portrayed as completely self-centered, and he's most certainly never been described as a hero.

Fans are generally assuming that the MCU's version of Mysterio is similarly self-absorbed, and that he believes his way to achieving fame is to become a hero. To this end, so it's argued, the MCU Elementals are just special effects that he's rigged; nothing more than props to make Mysterio look like a superhero when he vanquishes them. While this would be an interesting plot, setting up a fun twist part way through Spider-Man: Far From Home, it has one major problem; it's a little too obvious. Marvel do indeed like having a major twist partway through their films - think of the Vulture twist in Spider-Man: Homecoming, Killmonger's link to the Royal Family of Wakanda in Black Panther, or Ego's being responsible for Meredith Quill's death in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 - but they aren't usually so easy to predict.

The simple fact remains that Mysterio is traditionally a villain, and anybody who does even a little research into the character will automatically approach the film distrusting him. Even a basic check on Wikipedia will confirm that the various versions of Mysterio are "enemies of Spider-Man." Anyone who's ever seen the character before, whether in an animated series or in a comic, will know that he's a bad guy. When a trailer finally drops online, every single trailer breakdown will talk about Mysterio as a villain. If this is the plot twist, it's frankly a little weak. So is Marvel planning to do something else with Mysterio in Spider-Man: Far From Home?

Page 2 of 2: Mysterio Is A "Flawed Hero" In Far From Home Theory

What Is Mysterio's Connection To The Elementals?

Let's assume, then, that the Elementals really are the villains of Spider-Man: Far From Home, and not just Mysterio's creations. If that's the case, Mysterio must have some sort of connection to them. According to Holland, after all, Mysterio knows about the Elementals and wants to protect the world from them. So why is Mysterio the best man to help Spider-Man battle these extradimensional beings, rather than Doctor Strange?

The fact Mysterio knows about the Elementals may in itself offer an important clue. Just as in the comics, the Elementals have presumably been absent from Earth for a reason. In the Supernatural Thriller story, the Elementals initially sought an agent to free them from another dimension. It's possible that, in the MCU, Mysterio himself was that agent. Crucially, while Mysterio has traditionally been viewed as a Hollywood stuntman using gimmicks for crime, over the years he's gradually transformed into an actual mystic - even becoming an agent of Mephisto (Marvel's equivalent to the Devil) for a while. In the Spider-Men comic book story, Mysterio actually proved to have worked out how to cross between different dimensions.

Perhaps the MCU Mysterio in Spider-Man: Far From Home is more akin to the modern version, a man who has indeed unraveled some of the mysteries of the Multiverse - and who has unwittingly become a pawn of the Elementals.

Mysterio Could Become A Flawed Hero In Spider-Man: Far From Home

All this means that Mysterio could indeed be a hero in Spider-Man: Far From Home - albeit a flawed one, a man who's trying to put right the wrongs he's committed in unleashing the Elementals upon Earth in the first place. Assuming the character is remotely similar to the comic book version, of course, he's unlikely to be willing to admit that he's responsible for all the chaos. Given that's the case, the plot twist may be when Spider-Man discovers the truth about how the Elementals were freed.

Meanwhile, if Zephyr did indeed manage to take control of Mysterio once before, why couldn't she do it again? This could set up a plot where Mysterio betrays Spider-Man, Nick Fury, and Maria Hill, becoming a servant of the Elementals once more. There'd certainly be a tragic irony if Mysterio's attempt to defeat the Elementals led to his being blamed for the havoc they've been wreaking, and he thus became a criminal and supervillain by accident rather than intent.

It's generally assumed that the Spider-Man franchise is heading towards some sort of supervillain team-up, with the wall-crawler taking on the MCU's version of the Sinister Six; this Spider-Man: Far From Home plot could perfectly position a bitter and dejected Mysterio to become part of that team-up.