Mysterio Forever

Mysterio Forever is a 2023 American superhero film directed by Christopher Nolan. It is the second installment in his Mysterio film series. It is based on the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man, and was co-produced by Sony Pictures. It is the sequel to Mysterio: Path To Redemption. Set four months after the previous film, Mysterio/Quentin Beck (Gyllenhaal) had been branded a hero, but must battle Coldsteel/Jules Sandoz (Spacey), who had returned from Hell due to a deal with Mephisto (Brolin). To defeat Coldsteel, he must team up with Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Holland), while being faced with raising orphan Megan Cribster (Donald). Filming took place from July 2022 until late December 2022. It was released on January 16th, 2023. Like the first film, it recieved mostly positive reviews for it's direction, cast performances, plot, and emotional tone, but with only the runtime being criticized.

Plot
In Hell, the demon Mephisto approaches Jules Sandoz, and offers him a chance to return to Earth and become Coldsteel in exchange for immortality. He accepts, and announces that he will return and seek vengance on all of humanity, calling them "maggots of society."

In Manhattan, four months after the death of Boris Vadim, Mysterio had restrained Lancaster Sneed and Christopher Colchiss to a wall, and left for the police to arrest. He then returns to his apartment and takes off his costume, then puts on a gray hoodie, black joggers, and construction boots. While Quentin Beck walking down the hallway of his apartment, he sees his next-door neighbor's daughter placing a picture of Mysterio that he drew. Then, he sees his across the hallway neighbor's son drawing a picture of Mysterio's battle with the Crimson Dynamo. This makes him feel happy. Later, while driving, he sees Peter and MJ at a restaurant on a date. Then, he goes to another restaurant, where he sees Ned Leeds with his family. After arriving at a bar, he sees Coldsteel trying to convince a group of people that they should not read any fiction. Quentin Beck opens the trunk to his car, grabs his costume, closes the trunk, then hides in an alleyway, and puts it on. Mysterio flies in and fights Coldsteel. The fight later proved to be a draw, and both fled.

After taking off his costume, Beck walks up to the restaurant, and finds Megan Cribster standing in front of the place. He agrees to adopt her upon her request. After taking her in, he gets her bedroom set up for her. Then, Beck has Megan sent to the Booker T. Washington Middle School, which starts the following day. The next day, after Megan leaves for her school, Beck is notified about another Coldsteel attack on a nearby supermarket. After putting on the costume for the second time, Mysterio fights Coldsteel, but due to superior strength, Mysterio fails to defeat him. After going to his apartment, Beck starts to realize that if he fights Coldsteel again, he would die.

In order to successfully defeat Coldsteel, Mysterio then contemplates teaming up with Spider-Man, but worries that he won't accept his offer. After he brings Megan home, she says that her class had been reading Winter Thunder, and hates how Jules abused his daughter Mari, causing Beck to reveal that Coldsteel and Jules are the same person.

After Beck makes the call, he then puts on the costume. After Spider-Man swings into his apartment, Mysterio offers him to help in battling Coldsteel. After some deliberation, Spider-Man accepts, and the two set out to find Coldsteel as Megan turns on her iPhone.

Spider-Man and Mysterio find Coldsteel near the Brooklyn Bridge. He tells them that they cannot stop him and his quest to get revenge on all of humanity. Mysterio replies that Megan loves reading fiction, angering Coldsteel, causing the big fight. Sometime later, Coldsteel sends them both falling to the ground. Before he could deliver the killing blow, Mysterio puts up a force-field, then tells him to enact their plan B. They blast Coldsteel from every angle, which does some damage to him, but continues fighting the two until Spider-Man kicks Coldsteel's face. Mysterio delivers the final blow by using his green lightning and double-punching Coldsteel in the chest, causing the suit to corrode and to collapse onto the road. Jules emerges from the suit and runs over to the apartment in an attempt to find Megan and throw her in the apartment's cellar while disintergrating into dust and eventually fading away.

With Jules Sandoz defeated, the two go their seperate ways, but are on amiable terms. At the apartment, Megan reveals that she had to do a presentation on Mari Sandoz, and decided to include the fight in the presentation. Beck is happy, and tells Megan that he loves her as if she was his own daughter. The next day, Beck is happy that Megan had gotten an A+ on her presentation. After running into Peter, MJ, and Ned at Bryant Park, they are introduced to Megan, and they become good friends. After telling MJ everything about the fight, she likes the story and starts sketching the fight as a truck comes by with the Coldsteel armor. Then, they come back into the apartment, where Beck remarks that more enemies will come as he and Megan hug.

Mid-credits scene: Clark Finark stumbles on a helmet from Pseudonix, steals it, and declares himself Psuedo-Man.

Cast
Jake Gyllenhaal as Quentin Beck/Mysterio, who is now a hero for real, and also raising Megan Cribster

Seth Green as Lancaster Sneed, who was restrained to a wall and left to the police by Mysterio

Tommy Lee Jones as Christopher Colchiss, who was also restrained to a wall and left to the police by Mysterio

Tom Holland as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, who eventually teams up with Mysterio

Zendaya as Michelle "MJ" Jones, Peter's girlfriend

Jacob Batalon as Ned Leeds, Peter's best friend

Kevin Spacey as Jules Sandoz/Coldsteel, Mari Sandoz's abusive father, and Mysterio's second arch-nemesis

James Brolin as Mephisto, the ruler of Hell, and the demon that resurrescted Jules

Amie Donald as Megan Cribster, the adoptive daughter of Quentin Beck/Mysterio

Kane Hodder as Clark Finark/Psuedo-Man, a criminal who steals a helmet from Pseudonix. Christopher Nolan decided: "You know, it would be a great idea for Psuedo-Man to be the next villain in Mysterio's third solo outing. That would be a great idea, and I do, really, I do believe that the audience would like the idea."

Development
After the impressive box-office results of the first film, Christopher Nolan revealed that he "would like to expand on Mysterio being a hero for real." After Kevin Spacey's court hearing, he signed on for the role of Jules Sandoz/Coldsteel after Jeff Goldblum rejected the role. Christopher Nolan wanted to have Jules Sandoz's alter-ego be Coldsteel was because he felt like it would "give those who have heard about the story of Mari Sandoz some form of entertainment." Filming took place from July 2022 until late December 2022. The producers felt like including her because it would "put weight on his shoulders while contending with another villain." Christopher Nolan stated that it would "bring in viewers who want to se Mysterio do more heroic stuff for real." The film used the songs Here Comes The Hotstepper by Ini Kamoze for the end credits, and used The Vengeful One by Disturbed for the rest of the credits. Like the first film, it was was granted a PG-13 rating for sequences of heavy sci-fi violence and action throughout.

Theatrical
The film was released on January 16th, 2023, which coincided with Martin Luther King Jr day. Marvel Studios wanted to get the film out of the way in order to get ready for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania to be released.

Home video
The film will be released on DVD and Blu-Ray on January 2nd, 2024, and will be available to stream on Disney+ on New Year's Eve 2023.

Box office
The film garnered $4.281 billion against a 301 million dollar production budget. As of January 2023, it is the highest-grossing MCU film.

Critical response
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 98%, with an average rating of 9.8/10. Critics stated that this "was the best film to continue Mysterio's adventure" Kambole Campbell at Empire Online gave the film 5 out of 5 stars again, stating that the film "shows that Quentin Beck is capable of responsibility, even when he's not performing genuinely good deeds at stopping crime in Manhattan."

Soundtrack
Elliot Goldenthal returned to score the entire film. After meeting Hans Zimmer during filming, he even agreed to let Elliot use some hints of his score for The Amazing Spider-Man 2.

Future
Christopher Nolan stated that he would "make Mysterio 3" in a heartbeat. On January 20th, 2023, the third film was confirmed, and it has a planned release date of January 18th, 2025.