In Spider-Man: Far From Home, we saw Peter Parker on his class trip overseas taking on the Elementals with Earth-833 superhero Mysterio. During this time Mysterio became a new mentor to Peter, a seasoned superhero that could help guide him like Tony Stark before his passing. However, that proved to be a lie and Peter had to reveal Mysterio’s manipulations which resulted in Mysterio’s presumed death (not caused by Peter).
Using editing technology, Mysterio was able to frame Peter Parker for his death while also outing Peter’s identity as Spider-Man to the world. This was the insane cliffhanger audiences lost their minds about, as the next movie appeared to be prepared to become a manhunt-style film…perfect for a character like Kraven the Hunter.
Mysterio: How He Could Return
With the character of Mysterio, the deadliest thing about him is the combination of intelligence, creativity, technology, and delusion he possesses. This allows him to manipulate Peter Parker, the public, S.H.I.E.L.D., and potentially anyone else with fabricated stories which he then attempts to accredit with holograms or other technology. Along with technically being deceased, Mysterio has a lot of leverage. However, the character is one for dramatics and likely is waiting for something dramatic to set up his “return,” which has happened before for various characters in the comics.
Since his story technically isn’t finished with the cliffhanger from Far From Home, it would make sense for Mysterio to return in Spider-Man 3. His role would be more of the puppet-master, but essentially someone manipulating events to secure he has no more loose-ends before making his dramatic return. The public still views Mysterio as a hero so Spider-Man 3 can’t end with that narrative, and the only way to correct it is with Mysterio returning and being exposed to the world. This is primarily why his return makes the most sense first and foremost.
Kraven: How He Could Be Implemented
As we mentioned the character of Mysterio being more behind-the-scenes, he’ll need to manipulate a physical antagonist for Spider-Man. The most likely choice would be a mercenary-type figure since Mysterio would want them to “finish” Peter Parker before making his triumphant return to the public. Especially if they go the route of a manhunt-type film, a perfect choice would be Kraven the Hunter. It has also been well-established that creative leaders within both Marvel Studious and Sony Pictures want the character for a future Spider-Man film. This is rumored to be why Ryan Coogler couldn’t use him for his Black Panther franchise.
With Kraven the Hunter, the storyline will most likely take bits from his most famous storyline known as Kraven’s Last Hunt. During this storyline, Kraven proceeds to defeat Spider-Man before taking his own life. It’s an interesting story and something that can perfectly fit with his role in such a film. It’s possible, just like the comic series, that Kraven will not actually kill Spider-Man as contracted but instead heavily sedate him, bury him alive, and then leave after proving he was the victor of the hunt. From here Kraven could either retire on his own accord, take on another hunt, or get arrested…who cares as long as the execution is worth adapting such a storyline right?
What This Means For Spider-Man’s Future?
If Spider-Man 3 played out like the above speculation, it would mean we have yet another member of the Sinister Six established within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This would make things more interesting going forward as a potential Spider-Man 4 could result in Spider-Man battling the MCU Sinister Six. This would be a very interesting pay-off for the Sony-Disney deal considering how both studios exercised patience building up to an Endgame-like scenario for Peter Parker’s character. If each film is a psuedo-school period, then we would have followed Peter across his high school career.
- Sophomore Year – Captain America: Civil War & Spider-Man: Homecoming
- Summer Before Junior Year – Spider-Man: Far From Home
- Junior Year – Spider-Man 3
- Senior Year – Potential Spider-Man 4
For the character of Mysterio, it could develop a deeper hatred for Peter Parker which fits perfectly with him becoming a supervillain targeted towards Spider-Man. Of course, Scorpion also works as a villain for Spider-Man 3 but the manhunt element just suits Kraven the Hunter better. Scorpion can still appear as a secondary antagonist or maybe built up for a potential Spider-Man 4 instead, but it seems like Mysterio will return for sure based on the need to finish the storyline from Far From Home.
What do you think of Mysterio and Kraven the Hunter as villains for Spider-Man 3? Leave your comments down below and feel free to follow me at @JBaldera27 on Twitter!
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