Spider-Man: Far From Home Writers Considered Making Mysterio a Skrull

Mysterio almost ended up being a Skrull in Spider-Man: Far From Home, the film’s writers say. Fans’ first glimpse at a post-Avengers: Endgame Marvel Cinematic Universe, Far From Home had the difficult task of reestablishing the franchise after the Thanos arc, as well as craft a narrative that moves Peter Parker’s (Tom Holland) story forward. Between the positive reviews and its global box office haul, it seems like moviegoers enjoyed what director Jon Watts and screenwriters Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers came up with.

Far From Home addressed the implications of Thanos’ snap that dusted half of life in the universe, and Hulk’s follow-up snap five years later that brought them all back, early on. That way, the movie was able to focus on Peter’s narrative. Peter got caught in a classic Spider-Man conflict – his wants vs. his responsibility – as his fun trip to Europe was hijacked by Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), leading him to team-up with Quentin Beck/Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) f0r a new mission. As expected, Beck wasn’t the ally he presented himself to be. In the end, while Peter defeated him, the villain pulled off one final scheme against him – by revealing the young hero’s identity.

Fans were impressed with what Marvel Studios was able to do with Mysterio – a character many deemed unlikely to work on the big screen. But apparently, had the writers gone with an initial idea, Beck would’ve been a Skrull. Speaking with Collider, McKenna and Sommers reveal that the shape-shifting race was always going to be a part of Far From Home, so much so that the writing duo thought about using Skrull abilities as part of Mysterio’s deception.

Sommers: “There were some early, early versions of this movie where Mysterio was a Skrull… There were a lot of Skrull versions of the story early on. When you’re doing a con artist movie, what we finally landed on—we sat down and talked about how do we keep on fooling the audience, how do we keep on having a lot of fun reveals? How many distractions can we get away with before people want to murder us? [The Mysterio skrull reveal] was an early idea about why he was doing everything he was doing.”

McKenna: “I don’t think it ever made it to paper, necessarily, but we talked about it for a while. But we talked about a lot of stuff. We spent a lot of time in a windowless room with [director] Jon [Watts], and the folks from Marvel and Pascal Pictures, just talking it through. That’s what it is, in those early stages. It’s just a lot of talk. Going down different roads and just gradually refining things until you have a story.”

Marvel Studios only officially introduced the Skrulls early this year via Captain Marvel, a film set almost 25 years ago. And yet, it seems like Kevin Feige and his team are inclined toward utilizing them to their full potential. Far From Home already had Talos (Ben Mendelsohn) and his wife Soran (Sharon Blynn) impersonating Nick Fury and Maria Hill (Colbie Smulders). This led to the reveal that the real Fury has been up in space, occupied with another secret project fans believe to be S.W.O.R.D. This could be an indication that the Skrulls will play a pivotal part in the MCU moving forward.

Regardless of what role Skrulls play in the franchise during Phase 4 and beyond, it’s for the better that McKenna and Somers didn’t push ahead with the idea that Mysterio is a Skrull. Spider-Man: Far From Home had a lot of narrative points to juggle, and for the most part, did it effectively without losing sight of the fact that its focal point was Peter. Saddling the story’s primary villain with a surprise alien backstory makes things too convoluted.

Source: Collider

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