By Ben Travis | Posted 21 May 2018

If you’ve seen Avengers: Infinity War (and if not, you should really skip to the next paragraph — or y’know, go and see it as soon as humanly possible) you’ll know that Spider-Man — SPOILER WARNING — is a big ol’ pile of dust right now. But say that Sony was hypothetically preparing a Spider-Man: Homecoming sequel in the possibility that the original Avengers manage to undo Thanos’ massacre in Avengers 4, they’d probably be signing up a cast and crew right around now.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, a villain could be in place for Peter Parker’s next neighbourhood adventure in the Marvel Cinematic Universe — and it looks set to be none other than Jake Gyllenhaal playing the mysterious Mysterio. The character would mark Gyllenhaal’s first foray into comic-book territory (his Nightcrawler was nothing to do with blue-skinned teleporting mutants), and would be the first incarnation of the comic super-villain on the big screen. Mysterio’s powers on the page have included magic and hypnotism, as well as telekinesis — so there’s a chance he could be operating in the cosmic and conjuring end of the MCU, à la Doctor Strange.

Homecoming director Jon Watts is back to helm the sequel, with Tom Holland and Zendaya both returning as Peter Parker and MJ. The film is currently pencilled in for 5 July 2019, just two months after Avengers 4 is released. No pressure, Mr. Stark.

Keep up to date with all the latest movie news, click here to subscribe to Empire on Great Magazines and have the latest issue delivered to your door every month.