Spider-Man: Far From Home: Every Time Mysterio Was Hidden in the Background of a Scene

Mysterio was hiding in the background of Spider-Man: Far From Home long before he ever introduced himself to Peter Parker, and once you know where to look, there are several points in the film where you can see that his heroics were an illusion all along. I went back through the movie in close detail to find every time the villain, or rather his crew, turns up where they should not be.

This started as a bit of trivia. In my breakdown of every time Pennywise was hidden in the background of a scene, I pointed out an appearance of Mysterio. After rewatching Far From Home I noticed the character, or rather his group, a couple more times. I was putting this piece together when another breakdown covering the same ground appeared elsewhere, and all my work was undone. So to give you an extra bang for your buck, I am also explaining every time the film gave us clues that everything was an illusion. There are heavy spoilers ahead, so if you have not seen the movie, turn back now.

Mysterio is really a crew of disgruntled Stark employees

First things first. In Far From Home, Mysterio is revealed to be a group, or rather a gang, of disgruntled Stark employees who at some point or another had their hard work and inventions cast aside because of Tony Stark's ego.

The group are all experts in their fields, and they come together as one to make a cohesive unit that can perfectly portray illusions. There are storytellers, market researchers, scientists and actors, and all of them help to flesh out the illusions of Mysterio in order to make them feel more believable.

Jake Gyllenhaal's Mysterio is watching Peter in Venice before they ever meet

The first big appearance of Jake Gyllenhaal actually comes way before he meets Spider-Man. At about the 18 minute and 15 second mark, right before Peter goes to buy the black dahlia necklace for MJ, the shot is focused solely on Peter. But in the background, to the left hand side, we can in fact see Mysterio standing there watching him.

It is a blink and you will miss it moment, but it shows that the villain was always in the area, planning for the water elemental attack. And he is not alone.

The storyteller and a distinctive blonde woman shadow Peter and MJ too

Throughout the scene, a couple more members of the group walk behind MJ and Peter as they stroll along the canal. One of them is the storyteller of the group, the one we later see writing the narrative and the events of what happens.

There is also a blonde woman who looks rather distinctive, and we see her pop up later in the movie as part of the Mysterio operation. So it seems like she is also checking things out.

Now, I have seen people say that this means they were stalking Peter the entire time, and I have gone back and forth on that quite a bit. There are actually two ways of looking at these appearances. Either they knew Peter was there and selected Venice as the place to pull off the attacks so that they could get the EDITH glasses, or they did not know he was there and were carrying out the attack anyway, and he just happened to stumble across it.

The water elemental's punch never actually gets anything wet

There are also several points in the film where we can see that everything is an illusion. The first comes during the water attack, when Peter is punched full force by the water elemental.

If you slow the scene down and look really, really closely, you will notice that when Peter is first hit, and when a section of the bridge gets destroyed, nothing actually gets wet. It just explodes a bit. Then the water from the canal rises up, and that is what soaks everything, rather than the blast from the punch itself. Interesting, right?

Mysterio cannot fly, so how does he end up on the rooftop beside Peter?

Another subtle hint that Mysterio is not everything he says he is comes when Peter is on the roof after being completely shut down by Nick Fury, who is really Talos. During the scene, Mysterio flies in front of Peter to talk to him. In hindsight, we know he cannot fly, and this is not actually him.

So how does he end up sitting next to Peter when the two go on to talk? As Peter speaks, you will notice the camera pans from a doorway behind him, which mimics someone walking from the back to sit next to Peter, and then Mysterio joins him. I believe Mysterio was hidden at this point, then snuck up behind Peter from that doorway and sat on the ledge, which is where the two illusions came together and allowed him to sit down.

Bullet holes in Nick Fury's jeep give the fire elemental fight away

Another big hint that everything is an illusion comes when Peter is fighting the fire elemental and Nick Fury and Maria Hill arrive at the scene in their jeeps. During the attack there is a brief moment where one of Mysterio's hand laser beams, those "dr. strange thingies", hits the car. But instead of the car exploding or melting, all we see are bullet holes in the windshield.

This clearly comes from a drone, which is just firing at the car to make it stop. It is a nice little hint early on, and another blink and you will miss it moment that showcases just how much of an illusion everything was.

We also see Peter land on a car that is badly busted up. This is actually the one the disguised Nick Fury arrived in, which explains why the seat belt did not work.

Nick Fury and Maria Hill may not be what they seem either

Mysterio was not the only one hiding something. Nick Fury refers to Earth as "your world" when talking to Peter, and we hear him and Maria Hill discussing a creature in one of their conversations, which lets you know that they too may not be what they seem.

Nick also hates the thought of Captain Marvel being brought up. He was a Skrull, and the clues were all there. Overall, these details lace the film with a lot more to it, and they show just how smart Marvel really are when it comes to making movies.

So what do you think: were Mysterio and his crew stalking Peter all along and choosing Venice to get their hands on EDITH, or did he simply stumble into an attack that was happening anyway?