Warning: spoilers from Spider-Man: Far From Home follow
In the Spider-Man: Far From Home mid-credits scene, Mysterio revealed Spider-Man’s identity to the world. Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Far From Home star Jake Gyllenhaal has weighed on Mysterio’s role in the movie, predicting that Mysterio’s “presence will be felt for a really long time.”
“The way I look at it is twofold: Mysterio exists as someone to teach Peter Parker a lesson,” Gyllenhaal said. “In my opinion, there’s no use for just a straight-up bad guy unless there’s a lesson to be learned. And the lesson, particularly for Peter, is what is growing up for real. The truth of it is, if I go back to earlier work that I did, the thing that I love about adolescence — and was terrible about adolescence — is that as you grow up, the world becomes totally unclear. One of the things that I loved about doing Donnie Darko, when I was Tom’s age, was that it portrayed adolescence in a way that I had not experienced through most high school movies.”
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Then the actor drew a comparison between his work of teaching Peter Parker with some other famous teacher like Star Wars’ Obi-Wan Kenobi.
“The courage that the filmmakers had in Far From Home to say, “We’re gonna bring in a villain that’s going to turn Peter’s world upside down and force him to be who he actually is to the whole world,” Gyllenhaal added. “’Nothing’s a secret anymore,’ that was amazing. As an audience member, not as the person who played Mysterio, I believe in Peter Parker, and I believe in Spider-Man, his power and how strong he is. What Mysterio reveals will end up helping Peter, somewhere. He’ll learn from it, and those are the best characters. The characters who teach our heroes a lesson don’t always have to be like Obi-Wan.”
Spider-Man: Far From Home is playing in theaters right now. Do you agree with Gyllenhaal on Mysterio’s role in Far From Home? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
