'Spider-Man: Far From Home': Is Jake Gyllenhaal's Mysterio Parker's friend-cum-mentor in Tony Stark's absence or a deadly foe?
'Avengers: Endgame' saw an epic battle between Thanos and the Avengers. In the end, it was Robert Downey Jr's Tony Stark who made the supreme sacrifice after he vaporized Thanos and his army, the exact way the Mad Titan wiped out half of humanity with a snap by wearing the infinity gauntlet.
And if there's one person who's feeling his loss a tad more than the others, it's Peter Parker (Tom Holland).
In many ways, Stark was not just a mentor and a friend, but also a fatherlike figure to young Parker. He was first recruited by Iron Man in an attempt to stop Team Cap as they aimed to prove the Winter Soldier's innocence and by not signing the Sokovia accords. Pete stepped up and -- quite comically and impressively -- played his part in subduing Cap's team in that showdown at Leipzig airport.
Moving on, Parker is now an Avenger -- he's played a great role in stopping Thanos, and yet, he can't celebrate because of Stark's demise. In all the footage that we have seen from 'Spider-Man: Far From Home', Parker is seen mourning and clearly the battle has left a scar. He struggles to deal with Stark's absence and just when he thinks a vacation might do him so good, he's pulled back by Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) to fight a new breed of supervillains -- not with the help of the Avengers, but with new support in the form of Jake Gyllenhaal's Quentin Beck aka Mysterio, who, as Fury famously puts it, is "from earth, just not ours."
One of the trailers show Parker and Beck having a conversation where the latter appears to be consoling Parker about Stark's death.
"Saving the world requires sacrifice. Sometimes people die." When he says this, it pretty much looks like he's referring to Stark. And it's safe to assume that Parker would have spoken to Beck about Stark at some point in the movie.
But if we were to go by the comics, Mysterio has been one of Spiderman's formidable foes and is famous for his manipulative skills. Some of the prominent fan theories making the rounds speculate whether Mysterio is setting up Spidey for a big fall?
That would definitely hurt him the most -- emotionally making him an easier target to take out at some later stage. With Parker already devastated by the outcome of the battle against Thanos, this would be a bit too much for the teen to bear, considering he's already lost a lot of people close to him at a young age.
In an interview, Holland, who has carved a name for himself for letting out spoilers, says, "When you hear the word, Mysterio, as a Spider-Man fan, you immediately think villain, and that’s not the case in our film. He’s a new addition to this world of heroes - he’s sort of my teammate throughout the movie." He also revealed that the dynamic between Peter and Quentin is "very much big brother, little brother. And Nick Fury is the head teacher, who is constantly telling me off. Because I don’t want to really be there, I want to go on holiday."
But again, will Beck's presence make up for the brilliant, cool, awesome but missing Tony Stark?
Stark was witty, and while he may have been harsh with Parker, he deeply believed that the young Avenger had great potential. Such was the faith and love he had for Parker that when the latter was back from the dead, he gave him a hug that had theaters around the world standing up and clapping.
Can Beck match up to Stark's coolness? We don't know. Will he, as rude as it may seem to imagine, stab Parker in the back emotionally? We don't know and are sincerely hoping that that's not the case.
Guess we'll know more when 'Spider-Man: Far From Home' hits the theaters on July 2.