【Dear Utol (2025): Maniac Photographer Episode 26】

Warning: Major spoilers ahead for Spider-Man: Far From Home.

Mysterio may be Dear Utol (2025): Maniac Photographer Episode 26a liar, a creep, and a literal murderer, but credit where it's due: Dude puts on one heck of a show.

His battles against Peter Parker in Spider-Man: Far From Homemake for some of the most dazzling sequences we've seen in a superhero movie yet, employing surrealistic imagery to torment and disorient our hero.

The big-screen Mysterio has his comic-book counterpart to thank for his talents, of course; in a phone interview with Mashable, producer Kevin Feige cited Steve Ditko's art as an obvious point of reference. But Mysterio also owes a debt to -- of all people -- Bugs Bunny.

"One of the big inspirations is that old Warner Bros. cartoon, Duck Amuck," Far From Homedirector Jon Watts told Mashable on a call.

"It's the one where Daffy Duck is being manipulated by -- you don't see who it is, you just see a hand and a pencil, and he's drawing the world as [Daffy] is living it. And whoever has the pencil doesn't like Daffy Duck and is just messing with him and changing the world around him."

Some of Mysterio's projections are simply meant to trick Spider-Man, as when Mysterio disguises himself as Nick Fury to extract information. But others are designed to have a deeper psychological impact. Like one of a zombie Iron Man climbing out of his grave, giving voice to Spidey's fears that if only he'd been better, his mentor needn't have died.

It's a devastating moment, turning a beloved hero into a living nightmare, and it's especially shocking coming from image-conscious, PR-friendly Marvel. But according to Watts, there was never any question of using that imagery.

"That was one of the ideas that was around for a really long time," he said. "Sometimes we were a little worried that it might be too scary, but the image itself is just so strong and striking that we didn't have any problem with it."

Indeed, the Far From Hometeam seems to have taken Mysterio's gift for illusion as a chance to get extra creative on the visual front -- and not a moment too soon, seeing as Far From Homehits theaters just seven months after Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verseraised the bar for what a Spidey film could look like.

"I was very glad we chose Mysterio, who gave us the opportunity to do some mind-bending cool things," said Feige. "If we had come out after Spider-Verseand just had a villain that shot blasts at our hero, it would have seemed quite disappointing in comparison."

Mysterio's contribution to the story had to go beyond his knack for confusing Spidey and wowing audiences, however.

"I think the most important thing is really that the challenges that [Spider-Man] faces are human challenges, that the villains that are in the movies are reflections of what Peter himself is going through," explained Amy Pascal, a producer on Far From Homewho's also worked the Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield movies.

In Far From Home, Mysterio doesn't necessarily set out to challenge Peter -- he's more concerned with becoming "the next Iron Man." Nevertheless, his methods and motivations dovetail neatly with Peter's emotional arc in Far From Home.

"When you're dealing with a story about Peter dealing with loss, and lying to himself, and not knowing who he really wants to be, and the world having a different image and perception of him, all of those ideas fit in so nicely with a character like Mysterio who is a master of illusions," said Watts. "Just thematically, they seemed to click."

But, perhaps, there was another reason Watts felt drawn to this particular antagonist. Mysterio, after all, is a guy who spends his days brainstorming superhero storylines, tinkering with cutting-edge mo-cap technology, and pondering exactly how much CG-aided destruction constitutes an "Avengers-level event."

"I don't think I've ever related to a character more than I relate to Mysterio," said Watts. "He's just a frustrated director!"

In fact, according to Watts, many of the conversations Mysterio has with his team came directly from the ones happening behind the scenes of these Marvel movies. "The whole thing about the cape in the third act -- I think any director will see that moment and know exactly what I'm talking about."

Lest you take this as an admission that Watts might be a real-life superhero, though, the filmmaker was eager to clarify that there is onemajor difference between himself and Mysterio. "I don't want to kill a bunch of people," he reassured us, laughing. "Don't worry."