Another important part of Halloween
is a bit of stage magic. Illusions and tricks are an important part of the
holiday. Sometimes, tricks can be simple. Props, actors and the proper sound
effects can create the illusion of a runaway train, a chainsaw wielding psycho,
and some ghouls. And that was just in a simple corn maze in Southern Minnesota.
Imagine what someone with a higher budget can do? Or who steals all his tech.
That’s the basis for one of Spider-Man’s most persistent foes, Mysterio.
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| Wonder if a fortuneteller could use his helmet as a crystal ball. |
Before getting his fishbowl helmet,
Mysterio was a special effects wizard and stunt man named Quentin Beck. Quentin
had big dreams about becoming a household name in the film industry, but slowly
became disillusioned with his effects work, feeling that the job was a dead
end. He tried to bust into acting, but unfortunately, he was significantly
better at stunts than running lines. Quentin eventually realized that his
skills with effects and illusions would make him an effective supervillain. He
created an elaborate costume, reworked some of his tech to help in his thievery,
and dubbed himself Mysterio. For his firsts big crime, he dressed up as
Spider-Man and framed him for robbing the Midtown Museum. He uses some of his
stuntman/special effects tech to mimic Spider-Man’s wall crawling and web
shooters, making it seem pretty obvious to law enforcement that Spider-Man was the
culprit. Mysterio’s plan was to convince folks Spider-Man was a crook, and then
introduce himself as a new hero intent on bringing Spider-Man in.
When the Wall-Crawler caught up to
Mysterio, he used hallucinogenic gas to disorientate Spider-Man and block his
spider-sense, and chemicals to dissolve Spider-Man’s webbing. Spider-Man made a
“strategic retreat,” and Mysterio claimed victory. Spider-Man changed back into
Peter Parker, introduced himself to Mysterio and stuck one of his spider-tracer
tracking devices to the “hero.” Spider-Man followed Mysterio to his
workshop/lair, and tricked Mysterio into revealing everything on tape.
Spider-Man then beat the snot out of Mysterio and turned him and the tape over
to the police. Mysterio vowed vengeance against Spider-Man. His chance came in
the form of Doctor Octopus and his Sinister Six. When Mysterio’s turn at
Spider-Man came up, he used robotic replicas of the X-Men and his usual sleight
of hand tactics against Spider-Man. Spider-Man was able to beat the robots and
Mysterio, moving on to the next villain, Sandman.
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| Everything about Mysterio is loud. His voice, the colors of his costume his effects. I'm amazed he's got the subtlety for illusions. |
After the Sinister Six fiasco,
Mysterio tried a different tactic. He created an alias, psychiatrist Dr. Ludwig
Rinehart, and used his technology and hypnosis on Spider-Man. He tried to drive
the Web-Head crazy, and nearly succeeded in convincing Spider-Man to take off
his mask. In a fun bit of irony, J. Johan Jameson burst into “Rinehart’s”
house. Spider-Man then unmasked Mysterio and saw him get put away. He later
used post-hypnotic suggestion and an elaborate set of miniatures of a funfair
to convince Spider-Man that he’d been shrunk to only six inches high. Spider-Man
was able to see past this elaborate hoax and again, beat the snot out of him.
He suffered a couple more major,
and at times humiliating, defeats at the hands of Spider-Man before changing
targets for a bit. After one of his latest schemes failed, he was released
early from prison. He’d been diagnosed with lung cancer and a brain tumor, two
side effects of the chemical’s he’s been using over the last couple of years. He
was given a year to live. He wanted to exact vengeance on Spider-Man, but
mistakenly deduced that Spider-Man had been replaced by a clone. This did
totally happen, the clone Spider-Man thing, but by the time Mysterio got out
the real Spider-Man was back in action. Way to screw up yet again, Beck. So he
shifted his sights to another hero that had crossed his path in recent weeks,
Daredevil. Mysterio felt that the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen would be the perfect
foe for him, as, at the time, they were both “second stringers.” I wonder how
Mysterio would react if he knew how popular DD would become by 2015?
Mysterio payed Kingpin to get all
the details the evil mastermind had on Daredevil. Mysterio came up with a
pretty diabolical plan to destroy Daredevil. He used a designer drug to slowly
drive Daredevil insane. He nearly tricked Daredevil into killing a baby, the
baby had been accused of being the Anti-Christ. Mysterio was much more
effective at attacking Daredevil’s friends. He tricked Karen Page into thinking
she had HIV and had her killed by Daredevil’s nemesis, Bullseye. He also framed
DD’s partner Foggy Nelson for murder. He also got Daredevil to believe that the
forces of Hell were after him. Daredevil was strong enough to fight through
most of the effects, and got Doctor Strange to excise the remaining toxin from
DD’s bloodstream.
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| You'd think the gas tanks he has to lug around would make his cape bulge out more. |
Daredevil learned Mysterio was
behind all of his recent troubles and went to “have words” with the villain. And
by that I mean they fought and Daredevil punched Mysterio so hard he shattered
Mysterio’s fishbowl helmet. The thing is made out of Plexiglas, so you can
probably guess how hard he had to punch the bowl. Mysterio had hoped that
Daredevil would kill him, as he felt it would be a “grand way to end his final
show.” His hope for a grand exit was dashed when Daredevil didn’t kill him. Daredevil instead dismissed Mysterio’s scheme as a
B-Movie plot and that Mysterio had just stolen ideas from other villain’s
plans. Kingpin had done the “drug him to make him nuts” idea, and that Mysterio
had done “the minions of hell attacking” plot against J. Johan Jameson. This really
did break Mysterio’s psyche, and he decided to steal something from Kraven the
Hunter, and shot himself in the head. Again, like soooooooo many other
villains, this wasn’t the end of Mysterio. Can’t even keep a B-List
supervillain down.
Quinten Beck is an experience
special effects designer, stage illusionist, and stunt man. He’s also a master
hypnotist, and has developed skills in chemistry and robotics. He’s got a bunch
of gadgets hidden away in his clock and costume. He can shoot out hallucinogenic
gases from his suit, or just a normal smokescreen. His boots have magnetic coil springs that
allow him to leap huge distances, and cling to surfaces. His helmet, while
silly, has some nifty things too. Like a sonar device that lets him detect
things in his smokescreens, an air supply to protect him from his own dangerous
gases, and can project 3d holograms.
Mysterio has appeared a few times
outside the comics. As Daredevil put it, he’s more of a B-Lister in Spider-Man’s
rogue’s gallery. He’s the bad guy better bad guy’s hire as the distraction.
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| He get's points for ingenuity. Keep in mind this is all a trick. |
He was a recurring character in Spider-Man: The Animated Series. They follow
his comic book origin pretty well, in the episode “The Menace of Mysterio,”
that he’s a former special effects artist that blames Spider-Man for his failed
career. He’d used real bombs in a movie set, put too much gunpowder into them
and nearly killed everyone in his crew. Spider-Man saved the day, and ruined
his career. He used his tech to frame Spider-Man for several crimes around New
York before being brought to justice. He’s part of the shows version of the
Sinister Six. They call it the Insidious Six for some reason. He’s mostly back
up.
He appeared as a recurring villain
in The Spectacular Spider-Man. I
haven’t seen his episodes, so I can’t really comment in detail. Just know that
if you want to see Mysterio, he’s in this show.
Mysterio would have appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man movie franchise,
had they not reached that deal with Marvel and rebooted the series again. He
would have been part of Harry Osborn’s Sinister Six. No idea who would have
played him.
He’s also appeared in nearly every
Spider-Man game to date. Seriously, there’s nearly two dozen games that he’s a
part of. Usually as a lesser supporting villain. Basically, if it’s a
Spider-Man game, odds are he’s in it.
Mysterio is an okay villain. He’s
essentially Spider-Man’s Scarecrow, using dangerous gas to manipulate his foe’s
perception. I do like the “B-Lister” angle that the character has, a trait he
shares with baddies like Shocker, and how frustrated he is about not being
taken seriously. And I’ll give him points for some of his more grandiose schemes,
like the tricking Spider-Man into thinking that he’s only 6 inches high. That takes
a lot of time and commitment, just saying. His helmet is silly, but it is one
of the most iconic villain looks that have ever been created. He’s the master illusionist,
the king of stuntmen, the Mysterious Mysterio. Next time, the vampire hunting Blade.
http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/marveldatabase/images/d/d9/Mysterio_003.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20120125084314
http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/marvelanimated/images/4/4a/Mysteriocool.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20080729002710
http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/marvelheroicrp/images/2/2a/Mysterio.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20120730203437
https://www.reddit.com/r/whowouldwin/comments/32d9yq/mysterio_vs_scarecrow/
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