Follow

    Spider-Man

    Character » Spider-Man appears in 17252 issues.

    Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider as a teenager, granting him spider-like powers. After the death of his Uncle Ben, Peter learned that "with great power, comes great responsibility." Swearing to always protect the innocent from harm, Peter Parker became Spider-Man.

    Mysterio: Mentalism Collection

    Avatar image for Abishai100
    Abishai100

    1744

    Forum Posts

    0

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 2

    User Lists: 0

    Mysterio is a very interesting comic book super-villain and nemesis of Spider-Man, because he represents a general fear of uncertainty and the dangers of speculating on risk.

    Mysterio started out pretending to be Spider-Man and trying to frame him for crimes. He then continued his relentless quest to pester Spider-Man by devising various death-traps and using deadly devices to create confusion and imbalance (hence his iconic name).

    The real world is gauged by profiteerism-networking (i.e., Wall Street) and risk evaluation (insurance, stocks, intellectual property exchange, etc.). Mysterio is a Spidey nemesis who preys on our sensibilities about the inability to fully control or manage risk.

    Unlike the profiteering underworld tycoon Kingpin or the maniacal mad scientist Green Goblin, Mysterio seems purely focused on the unusual aspects of risk and the confusion that can be linked to risk.

    There should be a collection of Mysterio stories for Spidey fans to reference and evaluate why and how this iconic super-villain reveals the basic criminality of Spidey's city, world, and universe.

    Mysterio seems primed for some movie exposure, and someone like Brandon Routh who has portrayed Superman already should make for a great casting.

    What do people feel are the most revealing Mysterio stories?

    Since he's the greatest risk mentalist, arguably, we should talk about mentalism-themed Mysterio storyboarding.

    Mysterio (Marvel Wiki)

    No Caption Provided

    Avatar image for Abishai100
    Abishai100

    1744

    Forum Posts

    0

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 2

    User Lists: 0

    Character Coordination: Philosophy Perfection

    It would be interesting to see which real-world criminals/madmen we can link with Mysterio.

    For example, since Green Goblin represents mad science mania, we can perhaps link him to the mad Nazi doctor Josef Mengele. Since Mysterio represents uncertainty manipulation, we can perhaps link him to Dillinger or Zodiac.

    Character associations help us better evaluate the symbolism associated with super-villains.

    In John Boorman's history-dramatization film "Excalibur" [1981], the gold-armored adversary of the fabled English kingdom of Camelot, Mordred, is portrayed as a ruthless profiteer. In a cult-favourite trailer for Jeff Burr's American horror film "Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III" [1990], the fictional chainsaw-wielding cannibal Leatherface is shown as drawing his terrifying iconic weapon (the chainsaw) from the fabled Lady of the Lake (who otherwise gives King Arthur the magical sword known as Excalibur).

    Mordred and Leatherface in these two films signify a human appreciation of the philosophical dangers associated with daredevil behaviour.

    Since Mysterio signifies a human appreciation of the dangers of uncertainty, assessing the risk-paranoia associated with Mordred and Leatherface can perhaps help us make intriguing comparisons between Mysterio and Bullseye, the nemesis of Daredevil (Marvel Comics).

    I like thinking about Mysterio-Bullseye team-ups.

    Bullseye (Marvel)

    No Caption Provided
    Loading Video...

    This edit will also create new pages on Comic Vine for:

    Beware, you are proposing to add brand new pages to the wiki along with your edits. Make sure this is what you intended. This will likely increase the time it takes for your changes to go live.

    Comment and Save

    Until you earn 1000 points all your submissions need to be vetted by other Comic Vine users. This process takes no more than a few hours and we'll send you an email once approved.