Despite the events of Avengers: Infinity War, there will be a Spider-Man: Homecoming 2 (not the official title), and it’s set to arrive on July 5, 2019. That means casting has to start coming together so they can start filming later this year, and it looks like they’re already swinging for the fences with their first big piece of casting news.

According to THR, Jake Gyllenhaal is in talks to play the villainous Mysterio in the upcoming sequel. It’s a bit of funny casting since about a decade ago, Gyllenhaal was in the running to actually play Spider-Man, but now he’s aged out of the wall-crawler and into an antagonist. Additionally, Variety, while not confirming that Gyllenhaal is playing Mysterio, adds that Michael Keaton will return to play the Vulture.

For those who are unfamiliar with Mysterio, his first and most high-profile alter ego was Quentin Beck, “a special effects wizard and stunt man working for a major Hollywood studio with dreams of making a name for himself in the film industry. However, he came to see his career in special effects as a dead-end job. His attempts to become an actor were poorly received, but he realized that his expertise in illusions could make him an effective supervillain,” according to Wikipedia. The character is one of Spider-Man’s oldest antagonists, first appearing in The Amazing Spider-Man #13 in June 1964.

I don’t think there will be any complaints over a talented actor like Gyllenhaal landing the role. He’s showed his range time and again, and I’m pretty sure he’ll be able to play whatever they have cut out for him when it comes to Mysterio. The bigger question is whether or not they’ll keep the character’s fishbowl-head costume for his big screen debut.

It will also be interesting to see if Mysterio will be the solo villain or if it will mimic other superhero movies where they think more villains is somehow better. It can work if the supporting villains don’t take up too much screen time (I don’t think anyone minded the Shockers showing up in Homecoming), but it’s usually better to have a single antagonist rather than a bunch of baddies (unless they’re planning to unleash the Sinister Six at some point).

via Collider