The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been going strong for a decade, and is showing no signs of slowing down. But as Avengers: Endgame will end Phase Three and likely see many of the OG heroes departing their roles in the franchise. As such, new characters must be brought into fill in the ranks. The first movie in the mysterious Phase Four will be Spider-Man: Far From Home, with Jake Gyllenhaal making his Marvel debut as the iconic villain Mysterio.
Jake Gyllenhaal's Mysterio appearance in the first Far From Home trailer basically broke the internet, as fans debated his costume, powers, and whether or not he could actually be a good guy. Gyllenhaal recently spoke to his upcoming Marvel role, and explained why it took him so long to join the genre, saying:
It's great. He's a great character. It's one of those things, people have asked me for a number of years, 'You wanna do a movie like that? If you were asked to, would you?' And my response has always been, particularly since being at Sundance, so many of the stories have always been, for many years since I've been coming here, character-driven. And that has always been my desire, is to find something in that space, that seems to match my skill and also my own honesty. And it just so happened that it does with that part, so I'm glad that people feel excited about it.
Life is about timing, and that also applied to Jake Gyllehaal and his long career. While he's got the acting abilities and physicality to play a variety of comic book characters, he had to wait for a story and character that would reach out to him. Mysterio is just that presence, colliding with fan favorite Spider-Man in the web slinger's second solo movie in the MCU.
Jake Gyllenhaal's comments to LA Times show how methodically the 38 year-old actor approaches his career, and selects each new project to work on. While he had humble roots in movies like Bubble Boy and Donnie Darko, Gyllenhal has become one of the Hollywood's most sought after leading men.
As such, his name as been thrown around for a variety of comic book characters. Prior to his appearance as Marvel's Mysterio, moviegoers put him on the short list to possible replace Ben Affleck as DC's Batman. While it's still unclear if Affleck is retiring the cape and cowl, Jake Gyllenhaal has already found another comic book character to bring to the screen. And unlike Batman, no one has ever played Mysterio in live-action before.
It should be fascinating to see how Mysterio functions within Spider-Man: Far From Home's narrative. The trailer made him look like a hero of sorts, so exactly how will he and Spider-Man come to blows? We'll just have to wait and see.
Spider-Man: Far From Home will arrive in theaters on July 5th, 2019. In the meantime, check out our 2019 release list to plan your trips to the movies in the New Year.
