Superhero movies have officially taken over. If it wasn't obvious already, 2018 has proven that not only do these movies make a hell of a lot of money, but general audiences are lining up for some of the most obscure characters.
As a dude who read a lot of comics growing up, I remember being amazed that they were actually going to make a Spider-Man movie at all. Fast-forward to this year, and we've seen the character star in Avengers: Infinity War, which grossed over $2 billion, and then only just last week we saw Venom manage to nab the title of biggest box office opening weekend for an October release.
Bear in mind that Venom was created as a villain for the Spider-Man comics in the 90s, so having him take centre stage in his own movie isn't the most obvious move. In fact, Sony have been trying to get the movie off the ground for years, but it's only now that the genre could attract talent like Tom Hardy and intrigue audiences across the world.
But Hardy isn't the first prestige actor to find his way into a comic book adaptation as of late.
It's not even just the fact that these big name actors are turning up in huge blockbusters when they would have turned them down before, but they're taking some obscure roles too. I mean, Kurt Russell made his Marvel debut as... Ego the living planet (yeah, no one saw that one coming). Then, fresh of his Oscar nomination for Birdman, Michael Keaton turned up to play Vulture, as the main villain in Spider-Man: Homecoming.
Now, it looks like the next Spider-Man movie will star yet another huge actor as its primary villain: Jake Gyllenhaal.
Not much has been confirmed about the movie yet, other than the fact that it will be called Spider-Man: Far From Home. However, the internet has its ways of finding out information about upcoming movies without any official announcements having to be made.
For instance, it has been rumoured that the film will see Tom Holland's Peter Parker on a field trip with classmates to Europe, where he will encounter a new foe: Mysterio. Yep, one of the character's weirdest villains is making it to the big screen, and he's going to be played by an Oscar-nominated actor.
There's usually a fair amount of changes when these designs are adapted for the big screen, but Marvel Studios are usually fairly true to the original material, which means we may actually see the fishbowl-headed villain in all his glory. And after his bizarre performance in Okja, we can rest assured that the actor can more than handle playing a weird character.
Some photos from the set actually leaked, which shows Gyllenhaal in action and in costume - showing that he will be looking pretty outlandish.
Some fans are clamouring for the classic look still, and hoping we still get it:
Back before it was cancelled, Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 4 was going to feature Mysterio, but it was just as a little joke for the fans rather than anything integral to the plot:
These movies have definitely come a long way. Spider-Man: Far From Home is set to hit cinemas in July 2019, so it'll likely be a few months before we get a proper teaser trailer showing what Gyllenhaal looks like in action.
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