Master of Illusion: Mysterio Appreciation Thread 2019!

[Jimmy The Crabbo]

Mysterio Appreciation Thread

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A thread to discuss everyone's favourite fishbowl wearing illusionist; Quentin Beck AKA Mysterio! With Jake making his first appearance as him in Far From Home, and with all the Mephisto-related stuff happening in the comics, there's no time better than now to be a fan of 'ol Mysty.

History
Quentin Beck first appeared as the dome-headed menace in Amazing Spider-Man #13 where he plagued the we head through impersonations and deception. Since then, he has nearly driven him insane, came close to shattering Daredevil's psyche, and even tricked Wolverine into slaughtering all the X-Men in Old Man Logan!

[Revolutionary_Jack]

Mysterio has always been one of my favorite Spider-Man villains. I first became a fan after seeing the Activision 2000 game and Mysterio there had an awesome boss fight, personality, style, and sass. And the fishbowl rocks. He totally makes it work.

I always felt that Spider-Man writers never really did enough with him. Mysterio really has potential to be a Goblin/Octopus/Venom level bad guy and ideally he's waiting for the people who can do for him what the Arkham Games did for Scarecrow, also a villain with an awesome gimmick who was never properly utilized but then the right people made Scarecrow a pantheon-level Arch-Rogue, getting into the ring with Joker and Ra's.

I think Mysterio is like Mr. Mxyzsptlk or Toyman in Superman. Also seen and dismissed as minor rogues but the right stories and adapters (Moore and Bruce Timm in the case of those two) did wonders with both of them. He's basically a trickster and an artist. So there's host of untapped potential there.

[VGCinema]

Mysterio is personally my favorite Spider-Man villain. I know that's probably crazy, but it's true. The first time I met the character was in Spider-Man for the PS1, the whole mystery with the other Spider-Man and finally getting to the basement of the Bugle and you meet him face to face only for him to be this random guy with a fishbowl on his head, then he grew elevinty-seven times bigger. As an however year old kid that was absolutely mind blowing for me. Ever since then I've just loved him. I also just love villains that trip up the hero consistently. It's the same reason Riddler is my favorite Batman villain. It's all psychological and the fists only come out if its completely necessary. Maybe I have Mysterio all wrong, but this is how I've always felt about him.

[Jimmy The Crabbo]

I agree with both of you, he's almost criminally (ha funny) underrated in terms of his capabilities. If people stopped laughing at the dang fishbowl (which hopefully Jake will bring) he could be a Goblin-tier threat.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

I agree with both of you, he's almost criminally (ha funny) underrated in terms of his capabilities. If people stopped laughing at the dang fishbowl (which hopefully Jake will bring) he could be a Goblin-tier threat.

People need to own up to the fishbowl, it actually does look creepy...I mean think about it a guy without a head and a transparent dome. It totally works.

Also he's the only one of Ditko's rogues to rock a cape...a purple cape, how badass is that! After him, Hobgoblin brought capes back.

I don't like the idea of Jake Gyllenhaal giving Mysterio face time. Quentin Beck isn't as iconic a character as Mysterio.

[Mistah K88]

People need to own up to the fishbowl, it actually does look creepy...I mean think about it a guy without a head and a transparent dome. It totally works.

Also he's the only one of Ditko's rogues to rock a cape...a purple cape, how badass is that! After him, Hobgoblin brought capes back.

I don't like the idea of Jake Gyllenhaal giving Mysterio face time. Quentin Beck isn't as iconic a character as Mysterio.

You know, a few of Spider-Mans masked rogues aren't as iconic as their masks. I think the only ones who hold that title as being on the same tier with their masks are the Osborns. The only thing I could think of Quentin Beck is the fact that he looks like Moe of the 3 Stooges.

I do wonder if he will be played straight in the movie, or if there would be some hammy over-acting coming form him.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

You know, a few of Spider-Mans masked rogues aren't as iconic as their masks. I think the only ones who hold that title as being on the same tier with their masks are the Osborns. The only thing I could think of Quentin Beck is the fact that he looks like Moe of the 3 Stooges.

Yeah. Kraven and Dr. Octopus are unique for being without a mask. Sandman has Osborn-esque curly hair but his most important visual trait is that green striped tee-shirt. Dr. Octopus has this fascinatingly ugly look and cool silhouette design with those four arms and so on. Kraven the Hunter is also even more unique even if his costume is even less movie-friendly than Mysterio's. Ryan Coogler said that he wanted to include Kraven in Black Panther and to be honest, he would have fit in that place and aesthetic better than Spider-Man's corner.

Goblin and Norman Osborn has an iconic look which is important since he's Spider-Man's foil and arch-nemesis so he needs to have two distinct personas.

I do wonder if he will be played straight in the movie, or if there would be some hammy over-acting coming form him.

You know, a while back when I was discussing online and with some friends about how you could work in and tie Spider-Man rogues, I pitched an idea...what if Mysterio was...Trevor Slattery aka Ben Kingsley aka the "fake" Mandarin from Iron Man 3? Ben Kingsley already established a character in MCU as a Hollywood hack and creep, and someone with an experience in using mass media to prank/troll/and trick people albeit unintentionally then. So make that guy Mysterio...I mean they're already making the MCU Spider-Man into an Iron Man sub-franchise so why not do it in a way that is cool and would make sense.

[Hypestyle]

I'm lost in whatever apparently happened after the Daredevil storyline from 20 years ago.

So will there be any Mysterio themed TPB compilations when the movie is poised to be released?

[Miles To Go]

[HypnoHustler]

I love Mysterio. A lot of people cite ASM#39-40 (Norman Osborn unmasked) or ASM#50 (Spider-Man no more) as their favorite Lee/Romita Sr issues... and those are certainly classics... but for me, ASM#66-67 where Mysterio tricks Spidey into thinking he’s small and in a giant fair ground will always be my favorite from that era. And that 2-parter is also my favorite Mysterio arc.

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[Huntsman Spider]

I'm lost in whatever apparently happened after the Daredevil storyline from 20 years ago.

So will there be any Mysterio themed TPB compilations when the movie is poised to be released?

To make a long story short, Quentin Beck was dead. Then he wasn't. Peter David hinted, if not outright stated, in Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man that Beck owed his return from the grave to mysterious supernatural forces with a vested interest in Spider-Man. Then One More Day and Brand New Day came along, and Beck was reverted to his "standard" smoke-and-mirrors self, dismissing his supernatural resurrection as just another one of his tricks. Somewhere down the line, Beck got bored and decided to mess around in the Ultimate Universe via a robotic avatar he created, which resulted in the death of the Ultimate Kingpin and Beck himself eventually being imprisoned in the Ultimate Universe after finding out Spider-Man's true identity through reports of Ultimate Peter Parker's death.

Then Secret Wars happened and when the Marvel Multiverse was being reconstructed by the Future Foundation, Beck ended up back in the 616/"Prime" Marvel Universe and after some shenanigans in Spider-Man/Deadpool, he decided to lay low, only to be encountered by his supposed daughter Misty Beck (who might or might not have been a robot all along) and later by a resurrected/"reanimated" Ben Reilly in Peter David's Scarlet Spider, which also confirmed that Beck really did die and go to hell and was trying his damnedest not to end up there again. As of Amazing Spider-Man #1 by Nick Spencer, Beck returned to his criminal ways and after faking a mass alien invasion and being foiled by Spider-Man, he was set free by Janice Lincoln, alias Beetle, as his lawyer, who got him off on an insanity defense that Beck unwittingly aided by freaking out in court when confronted by a mysterious demonic entity claiming to have been responsible for his resurrection and more than willing to revoke Beck's new lease on life if Beck didn't live up to his end of the bargain.

Oh, and Old Man Logan, knowing that his time on this Earth is short, has set out to kill Beck as his last act, to ensure that Beck's part in the downfall of the superheroes from his future never happens. In case you're wondering, Mysterio apparently used his illusions to trick Wolverine into killing all the X-Men by making him see them as supervillains that had broken into the X-Mansion and were trying to kill everyone there, which quite understandably left Logan extremely traumatized with guilt, to the point that he refused to unsheathe his claws for any reason for a solid fifty years. Not sure how Mysterio was able to fool Logan's senses, but that was what happened in the original Old Man Logan story, and as of the twelve-part finale to the Old Man Logan saga called Dead Man Logan, Logan is out to ensure that never happens in this timeline/reality . . . by killing Mysterio.

[HypnoHustler]

I think Guardian Devil is an okay story (overrated, but still decent), but it was really arrogant of Smith to kill two iconic Stan Lee characters (dating back to the silver-age) in his very first Marvel story. Mysterio’s death was also basically a copy of Kraven’s death down to him referencing it before he does it. And this classic Spidey villain also dies in another hero’s book. For these reasons, I can’t blame future writers for undoing it and even ignoring Mysterio’s death. If I were a bullpen writer at the time, I’d be peeved that this Hollywood golden boy just swooped in out of nowhere and took him off the board.

[Huntsman Spider]

I think Guardian Devil is an okay story (overrated, but still decent), but it was really arrogant of Smith to kill two iconic Stan Lee characters (dating back to the silver-age) in his very first Marvel story. Mysterio’s death was also basically a copy of Kraven’s death down to him referencing it before he does it. And this classic Spidey villain also dies in another hero’s book. For these reasons, I can’t blame future writers for undoing it and even ignoring Mysterio’s death. If I were a bullpen writer at the time, I’d be peeved that this Hollywood golden boy just swooped in out of nowhere and took him off the board.

I can understand that reasoning and mentality. I'm pretty sure it was also frustrating for a lot of lifelong professionals in the comics industry, not just the longtime or lifelong fans and readers, to feel like they and their contributions were being pushed aside in favor of these "outsiders" to the industry who weren't just shaking s*** up, but outright blowing it up to build something new (or something else) on the remains.

[Miles To Go]

Mysterio and Hawkeye team up in Dead Man Logan#4

[MajorHoy]

from The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Vol. 1 No. 7 (July 1983):