Mysterio

History

The Rise of Mysterio

Quentin Beck was an expert in designing special effects devices and stage illusions, as well as a master hypnotist and magician, and an amateur chemist. He also possessed a wealth of knowledge in hand-to-hand combat techniques that he learned as a stuntman. Unfortunately, all these things did little to help his career in the film industry. One day, a colleague joked that the easiest way to become famous was to take out a costumed hero. It was here that Mysterio was born.

Mysterio chose Spider-Man as his target. He viewed Spider-Man as a relatively inexperienced and weak hero, and felt it would be easy to take him down. Quentin joined forces with the Tinkerer and together the two developed a scheme to steal in secret military plans. They used their combined intellect to develop and alien disguise to hide their true intentions for these plans. The scheme was foiled by Spider-Man, but because of the villains' disguises their true identities remained anonymous.

Beck continued to study Spider-Man's behavior and his actions and when he felt he was ready he attacked as Mysterio. Armed with gas that could confuse Spidey's spider-sense, hallucinogenic gas, and chemicals that could easily dissolve his webbing, he saw the first battle to be an easy win. Unfortunately for Mysterio, Spider-Man never goes down without a fight. Such was the case, and Mysterio was defeated and arrested.

The Sinister Six

After several failed attempts at the webslinger's life, Mysterio accepted Dr. Octopus' invitation to join the Sinister Six, a group of malcontents each with their own grudge against Spider-Man. As part of this team of evil doer's, it was Mysterio's job to construct robotic replicas of the X-Men to subdue Spidey. But Spider-Man quickly realized that he wasn't fighting his old allies and used his spider-sense to find Beck's remote control room and defeated him yet again.

The Battle Against Spider-Man

After the dispersion of the Sinister Six , Mysterio continued to battle with Spider-Man to his own dismay. For a time it was thought that he had died in prison as his old friend Daniel Berkhart was taking up the fishbowl for him, but it turned out Beck had been alive all along. A crusade of Mysterio's was the attempt of the retrieval of a lost fortune located in Aunt May's house. Ironically the money had been eaten by silver fish by the time it was discovered leaving Mysterio defeated yet again.

The End of Beck

Dying Breath

Eventually, Mysterio was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor and critical lung cancer assumed to be a nasty side-effect of the chemical products he had used against Spider-Man for years. Because it had been predicted that Mysterio had at most 1 year to live, Ravencroft released him to carryout the rest of his life in freedom. Mysterio made one final attempt to exact his revenge against Spider-Man. However, it had come to Mysterio's attention that Spider-Man was in fact a clone, and no longer the enemy he knew. Because he had no need for revenge against this new Spider-Man he decided that he would get a super hero worthy of his respect to end his miserable life. He decided it was Daredevil who would have the pleasure of ending the reign of Mysterio. Mysterio devised a plot to make Daredevil kill him in a fit of insanity. He hired Bullseye to kill DD's love interest Karen Page, he destroyed Foggy Nelson's relationship with Liz Osborn and he almost made Daredevil kill a baby. But still Daredevil's resolve was to great for Mysterio's psychological torture. Beck ended up committing suicide by shooting himself. However, there was another Mysterio on the horizon, brewing like a storm in the mind of Daniel Berkhart, an old friend of Beck's. Mysterio would rise again to torment those who destroyed his friend Beck, but this time he would have a new agenda.

Mysterio's Revenge

Mysterio

Berkhart, as well as the technological genius cousin of the original Mysterio, Maguire Beck, was trained in arts of illusion by the original Mysterio himself (before Quintin committed suicide). Berkhart and Maguire started their life of crime as the successor of Jack O'Lantern; Mad Jack. The two were hired by J. Jonah Jameson to convince Spider-Man that Berkhart was the Ghost of Mysterio Returned, back when the first Mysterio was still alive (but faking his death). After Quentin shot himself, the Mysterio suit was left to Berkhart as his legacy. Berkhart decided to take on the role of Mysterio on a full-time basis with Maguire providing tech support. Berkhart joined a reformed Sinister Six and because JJJ had abandoned Berkhart when he was defeated by Spider-Man during his stand-in for Quetin, Berkhart decided to use his new alias to exact his revenge against the cowardly newspaper editor. Of course, with all this calamity occurring it was only natural that Spidey would attempt to diffuse the situation, hence crossing paths with the mighty Mysterio yet again.

Seeing Double at the Triple Rock

Francis Klum, (a mutant with telepathic and teleportation abilities) obtained an old Mysterio suit discarded by Mad Jack unto the Kingpin and used it to exact his revenge against Spider-Man. Klum lay siege to Midtown High School where peter worked as a teacher and filled the hallways of the school with traps and illusions. As Spidey was attempting to evacuate the school Berkhart arrived and confronted Klum. The two Mysterios fought as Spidey watched in amusement. It was a well matched battle, of course Klum had the advantage of actual super-human abilities, but this was countered with Berkhart's greater level of experience with Mysterio's gadgets. Berkhart was just about to finish Klum off when Spidey stepped in and defeated Berkhart. Klum then activated the timer of a bomb he had planted in the school's basement and used it as a distraction to escape.

With Harry Osborn alive and well, following Spider-Man's reality-changing deal with Mephisto, it is revealed that Norman Osborn, Harry's father and the infamous Green Goblin, had hired Quentin Beck to fake his son's death.

The Gauntlet

As part of the "Gauntlet" storyline, an apparently alive and healthy Quentin Beck resurfaced, working with the Maggia in their ongoing gang war with Mr. Negative. Carmine, the consigliere of the Karnelli (formerly Manfredi) family, hires Mysterio to fake the return of important Maggia leaders, including Silvermane. Carmine hoped to take control of the Maggia, through the robotic Silvermane duplicate controlled by Mysterio, from the bumbling Don Bruno Karnelli. Soon, however, Mysterio kills Carmine and sets up most remaining Maggia members to be killed by Mr. Negative's gang while he escapes with the Maggia's vast fortune. While Mysterio made his escape, blowing up the opera house that was the site of the gang war's most recent standoff in the process, Spider-Man was able to catch Mysterio's fleeing boat and destroy it, along with the stolen money. Beck is later seen being approached by Chameleon, who is apparently organizing a revenge scheme against their longtime foe with other villains.

Powers

Beck and Berkhart

The first two incarnations have had no actual superpowers, though they were both very accomplished illusionists, athletes, and hand-to-hand combatants. Their main threat came in the form of advanced technology mixed with great skill at illusion. Gadgets of theirs have included spring-heeled boots, hologram projectors, radar sensors, various hallucinogenic gases (including a gas that could nullify spider-man's spider-sense), among other things.

Klum

Francis Klum had all of the technological weapons as the first two Mysterios, as well as mutant telepathic and teleportational powers.

Statistics

Height: 5' 11"

Weight: 175lbs

Eyes: Blue

Hair: Black

Costume Colors: Green and Purple

Alternate Versions

Ultimate Universe (Earth-1610)

Ultimate Mysterio

In this reality, Mysterio is a bank robber that Spider-Man was going to defeat along with the help of the police. but they only succeeded in capturing his accomplice. He was also seen earlier in the "Hollywood" arc as a character in the Spider-man film. This was, in all likelihood, not the real Mysterio that was featured later on; it was only an actor named "Bruce" playing the character, presumably made for the film, in a costume practically identical to that of his 616 incarnation.

In his second appearance, he used a dirty cop to gain access to police info. and to distract them from future crimes. Eventually, the cop was captured by Spider-Man and the N.Y.P.D., but Mysterio managed to escape while vowing revenge on Spider-man.

At the start of the second volume of Ultimate Spider-Man, The Kingpin returns to New York City following the Ultimatum Wave and all of the evidence of his crimes gone. As soon as he get a moment alone in his office, he's greeted by Mysterio who says he's a fan then tosses the crime lord out the office building window and into the street below. Mysterio then looks down and says that the act will look good on his resume.

Mysterio appears shortly afterward, using an illegal gas to cause several blocks of civilians to hallucinate and see giant spiders. With everyone distracted, he then tries robbing a bank. Unfortunately, Spider-Man is in the vicinity, and guesses that the spiders were an illusion, and manages to fight Mysterio, stopping him from getting away with the gold he was trying to steal. In revenge for this, Mysterio creates an illusion of the Hulk rampaging, which Spider-Man goes to stop. Upon reaching the Hulk, he is knocked unconscious, and the only thing stopping Mysterio from killing him is the arrival of the Shroud, a mysterious new hero. Together, the Shroud and Spider-Man stop Mysterio, damaging the technology in Mysterio's costume. Mysterio manages to get away then. Spider-Man takes some of the damaged technology to the police, but unknown to him, Mysterio is at his hideout, and notices some blood which isn't his on his costume.

Mysterio then sends a Spider-Slayer to get Spider-Man, which can track him using his DNA (from the blood). However, the Spider-Slayer is easily destroyed by the Shroud and the Human Torch. The police then arrive at Mysterio's hideout, having tracked him using the tech, and Mysterio is forced to blow up his hideout so that he doesn't get captured.

Prelude to Death of Spider-Man

Sometime after his Spider Slayer attack, Mysterio catches Black Cat breaking into the Kingpin’s apartment. After a brief fight, Black Cat makes off with the safe. Mysterio catches up with her the moment she opens the safe, revealing the Zodiac Key. While holding it and taking to Mysterio, Cat accidentally teleports him away for a moment. He reappears and begs her to give up the key as she does not know of its power. She freaks out and wipes out a couple of city blocks. She finally gives up the key to Mysterio who is attack by Spider-Man and Iron Man a moment later. He blasts Iron Man away and strips him of his suit. Spider-Man quickly grabs the key and he too unintentionally creates a whirlwind of destruction before he is able to stop it. Stunned, Mysterio makes another grab for the Zodiac Key however Iron Man comes from behind him and rips out his power source. Stark discovers that it’s his own tech and that it’s being controlled remotely.

Old Man Logan

All the most powerful villains gathered together to kill all of the superheroes. Wolverine and Jubilee are at the X-Mansion when an explosion goes off, killing Jubilee. This angers Wolverine and he kills all the super villains entering the mansion. After the villains are killed, Wolverine finally sees that it has been an illusion created by Mysterio. Wolverine had killed all of the other X-Men.

Other Media

Television

1967 Tv Series

Spider-Man - Mysterio appears in three separate episodes of the 1960's animated series voiced by Chris Wiggins with a British accent.

Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends

Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends - Mysterio appears with a new plan in order to finally kill Spider-Man. He strong arms Sam Blockbuster, a movie director into getting Spider-man on set to shoot a movie so he can finally have Spider-Man unaware. Mysterio uses a robotic duplicate of the Hulk but this doesn't go as planned since the actual Hulk is in the area as well. hulk defeated the robot while Spider-Man, Iceman, and Firestar defeated Mysterio.

1994 Animated Series

Spider-Man: The Animated Series - In the 90's animated series, Quentin Beck was a special effects master working for Wonder Studios to put together a car chase scene on the Brooklyn Bridge. The effects went wrong and damage a helicopter forcing it to land. This was because the crew had hid a mortar onset without permission. Spider-Man was forced to intervene and ended up webbing Beck who was trying to escape. He was sentenced to a year in jail for his part in he incident and swore revenge against Spider-Man. After his release, Beck planned his revenge on Spider-Man for several months, creating effective carbon copys of Spider-Man and illusions to use to frame him. He managed to successfully damage the heroes' reputation, but was stopped by Spider-Man and Lt. Terri Lee and sent back to prison.

Mysterio remained in prison until he was broken out by the Kingpin to be a member of the Insidious Six. This team however failed to kill Spider-Man and they disbanded to avoid recapture. He would later kidnap Mary Jane Watson in a failed bid to give his love Miranda Wilson a normal face. The machine was never designed to work and Mysterio only wanted Miranda happy. Both seemingly die in the explosion at the end of the episode.

Spectacular Spider-Man

Spectacular Spider-Man - Quentin Beck makes his first appearence as a part of Chameleons crew alongside the Tinkerer. They aid Chameleon in imitating Spider-Man with special effects equipment in order to frame the hero for a crime spree. This group is later taken down by a combonation of Spider-Man and Black Cat. Beck next appears in the guise of Mysterio pretending to be a wizard saving the world from the evils of technology by targeting Tricorp and OsCorp. Mysterio is able to best Spider-Man twice, but after tracking him to his hideout Spider-Man discovers that Beck uses illusions and not magic and is able to defeat him.

Spectacular Spider-Man

Mysterio is alledgedly sent to prison though this turns out to be an android double and Mysterio teams up with the Tinkerer under orders from the master planner (Otto Octavius) and alter joins the Sinister Six. Mysterio tries to take down Spider-Man by aiding Kraven the Hunter with robotic duplicates though ends up knocking Kraven out with one of these and is the only one of the six to be imprisoned in the vault as Tinkerer saved the rest. Once imprisoned this Mysterio is gain revealed to be a robot who is visited by Ned Leeds for an interview. The robotic Mysterio tries to aid in a prison riot though his homonculi are accidentally destroyed by Molten Man. The current whereabouts of Quentin Beck are unknown.

Video Games

The Amazing Spider-Man - An original Game Bot title. The villains have kidnapped Mary Jane after discovering Spider-Man's secret identity Mysterio is the first level boss utilizing henchmen and sewer alligators to attack Spider-Man.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 - An original Game Boy title where Mysterio, Hobgoblin, Lizard, Graviton, and Carnage have framed Spider-Man for a bank robbery forcing him to clear his name.

The Amazing Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin - Mysterio appears as one of the level bosses working for the Kingpin who has framed Spider-Man for the theft of a nuclear device.

Spider-Man: Mysterio's Menace - Mysterio appears in this GBA title as the main villian. Mysterio has gathered a rogues gallery to challenge Spider-Man including Big Wheel, Hammerhead, Electro, Rhino, Shriek, and Scorpion.

Spider-Man 2: The Sinister Six - Mysterio appears in this GBA title as the level 1 boss after the carnival and sewer stages.

Spider-Man: Return of the Sinister Six - Mysterio appears in the NES title as one of the level bosses. He is fought in level 3 inside his secret laboratory.

Spider-Man Animated Series - The game based off the 90's Animated series features over 20 bosses including Mysterio. The game was availabile on the Sega Genesis and the SNES.

The Amazing Spider-Man: Lethal Foes - A Japan only game for the Super Famicom. Mysterio appears as one of the boss characters.

Spider-Man - Mysterio appears in the PS, Nintendo 64, and Dreamcast title and is voiced by Daran Norris. He is working for Doctor Octopus and Carange and was told to impersonate Spider-Man in order to discredit him and keep him preoccupied with the police. Mysterio is eventually defeated and reveals that Doctor Octopus and Carnage are planning to unleashes symbiotes on to the populace of New York City.

Spider-Man 2 - Mysterio appears in the movie tie in video game and is voiced by James Arnold Taylor. He first appears as a movie specialist trying to discredit Spider-Man as a hoax, using various deathtraps that he had setup. Eventually Beck releases both Shocker and Vulture which endangers civilians and gets him in trouble with the law. Quentin Beck eventually takes on the guise of Mysterio, pretending to be an alien trying to take over New York City with an army of robots. Spider-Man foils this plan though does not catch Mysterio. Spider-Man later finds him trying to rob a convenience store and knocks him out with one punch.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance - Mysterio appears in the SHIELD Omega Base as a member of the Masters of Evil and is voiced by James Arnold Taylor. His mission was to download various weapon systems SHIELD had developed for Ultron and battles the heroes team and is defeated. This battle brings to light some of SHIELD's illegal activities as reprogramming Ultron for SHIELD purposes is illegal due to Ultron's sentience. He has special dialogue with both Spider-Man and Venom.

Spider-Man: Friend or Foe - Mysterio appears as the main antagonist voiced by Robin Atkin Downes. He combines the shards of the meteor that originally brought Venom to earth with his nanotechnology and hard-light holograms to create P.H.A.N.T.O.M.s (Perpetual Holographic Avatar Nano-Tech Offensive Monsters) and hypnotizes a variety of villains into workin gor him. Mysterio sends Doctor Octopus and Green Goblin to Tokyo, Sandman to Egypt, Scorpion and Rhino to Tangaroa Island, and Venom to Transylvania. Mysterio's base of operations is in Nepal where Spider-Man first encounters him. Mysterio uses two P.H.A.N.T.O.M.s to still 2 shards of the meteorite, but Spider-Man breaks another to unleashes some of the symbiote giving him enough power to raid the base and fight Mysterio. Spider-Man battles Mysterio in the center of the base where he utilizes laser weaponry against Spider-Man, though is cocky giving Spider-Man the chance to defeat him and Mysterio is imprisoned.

Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions - Mysterio appears in the game as the primary antagonist. He is voiced by David Kaye. He at first tries to rob a muesum for the Tablet of Order and Chaos, planning to sell the Tablet for profit. However Spider-Man shows up to foil the robbery but ends up smashing the Tablet when Mysterio cowardly uses it as a shield. Once Spider-Man and hos other reality selves begin tracking the pieces of the Tablet we see Mysterio kept a shard as well. This shard gives him powers, making is illusions a reality. Once Thw Spider-Men collect 75% of the Tablet Mysterio holds Madame Web hostage in order to gain more power from the completed Tablet. Once he has it he gains godlike power and begins to tear reaility itself apart in the four universes where the Tablet landed. He battles each verison of Spider-Man starting with a game of hide and seek with the Noir Spider-Man, a fullon battle with the symbiote infused Ultimate Spider-Man, a freefall fight with Spider-Man 2099, and a battle with the 616 Spider-Man. After his defeat the Spider-Men beat down Mysterio and Madame Web sends them back to their own dimensions while the Amazing Spider-Man takes Mysterio to prison.

Marvel Super Hero Squad Online - Mysterio appears in the game.