Spider-Man: No Way Homehas been smashing box office records for over a month, and the film delivered on the seemingly impossible, bridging the gap between three generations of Spider-Man fans while also telling a compelling and emotionally rich story in its own right. Seeing the return of characters likeWillem Dafoe’s Green Goblin,Charlie Cox’s Daredevil, and bothAndrew GarfieldandTobey Maguire’s versions of the webhead will go down as one of the most memorable cinematic experiences of all time. However, thanks to newly released concept art from No Way Home, it’s been revealed that another classic Spider-Man villain was set to return.
Concept art released by digital artist and set designerAndrew Reeder, who has worked on various other Marvel projects likeAvengers: Infinity War, revealed thatJake Gyllenhaal’s Mysterio was set to make an appearance. The concept art in question sees Mysterio in his costume fromSpider-Man: Far From Homefacing off against Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) next to an under renovation Statue of Liberty.
Fans will remember that this is where the epic final act of the film took place, filled to the brim with poster worthy moments, emotional payoffs, and crowd pleasing heroic acts, but having five villains instead of the classic six for “The Sinister Six” felt like a missed opportunity in the eyes of some fans. This concept art confirms that the filmmakers were at least trying to make the villainous team a reality, but villain overload might be to blame for having Mysterio cut from the film.
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Mysterio “died” at the end ofFar From Home, but in the MCU, death never seems to stick. Especially given that this is a character based around tricks and illusions, what we saw at the end ofFar From Homemight not be the reality of what actually happened. It would have been interesting to see Mysterio’s tech based deception go up against Doctor Strange’s magic, and this would have givenTom Holland’s Peter a villain of his own in the film, but this concept art hints that Mysterio’s story may not be done in the MCU.
Maybe he will show up inDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madnessalong with the dozen other rumored legacy characters? Only time will tell.
