Background and first appearances Quentin Beck is a
special effects master 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 criminal. In his first battle with Spider-Man, after he frames Spider-Man for robbing the Midtown Museum, Mysterio obstructs the hero's spider-sense with gas and dissolves Spider-Man's webbing with a chemical abrasive. However Spider-Man tricks Mysterio into revealing he robbed the museum, then Spider-Man revealed he had captured it on tape. Mysterio was then jailed, blaming Spider-Man for his ruined career. Mysterio later joins the
Sinister Six in an attempt at revenge on Spider-Man. In an elaborate scheme,
Doctor Octopus gives each member of the Sinister Six a card with the location of the next battle written on it. Each location was carefully selected to best suit that member's particular talents and Spider-Man will have to fight them one after the other. Only once Spider-Man has defeated each opponent, will he be able to obtain the card that will identify the next location. Doctor Octopus believed that with this plan, each of the Sinister Six would weaken Spider-Man a little bit more so that his chances would grow slimmer after each battle. When Spider-Man reaches Mysterio, his third opponent, he is immediately attacked by a group of highly developed robot replicas of the
X-Men controlled by Mysterio. After successfully defeating the robots and Mysterio, Spider-Man gets the next card that enables him to go on to battle the
Sandman.
Further appearances and decline ), art by
Marcos Martín Mysterio later creates the alias of world-renowned psychiatrist
Dr. Ludwig Rinehart, using technology and
hypnosis in an attempt to make Spider-Man lose his mind, and nearly convincing him to unmask himself, though ironically Spider-Man was helped by
J. Jonah Jameson suddenly bursting into the house. Spider-Man then unmasked Mysterio. Mysterio then establishes a brief partnership with the
Wizard in a plot to kill Spider-Man and the
Human Torch on a Hollywood movie set by pretending to enroll them in a film. However, they were both defeated and arrested. He threatens to destroy the city while on TV, and goes on to convince Spider-Man he is tall using a post-hypnotic suggestion and a miniature funfair, but Spider-Man sees through the illusion and captures Mysterio yet again. While Beck is incarcerated, his cellmate Daniel Berkhart briefly becomes Mysterio on the original's behalf. Out of prison, Beck resumes his Ludwig Rinehart identity to manipulate Spider-Man's
Aunt May into revealing the whereabouts of a lost fortune hidden in her house. Beck used bogus alien disguises to frighten May into revealing the location of the fortune, but then learned that the money had long ago been eaten by
silverfish. In his next appearance, Mysterio tricks Spider-Man into believing that he had caused the death of a bystander. Mysterio then attempts to scare the tenants from an apartment complex in a real estate scam thwarted by the
Power Pack, much to his later humiliation. He is recruited by Doctor Octopus to form the second Sinister Six, and battles Spider-Man. In other encounters, Mysterio has faked the death of Spider-Man's Aunt May, and made deals with demons from
Limbo. Despite this, however, Mysterio was constantly beaten by Spider-Man and usually arrested. He joined Doctor Octopus' Sinister Six on several occasions, but this never gave him the edge against his foe that he desired. Eventually, he began to lose credibility as a supervillain, with his defeat at the hands of Power Pack being a particularly humiliating moment.
"Guardian Devil" and death After his final imprisonment during the "
Guardian Devil" story arc, Mysterio was given an early release, as he had been diagnosed with a
brain tumor and
lung cancer, both caused by the chemicals and radiation from his equipment. He was given one year to live, but this imminent death caused prison psychiatrists to grant him an early release. Obsessed with exacting his final revenge on Spider-Man, he was disappointed when he deduced from newspaper articles that the current Spider-Man was just a
clone and saw no dignity in overpowering a "copy" of the real thing (even though by then, the clone had been killed and the current Spider-Man was indeed the original). Mysterio decided to change his plan and focus on
Daredevil, whom he had encountered recently during an insurance scam that the hero had thwarted; Mysterio believed that he had found a 'kindred spirit' in Daredevil, in the sense that both were
second stringers with little reputation outside their homes. In the course of the scheme,
Karen Page was killed by
Bullseye after Mysterio had convinced her that she was suffering from
HIV due to her time as a
porn star, Matt Murdock's partner
Foggy Nelson was framed for murder after cheating on his current lover, and Daredevil nearly lost his mind while tormented by a demonic figure who was in fact Gabriel, an agent of Mysterio. The "friends" the Chameleon was talking about happens to be the Kravinoffs. He was present at the ritual where Spider-Man is seemingly sacrificed to revive
Kraven the Hunter. During the
Origin of the Species story line, Mysterio is among the supervillains invited by Doctor Octopus to join his villains' team where he is promised that he will receive a reward. Mysterio went after Spider-Man for
Menace's infant. He manages to trick Spider-Man into giving him the child by projecting an image of Avengers Mansion and uses his illusions to try to frighten Spider-Man. Ultimately, Spider-Man recovers the baby from Mysterio after figuring out the villain's involvement. Mysterio is next seen as part of the new Sinister Six organized by Doctor Octopus. He first works with Chameleon to distract Spider-Man and the Future Foundation, faking an attack in the Caribbean by zombie pirates while the rest of the Six steal something from the Fantastic Four's headquarters. He also participates in an attack by the Six on the
Avengers Academy. When the Sinister Six launch an attack on the
Intelligencia and their new doomsday weapon, Mysterio is responsible for taking down the
Red Ghost and his Super-Apes.
Subsequent schemes Doctor Octopus and Mysterio later coordinate the Octobots that have infiltrated the Apogee 1 Space Station. When Mysterio notices that some of the Octobots were disabled, Doctor Octopus orders the Octobots to finish their mission and then destroy the space station. Spider-Man, the Human Torch and
John Jameson later discover that some of the space station's crew members have been taken over by the Octobots, making them Octobot-controlled zombies that obey Doctor Octopus's commands. While in their undersea base, Doctor Octopus and Mysterio discover that their Octobot-controlled zombies have passed out. After Apogee 1 Space Station is destroyed and the crew is evacuated by Spider-Man, the Human Torch and John Jameson, Doctor Octopus tells the rest of the Sinister Six that his master plan is about to begin. Although Mysterio aids Doctor Octopus in his attack against the Avengers and his plan to "heal" the world during the "
Ends of the Earth" story line, he agrees to help Spider-Man,
Silver Sable and the
Black Widow defeat Doctor Octopus's plans after Spider-Man convinces him that Doctor Octopus will not honor any deal he has made with the Six, as he will almost certainly scorch Earth if his plan succeeds. Mysterio leads Spider-Man and his allies to a Mayan temple where Doctor Octopus's base is located (claiming that he was responsible for the choice of location due to the
supposed Mayan prophecies of the world ending in 2012), leaving them to face the mind-controlled Avengers. After disabling the Octobots that were controlling the Avengers, Mysterio lends Spider-Man and Silver Sable his vehicle and provides them with the location of Doctor Octopus' base. He then disappears in a cloud of smoke and leaves the heroes to deal with Octavius. During the
Spider-Men story line, it is revealed that Mysterio has crossed over to the
Ultimate Marvel Universe multiple times. In the first time, he had a police technician set up surveillance equipment to the police department. However, after NYPD's police captain Frank Quaid asked the
Ultimate version of Spider-Man to aid them to find the crook who was somehow able to stay ahead of his unit. The
Ultimate version of Mary Jane Watson, Spider-Man's love interest, figured out how the criminal does it after the hero informed her of the situation. After the police arrested his
accomplice, the villain vowed to get even with Spider-Man and then escapes. Mysterio appears again in
Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #1, blasting the Ultimate version of the
Kingpin out the window of a skyscraper following the "
Ultimatum". He publicly confesses to Wilson Fisk's murder and threatens the city, stating that he is now in charge. He releases a fear hallucinogen across Manhattan to rob the Federal Bank. Spider-Man stops him and Mysterio's personal hatred for the web slinger increases. Creating an illusion of the
Hulk to lure Spider-Man to him, Mysterio ambushes and severely wounds the hero. Before Mysterio can unmask and kill Spider-Man, a
mysterious vigilante rescues him and together they defeat Mysterio, revealing his true face. Mysterio finds Spidey's blood on his broken armor and designs a
Spider-Slayer that personally targets Peter. Spider-Man defeats it. Before Mysterio can do anything else, the police rush to his hideout which they found by tracking a piece of Mysterio's tech. Mysterio curses and proceeds to blow up his hideout. He encounters the mainstream Spider-Man after his last travel. In the struggle, Spider-Man is transported to the Ultimate Universe, where Mysterio reveals that his Ultimate counterpart is a remotely controlled
robotic avatar. Refusing to allow Spider-Man to escape, Mysterio sends a robot avatar after Peter and
the new Spider-Man. Despite using chemical weapons to create the hallucination that both Spider-Men are fighting an army of their greatest foes, Peter's greater experience allows him to focus through Mysterio's illusions and destroy the avatar. Mysterio subsequently departs, reflecting that it is more appropriate to leave Spider-Man trapped in a world where he is dead, leaving
Iron Man to examine his discarded technology. Mysterio is preparing to cement his victory by destroying the portal and trapping Spider-Man in the Ultimate universe forever. But unable to resist the temptation to see how his enemy is faring, he keeps the portal open long enough for Peter and the Ultimates to capture him. Despite his best efforts to throw them off with their worst fears, Mysterio is quickly defeated. Fury decides to keep him prisoner in the Ultimate universe due to his knowledge of Peter's secret identity. He is later questioned by the Ultimates when
Galactus is accidentally transferred into the Ultimate universe after they determine that Galactus originates from Mysterio's world. Beck reveals that Galactus's past assaults had been defeated by his world's
Reed Richards, allowing the Ultimates to send
their Reed to Earth-616 to hack his counterpart's files on Galactus. Eight months after the events of
Secret Wars, Mysterio attacks
Parker Industries with the intention of using the company's Webware technology to cause
mass hysteria by beaming imagery directly into the minds of the product's users. The plot is thwarted by
Deadpool, who runs Mysterio over with his "Dead-Buggy". While recovering in the hospital, Beck is visited by an unknown figure, who leaves a Mysterio
bust on the supervillain's bedside table while declaring that he is "not out of the game yet". After Deadpool is manipulated into killing Spider-Man, Mysterio tortures the hero's
Limbo-bound soul by projecting his own spirit into the realm using power provided by a mysterious benefactor. Deadpool is able to enter Limbo and help Spider-Man overpower Mysterio, who is afterward shown to have disappeared from his hospital bed.
Retirement and return to villainy After being beaten by the likes of Deadpool and other superheroes, Quentin Beck left the supervillain business and relocated to
Las Vegas. His daughter Misty Beck shows up to persuade him to become Mysterio again.
Dusk shows some awareness of this, as she warns the
Scarlet Spider about Mysterio, but when Reilly visits the villain, he accepts Beck's explanation that he has decided to retire. Misty later involves her father in a ritual that would grant her great power if she sacrificed something she truly loved in exchange. But when she attempted to kill Beck, Reilly's intervention distracted her long enough for Beck to accidentally stab her resulting in him gaining the power himself as he places his left hand on the altar while shedding Misty's blood. Now possessing power drawn from
Cyttorak, Beck recreates his Mysterio costume and attacks the Scarlet Spider. The Scarlet Spider defeats his foe by cutting off the hand that touched the altar, taking away Beck's power. Mysterio later created the illusion of an alien invasion that lured every superhero team to fight them. Spider-Man discovered Mysterio's plot and defeated him. Mysterio stated that he wanted to become more than a lesser criminal as Spider-Man webbed him up for the police. When in court,
Janice Lincoln appeared as Mysterio's lawyer as the vision of an unidentified entity with centipedes on him appeared in the courthouse, claiming to be the one who revived Mysterio. In the series "Dead Man Logan," Miss Sinister coaxes Quentin Beck into becoming Mysterio again in exchange for keeping him safe from
Old Man Logan. Miss Sinister informed him that
his counterpart tricked Wolverine into killing the X-Men. To take over the world, Miss Sinister and Mysterio side with Neo-
Hydra. Mysterio would later find out that Miss Sinister and Neo-Hydra would dispose of him once he has served his purpose. This led to Mysterio taking Logan to Neo-Hydra's base. During the battle between Logan and Neo-Hydra, Mysterio used an illusion to make Logan think that he killed him. Quentin then makes his way back to Bedford Hills Psychiatric Hospital while tossing out his Mysterio costume.
Dealings with Kindred Mysterio is later shown attending a meeting with psychiatrist Dr. Winhorst, where he affirms his old story that he was sent to Hell after his suicide and was released by some
demonic entity whose name he fears to say. Winhorst attempts to convince Beck that he actually faked his suicide and his belief in the demon is just his former illness causing him to hallucinate. But when the demon that brought Beck back to life appears in the psychiatrist's office, it affirms that the "demon" is real. When Winhorst flees, Mysterio begs forgiveness from the entity. Although initially prepared to spare Mysterio, the entity realizes that Peter is somehow witnessing these events in a dream. The entity adopts the temporary alias of
Kindred and kills Beck again so that he cannot reveal his identity to Spider-Man before Kindred is ready. However, it is soon established that the "Mysterio" who died was actually Winhorst, who was brainwashed by Mysterio to believe that he was the supervillain to give Mysterio a chance to escape from Bedford Hills Psychiatric Hospital. Although Kindred is angered that Mysterio shared his real name with Winhorst to increase the reality of the delusion, he notes that Mysterio keeps running from his purpose and gives him a script to stick to. More recently, Mysterio had begun production on a film with
Mary Jane Watson on a remote set he used to torment Spider-Man, to make a play for a girl he wronged while under the alias of Cage McKnight. After being discovered by Mary Jane, they cooperated in the project, but the filming was turned tumultuous by the
Savage Six when the
Vulture felt insulted by the "unauthorized use" of his person in the film's plot. Nevertheless, thanks to an authentic recording of their attack, the movie became a rousing success.
Sinister War In a prelude to the "
Sinister War" story line, Mysterio is still in Kindred's servitude as he places Mysterio in Doctor Octopus' latest incarnation of the Sinister Six. Peter and Mary Jane Watson are attending the premiere of MJ's new movie, which she worked on with Mysterio under the alias of Cage McKnight. Peter is planning to publicly propose to Mary Jane, but is attacked by the Savage Six. Mysterio comes to Mary Jane's rescue, exposing his identity to Peter and the Savage Six. Doctor Octopus then attacks the theater with Electro, Kraven the Hunter, the Lizard, and the Sandman as Doctor Octopus states to the Vulture that they need Mysterio. Mary Jane confesses to a concerned Peter that she knew who Mysterio was all along and vouches for him. Mysterio tries to tell Peter that he and Mary Jane's deal with
Mephisto is to blame for everything that is presently happening, but Peter is far too distracted by the warring factions. Doctor Octopus offers Mysterio the opportunity to join the Sinister Six as long as he helps them capture Mary Jane. Mysterio complies and teleports away taking MJ with him while promising her that the "devil will get his due". Mary Jane is transported to Mysterio's old studios where Beck reveals what happened to him after his suicide, transported to hell, and tortured there until Harry Osborn made him a deal. Taking it, Beck was revived around the time
Peter's identity was public knowledge, his adventures in the
Spider-Men crossover are referenced, and over time Harry stopped communicating with him until recently. Mysterio also reveals to Mary Jane that he was the therapist who helped her come to terms with Harry's death, but Mary Jane barely remembers this. Mary Jane pleas with Beck, reminding him he has changed, but Mysterio remains loyal to the deal he struck and tells Mary Jane that he knows what fate awaits him. Mysterio rejoins the teams of villains while leaving Mary Jane to the mercy of Kindred. It is later revealed that Mysterio used his time as Mary Jane's therapist to implant false memories of Gwen Stacy confessing to a brief affair with Norman Osborn, thus justifying the existence of Gwen's adult children, Gabriel and Sarah (actually clones created by an A.I. Harry, the trio together being Kindred), with A.I. Harry also having faked an affair with Norman (posing as Gwen himself) to back up the deception. ==Other characters named Mysterio==