Marvel brings back classic Spidey villain for new MCU series

He’s back and more evil than ever

Since his first appearance in 1964’s The Amazing Spider-Man #13, Mysterio has remained one of the web slinger’s most formidable adversaries and it seems as though his story is far from over.

Quentin Beck, otherwise known as Mysterio, has been a real thorn in Spider-Man’s backside since the early 60s and it seems as though the illusionist and actor turned criminal is back for more in the upcoming third season of Marvel Studio’s What If…?

As the main antagonist in 2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home and returning once more in the 2021 sequel Spider-Man: No Way Home, Jake Gyllenhaal took on the role before his ultimate demise at the hands of Peter Parker himself.

However, with the What If…? animated series reimagining noteworthy events in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and creating a multiverse of infinite possibilities, there may be a timeline where Mysterio didn’t die and leave Peter in quite a big mess.

Despite us now having confirmation of the actors set to star in season three of What If…?, Gyllenhaal himself is not mentioned which begs the question as to who will be voicing Mysterio in the upcoming series.

This would seem unlikely as the actor spoke about his time in the MCU with fondness back in 2022.

“It was such a cathartic thing to be able to throw away all that seriousness and really become the actor that I think I’ve always wanted to be,” he said.

“I think that we go through journeys in our life where we’re finding ourselves, and in the case of Spider-Man, I think I realized ‘hey, acting is really fun, you know, enjoy it!'”

What we do know is that Mysterio will make an appearance in the animated show and fans have recently been discussing this news over on r/Spiderman.

After an image was posted to the group featuring our first look at Mysterio in What If…? Season three, the comments soon started rolling in.

“I’m really excited for how they’ll finally tackle Mysterio’s victory,” the top comment read.

Another said: “Lol, rip Spider-Man he’s gonna die horribly… again”.

However, with Spider-Man himself seemingly not set to feature in the upcoming series, we wonder what Mysterio’s role will actually be without his rival.

What If…? Season three airs on 22 December, 2024 on Disney+.