Who Mysterio is
Far From Home takes place not long after Avengers: Endgame. Peter Parker is on a school trip to Europe, desperate to be a normal kid for a few weeks and still shaken by the loss of Tony Stark. Then giant creatures made of water and fire start attacking, and a man in a fishbowl helmet and green cape shows up to fight them. Nick Fury introduces him as Quentin Beck, and the news soon dubs him Mysterio.
Beck is charming, tired and very good at saying what Peter needs to hear. He talks about losing his own family and his own world. For a teenager who has just lost his mentor, a grown-up hero who seems to understand him is exactly what he wants.
His two films in order
- Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019, film, recommended)
- Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021, film, essential)
His main role is in Far From Home. In No Way Home he appears only briefly, but his actions set up the entire plot.
The turns in his story
Comic fans already know that Mysterio is a master of illusions, and the film uses that reputation cleverly. Without giving the game away: nothing in Far From Home is quite what it looks like, and the second half plays with what Peter, and the audience, can trust. The sequences built on illusion are some of the most inventive in any Spider-Man film.
Do not skip the mid-credits scene. It is short, it features a familiar loud-mouthed news anchor, and it changes Peter's life overnight. No Way Home picks up seconds later, which is why we mark that film essential for anyone following this story.
The people caught in his web
Beck's real focus is Spider-Man (Peter Parker), along with the Stark technology Peter inherited. Peter's classmates are in the crossfire: MJ (Michelle Jones) is the first to notice that something is off, and Ned Leeds is busy with a holiday romance with Betty Brant. Flash Thompson streams everything to his followers. And J. Jonah Jameson is the voice that carries Beck's story into the next film.
Jake Gyllenhaal as Quentin Beck
Gyllenhaal clearly has fun with the role. He plays the warm, slightly sad mentor so sincerely that you believe him, and then he lets a theatrical streak show through. The performance works because he never winks too early. Outside the MCU, he is known for dark and memorable parts: the troubled teenager in Donnie Darko, the cowboy in Brokeback Mountain and the unsettling freelance cameraman in Nightcrawler.
Best order to watch
You need some context first. Far From Home leans hard on Avengers: Endgame and on Peter's bond with Tony Stark, so watch those first if you can. Spider-Man: Homecoming introduces Peter's school friends and is worth seeing before both.
Then go straight from Far From Home to No Way Home. The two films are tightly linked, and watching them back to back makes the opening of the second one hit harder. If you want to see where all of this sits in the bigger picture, our Marvel movies in order guide lists the whole run.