WHAT IF...? Season 3 Trailer Features The Surprise Return Of An MCU Spider-Man Villain

WHAT IF...? Season 3 Trailer Features The Surprise Return Of An MCU Spider-Man Villain

The first trailer for What If...? season 3 includes plenty of surprises, but it's the unexpected return of a Spider-Man: Far From Home villain that's proven to be the biggest talking point among fans...

By JoshWilding - Nov 11, 2024 02:11 PM EST
Filed Under: What If

Earlier this year, we heard that Mysterio was being lined up to make an appearance in What If...? season 3. Considering the complicated nature of Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures' deal to share Spider-Man, it didn't seem overly likely.

Well, as you can see below, Mysterio appears in the first trailer for the show's final season and is hooked into an extremely dangerous-looking device. 

Spider-Man: Far From Home came along before the Multiverse Saga began, introducing Quentin Beck, a Multiversal warrior whose home had been destroyed by monstrous Elementals. He was later revealed as a fraud and a disgruntled former Stark Industries employee eager to get his hands on the recently deceased Tony Stark's tech. 

However, the fact he gave the MCU the designation of Earth-616 raised some eyebrows as did the fact his comic book counterpart once found a way to hope between the main Marvel Universe and the Ultimate Universe. 

Could Mysterio's presence in What If...? be used as a means to retcon Spider-Man: Far From Home, revealing that Beck survived his run-in with Spidey? It's certainly possible he was telling the truth about hailing from another reality, though we'd suggest bracing yourselves for the possibility this is just a random Variant. 

Concept art has confirmed Marvel Studios considered bringing Mysterio back for Spider-Man: No Way Home, a decision which would have been embraced by fans eager to see him tied to the Multiverse in some way.

In 2022, Spider-Man: No Way Home writer Chris McKenna confirmed that Jake Gyllenhaal was among the actors they reached out to. However, the decision was ultimately made that not everyone could appear here, so Quentin Beck was dropped.

"When it actually started coalescing, when feelers were put out and actors were like 'Yeah, I'm game for that.' Then it became this overwhelming thing because you're like, 'Okay, this is the reality now,'" he explained. "You can't just be swimming in a million characters, you have to be choosing characters wisely and making sure that they don't overwhelm the story and Peter himself."

For what it's worth, Gyllenhaal has always spoken fondly of his time in the MCU and hasn't closed the door on possibly reprising his role.

"It was such a cathartic thing to be able to throw away all that seriousness and really become the actor that I think I've always wanted to be," Gyllenhaal said in 2022. "I think that we go through journeys in our life where we're finding ourselves, and in the case of Spider-Man, I think I realized 'hey, acting is really fun, you know, enjoy it!'"

Whether the actor returns to voice Beck in What If...? season 3 remains to be seen. You can watch the trailer released earlier today here.

Marvel-Animation-s-What-If-Season-3-Official-Trailer-Disney-1-38-screenshot
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narrow290
narrow290 - 11/11/2024, 2:51 PM
Well, his death was shady anyway so it wouldn't be that big of a stretch if he survived
JFerguson
JFerguson - 11/11/2024, 2:54 PM
The fishbowl kind of looks like an eye here. “What if” they adapt original sin and have mysterio steal one of the watchers eyes like the Orb did in that comic
ImNotaBot
ImNotaBot - 11/11/2024, 2:59 PM
They waited two seasons to finally go nuts with the whole what if concept
Apophis71
Apophis71 - 11/11/2024, 3:04 PM
I seriously doubt a What if...? episode could retcon the film version as that likely would bring potential issues with Sony who own the rights to him for films...

...there is an exception in their rights however that means they have no say in Marvel using the Spider-man characters in animations upto 30mins long (plus credits). Thus if a variant not tied directly to the film Disney could do whatever they want without having to even consult with Sony with the character, but could get murky fast and potentialy have long term consquences if they retconned something Sony signed off on previously WITHOUT consultation.

Nothing is impossible but as ALL what if's have been at least branch timeline if not full alternate universe I thus see zero reason to even speculate on this changing the live action version and his fate at all (even if down the road they may do so in a film).

TLDR It WILL be a variant not the same version.
Songoty
Songoty - 11/11/2024, 3:13 PM
@Apophis71 - they would never use this tv animated show that barely anyone watches to retcon a successful MCU film, lol. Josh is truly delusional.
Razorface1
Razorface1 - 11/11/2024, 3:59 PM
Never watched 2 after the wreck that was 1
CerealKiller1
CerealKiller1 - 11/11/2024, 4:00 PM
“It's certainly possible he was telling the truth about hailing from another reality, though we'd suggest bracing yourselves for the possibility this is just a random Variant.”

It’s What If?

They’re all random variants. That’s the point
SonOfAGif
SonOfAGif - 11/11/2024, 4:11 PM
Mysterio returning would be easy. Make him a Hologram projection created by the drones and AI controlled via William. At the end of Far From Home he uploaded the Mysterio data into a USB drive. Perhaps he saved the imagery and voice of Beck to use for nefarious purposes later. So Mysterio can return as a Drone Projection with the drones acting as the weaponary like the film.
WaffeX
WaffeX - 11/11/2024, 6:09 PM
stand-alone episodes would be cooler

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