It’s taken some time, but he’s finally going to don the tights…
Back in the mid-2000s, rumours were everywhere that Jake Gyllenhaal was set to replace Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2 after Maguire picked up a back injury.
In the end, Maguire gutted it through and the movie even made a sly reference to it in the form of a newspaper headline.
Though a hugely versatile actor, Gyllenhaal has never really gotten involved in the whole superhero thing – and the less said about video game adaptation Prince of Persia, the better – but it appears that he’s finally going to step into the Spider-Man universe as the sequel to Homecoming takes shape.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Gyllenhaal is currently in talks to play Mysterio; a special effects expert also known as Quentin Beck and a foil for Spider-Man with a penchant for elaborate illusions.
Here’s the theatrical foe in action in the classic Spider-Man animated series from the ’90s:
https://youtu.be/XABfTaa_aqo
Clip via Peter Parker
So yeah, he’s quite ridiculous but Gyllenhaal has hammed it up before in the likes of Nightcrawler and Okja if they want to go down that route.
Following the success of Spider-Man: Homecoming – which did a great job on the villain front in the form of Michael Keaton’s conflicted Vulture – director Jon Watts will return to helm the next chapter.
Tom Holland is back on board, despite the tragic events of Avengers: Infinity War – look, you’ve either seen it by now or you’re not bothered – with the next standalone Spidey adventure set for release on 5 July 2019.
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