Spidey's arc in this movie needs to be focused on him and his relationships with friends and mentors, establishing the world in which he lives. Every villain we've gotten has had some close tie to him, I think that's high time for a change.
Except Mysterio wouldn't have a previous connection to Parker or even a
or even a personal motive against him, Spider-Man would just be a means to an end, a way to ensure his fame by destroying him, that's not personal, that's just a cruel way to achieve impersonal goals, that makes Mysterio more inhuman, then having wrong he wants to avenge against Spidey.
That's like saying Scarecrow is a personal foe of Batman's because he uses psychological attacks against him, Scarecrow doesn't a super personal grudge against Batman.
Psychological attacks are just good tactics, Spidey is stronger then Mysterio, physiological attacks are best weapon he has.
He's robbing the most safe institutions in the city, often in broad daylight. He and his gang will hurt/kill anyone in their way and are seemingly unstoppable. He's setting lose horrifying apparitions upon the populous to cause chaos and distractions. I think that's more than enough for a "reign of terror". And as for the "macguffin", he'll be selling a weapon of mass destruction to criminals/terrorists. Surely that's a big enough threat?
I like some of the elements of the initial campaign Mysterio is engaging in, but I think the end game needs to be better.
Well if he is selling something to some terrorists who might do something bad off screen later, that isn't much of climax, IMO. I have no reason to care about these terrorists, I would rather see Spidey prevent Mysterio from doing something really bad, rather then just having Spidey stopping an arms deal that might lead to bad stuff in the future. Show don't tell, if there is a WMD in the film, show the possibility it will be used right away and make Mysterio responsible for it, so we hate Mysterio, not some random terrorist who comes in at the 11th hour.
You could have Mysterio use a WMD to black mail money out of the city, so he is own villain, not some middle man and he will set it off anyway to become infamous or out of spite that Spidey foiled him. There doesn't need to be a WMD in this film, but there is one, the threat of it being used during the course of the film should be present, not some far off date later.
If he is nasty enough to cause causalities when he is just getting started, why not make him extra nasty and be willing to sacrifice thousands of lives to feed his ego? Again not a WMD is not necessary, but that's what I would want to see if a WMD does appear in the film, make Mysterio the hated villain, not some nameless terrorist.
Like I say, if people really want Mysterio to be a counter point to all the sympathetic villains Spidey villains that have appeared in the movies, then he should go in the opposite direction and really be a nasty character, rather then just a jerk. Venom in the movies was unlikable in the films, but he was just some slimy jerk, he wasn't a really evil villain, he was pretty generic. To me an unsympathetic foe, has to do really unsympathetic things.
No, of course not. He should be completly cold blooded, willing to eliminate anyone in the way of his fame.
Okay, that's fair and a good idea, but how far do you take it. If Mysterio is an unsympathetic, should he be just a jerk or a total psychopathic monster? Both are unsympathetic, the psychopath is far more unsympathetic.
The mind games with Spidey are always great, but I think it's far too early for that. It would require Mysterio to know his identity, and I think it's too early to let that cat out of the bag. Keep Beck alive for Sinister 6 later on down the line, then he can go full mind-screwing mode.
I think Mysterio playing mind games with Spidey in a film that is crowded with other villains, that lacks the time and focus between these two to make such mind games meaningful, it would just seem like a rushed after though.
Besides Mysterio could screw with Spidey despite not knowing who he is. If this Spidey just starting out, Mysterio could use his youthful nativity against him.
Mysterio could kidnap some public official who happens to look a little like Uncle Ben. Spidey braves several traps, but reaches the official. Then Mysterio sets off a bomb and kills the guy right in front of Spidey. That might be the first guy Spidey failed to save since Uncle Ben. Even though its a total stranger, it hits Spidey hard, because it challenges his young and naive world view and Mysterio wastes no time exploiting this to try to use guilt to weaken Spidey's resolve. He send illusions of this man to torment Spidey. Its kinda of a dark story, but again if you want a real sympathetic villain, sometimes you have to go the distance and an truly evil villain can make things a little dark.
I'm all for a scene or two showing just how awful a person Mysterio is. It's very important to convey that all he cares about is himself. He's extremly narcicistic, that's what drives him.
Well like I said this all depends on unsympathetic Mysterio, is he a jerk or a monster? Have him a kick a few dogs to establish his character, but give him a nasty end game, that would result in a fair amount causalities, directly by his hand, that would be a unsympathetic villain.
