Warning: This article contains spoilers for Spider-Man: No Way Home!
Spider-Man: No Way Home may have almost included the return of Mysterio.
New concept art from the recent Spider-Man sequel depicts Jake Gyllenhaal’s supervillain facing off against none other than Doctor Strange.
And it’s a familiar scene, too. It looks as though Mysterio would have been present for the final fight at the Statue of Liberty,
#SpiderMan: #NoWayHome had Mysterio involved in the final fight in early versions of concept art.
(via @reederdzn48) pic.twitter.com/I3gmVexXEs
— Phase Zero – MCU (@PhaseZeroCB) January 25, 2022
This impressive artwork from concept artist Andrew Reader shows that the return of the much-loved Spider-Man: Far From Home villain would have placed him alongside other iconic Marvel villains.
We already saw the return of Willem Dafoe as the Green Goblin, Alfred Molina as Doctor Octopus, Jamie Foxx as Electro, Rhys Ifans as The Lizard, and Thomas Hayden Church as Sandman.
And it begs the question – would this have ushered in our first Sinister Six team-up?
It’s unclear whether Mysterio would have played a major role in the movie, or whether this concept art was from a time when the multiverse mash-up was little more than a post-credit stinger. Of course, it’s also unclear whether this is the original Mysterio…
Killed off at the end of Spider-Man: Far From Home, the villainous Quentin Beck claimed to be a hero from an alternate universe. But Peter Parker eventually rumbled his deception, revealing that he was actually a disgruntled Stark Industries employee from the main MCU universe. And he is no hero at all.
But wouldn’t it be ironic if the No Way Home version of Mysterio actually was from another dimension of the multiverse?
Unfortunately, it looks as though Jake Gyllenhaal’s Mysterio was eventually cut, so we’ll never know quite how involved he was. But with Spider-Man: No Way Home becoming Sony’s highest-grossing film of all time it looks as though it didn’t really matter either way.
But the villains weren’t the only iconic Spider-Man characters to return.
Both Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield suited up once more for an incredible appearance in No Way Home. Garfield even admitted that he would play Spider-Man again.
Spider-Man: No Way Home stars Tom Holland as Peter Parker, along with Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield as their versions of Spider-Man. They’re joined by Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Marisa Tomei, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Jon Favreau.
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.
