Jake Gllenhaal Might Not Be So Bad in Spider-Man: Far from Home

We haven’t been showing any of those grainy photos of Jake Gyllenhaal in costume as Mysterio on the set of Spider-Man: Far from Home because, well, they are lame and they take all of the excitement and mystery out of seeing the character fully realized on screen. However, we love it when actors, directors or producers let slip with crucial information, like Jacob Batalon did at the recent Brazil Comic-Con CCXP.

Batalon, who plays Peter’s (Tom Holland) best friend, Ned, revealed that Spider-Man will actually be teaming up with his classic comic book nemesis to battle monsters, rather than duking it out with the master of illusion:

It’s basically just about the kids going on a European vacation. We go to London, we go to Prague, we go everywhere. It’s just a really fun thing. There’s a lot of dynamics that go on. A lot of relationship stuff. A lot of cool funny stuff. A lot of fun stunt stuff. The main focus is for him not to be Spider-Man per se, but he gets dragged into it. But you know he reluctantly saves the world again with Mysterio. Mysterio’s a good guy in this, they’re both teaming up to kill the game, to defeat these Elemental monsters.

In the Marvel comic books, The Elementals are four extra-dimensional  immortal beings dating back to the days of Atlantis who possess the power to control the natural forces of water, earth, fire and wind.  These seem like pretty extraordinary villains for a Spider-Man movie, where his enemies are typically corrupt businessmen, mad scientists and run-of-the-mill criminals whose motivations are power and money. But, given Spider-Man’s inclusion in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this could be just the intro to the extraordinary that the franchise needs to set it apart from its previous incarnations.

Far from Home was directed by Jon Watts, from a script by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers. It is the sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming  Michael Keaton, Jon Favreau, Zendaya, Marisa Tomei, Cobie Smulders, and Samuel L. Jackson also star.

It is slated to open in theaters on July 5, 2019.