We’ll be discussing Spider-Man: Far From Home spoilers right off the bat here, so if you still haven’t got round to seeing Peter Parker’s latest solo outing, then you may want to stop reading right this second.
If you’re still with us, then you’re likely aware that Spidey’s clash with Quentin Beck ends with the latter’s apparent demise. But given how many fake deaths the MCU has already delivered, is it possible that we haven’t seen the last of Mysterio? Well, let’s look at our options.
Now, one theory that should immediately spring to mind is the notion that Quentin’s death may have actually been staged. After all, this is a master of illusion we’re talking about here. There’s just one problem: the writers at Marvel seemed to have anticipated this idea, and in a likely attempt to discourage such speculation, they gave EDITH some lines assuring Peter and the audience that Mysterio’s death was no illusion.
However, as Screen Rant recently observed, Spider-Man’s A.I. had previously been in the hands of Quentin himself. With that in mind, perhaps we shouldn’t rule out the possibility that Beck had recently tampered with Tony Stark’s technology, causing it to tell Peter what Quentin wanted him to hear.
Of course, if Jake Gyllenhaal’s character ever did return to the fray, then many a Far From Home viewer would no doubt be left feeling cheated. You could therefore argue that a more agreeable way of bringing Mysterio back into the MCU would be having someone else take up the mantel. What’s interesting about this idea is that it ties into the notion that Mysterio was more of a brand and a façade than an actual person. To a large extent, he was a character fabricated by a team of collaborators, and while Quentin was the main player in the operation, the technology to create the illusion of Mysterio still exists in the MCU.
Lastly, there’s always the remote possibility that Quentin’s lies will ultimately become truth. In other words, another Mysterio could some day emerge from a parallel timeline. Granted, this would be a pretty huge coincidence, but seeing how Avengers: Endgame already introduced the notion of alternate realities, you have to imagine that the Marvel team has plans to follow through on their multiverse idea.
In any case, now that Spider-Man: Far From Home is in theaters, Marvel is finally finished with their 2019 slate, giving fans the rest of the year to speculate on the possibilities of the MCU’s Phase 4.