It’s not easy to create a practical, comic-based look for a superhero or villain, and the 2025 movie schedule has continued to prove that point. We’re reminded of this fact whenever Colin Farrell’s woes from The Penguin are brought back into focus, and with two upcoming Marvel movies on the way, this subject will probably be getting some mileage. That fact only makes me appreciate actor Jake Gyllenhaal even more, as while he didn’t have to wear that Mysterio get-up all the time, the dude chose to do exactly that.
A piece of ScreenRant’s coverage from the run-up to the 2019 theatrical release of director Jon Watts’ middle installment of webslinging brought this fact to my attention. More specifically, the story came from producer Eric Carroll, who laid down the foundation of this anecdote as follows:
We were just assuming - since we did end up building a fully practical costume - that our actor wouldn't want to spend time in it, and then we were like, to make sure we get the caliber actor we want for this, we made it clear, 'we won't make you wear this stuff when you don't have to.'
I’m not the best person to ask about superhero costumes on sets, because I’ve never been asked to star in such a film, much to my surprise. So when I think of wearing something like a practical mockup of Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man suit all day, I’m kind of here for it.
However, I understand that the more accurate these costumes get, the bigger the pain they may be. Hours of time spent in a literally assembled wardrobe could eventually give way to wanting a grey mo-cap suit that allows the VFX wizards to fill in the rest in post, and you to return to your Disney+ subscription.
So I can definitely appreciate Eric Carroll explaining to his Spider-Man: Far From Home star that he didn’t need to wear the suit the whole time. In fact, his account of the discussion saw Carroll painting the picture of how Jake Gyllenhaal could show up to set looking like a “cool mercenary man,” with a “t-shirt on, leather jacket and jeans,” and still get his job done.
But of course, we’re talking about Jake Gyllenhaal, the guy who got insanely ripped for his Road House remake. He’s not a person who takes shortcuts, and he loves to find the core of a role through feeling it out. Nailing that point home through the rest of his story, Carroll shared this reaction:
...he was like, 'Can I be in the costume? I really feel the character, I get it.' So, not only is this costume practical, but he wears it everywhere it makes sense to wear it. So we think this looks amazing. We're super excited about bringing him to the screen.
Something tells me that even if Far From Home’s rumored Hulkbuster suit was the one being used, Mr. Gyllenhaal would have wanted to be in it as much as humanly possible. And in all fairness, his bonkers performance in Tom Holland’s second solo Spider-Man adventure does prove that the Donnie Darko star had a handle on this technological madman from frame one.
The results speak for themselves, and hopefully we'll get to see commitment and looks like this in Thunderbolts* and The Fantastic Four: First Steps as those MCU characters suit up to fight the next big bads.
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