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While Mysterio is a character beloved by both writers and fans, he’s generally something of a C-tier villain in Spider-Man’s adventures. Boasting special effects-based powers of illusion and mind control, Mysterio has been the driving force behind some of Marvel’s most off-the-wall stories, but there have also been occasions where Mysterio has shown that underneath his classic fish-bowl helmet and purple cape, he’s a cold-hearted killer.
Introduced in 1964’s The Amazing Spider-Man #13, Mysterio’s biggest victories have generally occurred outside his home reality of Earth-616 (aka the regular Marvel universe). In Old Man Logan, an alternate-timeline, Mysterio was pivotal in helping an army of Marvel villains take over the world by tricking Wolverine into killing the X-Men. Meanwhile, the MCU’s Mysterio was a former employee of Tony Stark who fooled the world into seeing him as a hero, ultimately revealing Spider-Man’s secret identity and framing him as a villain. Of course, that doesn’t mean that the Mysterio of Marvel Comics’ central reality has never caused any trouble.
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His run in with Kingpin starts in Ultimate Spider-Man Annual #3, an issue that takes place in the ‘Ultimate’ Universe of Earth-1610 – an alternate reality with its own versions of Marvel’s heroes and villains. Here, Ultimate Spider-Man is confronted by what seems to be a new, previously unseen version of Mysterio. A dangerous heister using the police’s own systems against them. This apparently mystical Mysterio is thwarted by a young Mary Jane Watson but quickly bounces back.
In this universe, Wilson Fisk is already the untouchable Kingpin of Crime, as well as the owner of Spider-Man’s likeness (meaning he profits from his enemy’s acts of heroism). A vicious, calculating murderer, Fisk was a major presence in the Ultimate Spider-Man comics, embodying the corrupt adult world that constantly threatened to swallow a teenage Peter Parker. But it’s in Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #1 that Fisk meets a sudden and violent end, with the new Mysterio blasting him out of a skyscraper, permanently killing him in the Ultimate Universe, before announcing his intentions to take Fisk’s place at the top of New York crime.
It was a moment that cemented the Ultimate Universe’s Mysterio as a true contender, but not everything was as it seemed. In 2012’s Spider-Men – in which Earth-616’s Spider-Man visited the Ultimate Universe – it was revealed that this wasn’t a new Mysterio, but rather the classic villain flexing his muscles after finding a way to access alternate dimensions. Ultimate Mysterio was actually an android, controlled from a distance by Earth-616’s Mysterio using advanced technology. Not only had this allowed Mysterio to make a new start, but it had also opened up a variety of new illusions, since having multiple androids had allowed him to ‘survive’ incredible damage.
Working together, the Spider-Men of the classic and Ultimate Marvel Universes are able to easily defeat and arrest Mysterio, handing him over to Ultimate Nick Fury rather than taking him home, since his dimension-hopping technology has made him privy to Peter Parker’s secret identity. While Mysterio would go on to menace Spider-Man once again, killing the Kingpin and becoming a major crime figure in another universe remains one of his greatest accomplishments. With Wilson Fisk’s blood on his hands, Mysterio is a lot more dangerous than he may first appear.