Mysterio Man

Rumor has it that Bruce Campbell's recurring character in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man flicks will finally get a name in the third movie: Quentin Beck, better known to Spidey fans as Mysterio.

Sounds good to me. When Bruce signed my copy of If Chins Could Kill at the Houston premiere of Man With The Screaming Brain, I told him that I thought Raimi should make him the villain of the final Spider-Man film (last I read, Raimi was planning on doing 6 or so), giving him the longest origin story in movie history. Bruce didn't care for the idea, saying that the supervillains have to spend too much time in elaborate make-up. I pointed out that he wore a ton of make-up as the aging Elvis Presley in Bubba Ho-Tep, to which he simply replied that everyone wants to play the King, baby. During the Q&A that followed, someone else asked Bruce why Raimi didn't give him a larger role in the Spider-Man movies, to which Bruce replied that (a) if not for him, the multi-million-dollar franchise would be known as The Human Spider, and (b) he's the only person in the movies who consistently defeats Spider-Man.

A "movie version" of Quentin Beck/Mysterio appears in the videogame based on Spider-Man 2. When Spidey isn't worrying about Dr. Octavius' physics experiment or trying to stop his villainous rampage as Doctor Octopus, he has to contend with Beck, a Hollywood stuntman, special effects artist, and supervillain wannabe. Beck publicly accuses Spider-Man of being a fraud and challenges him to an arena competition. After his humiliating defeat, Beck returns as Mysterio and uses his illusions to stage a ridiculously unconvincing alien invasion. Amusingly, not only does Bruce Campbell narrate the Spider-Man 2 game, but when Mysterio is trying to impersonate an alien, he says "Klaatu Barada Nikto," the famous phrase from The Day the Earth Stood Still that also serves as the magic incantantion that Bruce (as Ash) screws up in Raimi's Army of Darkness.

The trailer for Spider-Man 3 looks awesome, and the only thing that would make the movie better is if we get to see Bruce Campbell purchasing a giant fishbowl to use as a helmet for his costume. In the meantime, I'm going to see about transplanting Ash's head onto Mysterio's body...