Magicians have appeared throughout comic book history, both as heroes (such as the original Golden Age Green Lantern) and as villains (such as Marvel’s Asgardian beauty, the Enchantress). One such magic user who typically falls into that latter category not only celebrates his 55th year in comic books this year, but will also be gracing the silver screen in live-action form this summer – Mysterio.
The stuntman and special effects master who would go on to become one of Spider-Man’s foes first appeared in June 1964’s The Amazing Spider-Man #13. Quentin Beck had aspirations of making a name for himself in the movie business, but after his attempts to act fell flat and he realized that special effects would never get his name on a marquee, he turned his talents into an asset with slightly more malicious intent. Using his knowledge of special effects and illusion and combining them with his hand-to-hand combat skills gleaned from his stuntman background, Quentin took on the guise of Mysterio and quickly got to work as a villain. Though he was able to get around Spider-Man’s spider-sense with gas and could dissolve webbing, Mysterio was eventually captured and tossed in jail.
Mysterio eventually banded together with other members of Spidey’s rogues gallery to form the Sinister Six, and would be a consistent member of the villainous team throughout their history. He also began to lean more into his talents in hypnotism, coming close to getting Spider-Man to unmask himself on more than one occasion and going so far as to tricking him into thinking he had been shrunk to just six inches tall. However, Spidey would see through all of these illusions.
Quentin was later seen as a foe of Daredevil’s, and teamed up with the Kingpin to defeat him. However, Daredevil unmasked Mysterio by shattering his trademark helmet, but rather than killing him, he insulted Mysterio’s abilities, calling him a “human Xerox” that was unable to form an original thought or scheme of his own. Broken, Mysterio committed suicide – though he was sent back to Earth (now missing half his head from the gunshot wound) after his “superiors” in Hell decided he needed to be alive for the sake of a cosmic balance. He has continued to reappear as a consistent foe of Spider-Man in the years since, playing the role of a villain most of the time – though he has also teamed up with Spiedr-Man in order to take down other villains, such as Doctor Octopus.
Mysterio has been one of Spidey’s consistent antagonists over the last five and a half decades, and has appeared in other universes (such as Ultimate Marvel) as well as across various media, such as in the numerous Spider-Man animated shows. In Sam Raimi’s original Spider-Man film series, it was rumored (and later confirmed in 2016) that Bruce Campbell, who had made cameos in the three films, was supposed to have been revealed as Quentin, but this never came to fruition. In 2019, Mysterio will see his proper live-action film debut in Spider-Man: Far From Home, portrayed by Jake Gyllenhaal.