Jake Gyllenhaal’s New Comic Book Movie Role, More Exciting Than Returning As ‘Mysterio’

JAKE Gyllenhaal has a new comic book movie role thanks to Prophet, and it is a more exciting project for him than returning as Mysterio. 

Gyllenhaal finally made the jump to superhero movies in 2019 by playing Quentin Beck a.k.a. Mysterio in Spider-Man: Far From Home. He turned in an excellent performance as the villain in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, leaving audiences hopeful that Mysterio is not dead and will return. There has been no movement in terms of Gyllenhaal reprising his role as Mysterio even as the MCU and Sony’s Spider-Verse further explore the multiverse. This has left the actor to find a new comic book character to play.

It was announced in 2021 that the Image Comics character Prophet, created by Rob Liefeld in 1992, was getting a movie adaptation. This came with the news that Gyllenhaal would star as the central character, who is a supersoldier with an origin similar to Captain America or The Winter Soldier.

The timing of Gyllenhaal’s involvement in Prophet came after Spider-Man: Far From Home‘s ending seemingly sealed Mysterio’s fate. While the movie has moved through the development stage a bit slowly ever since the initial announcement, it remains a more exciting comic book movie role for the talented actor than playing Mysterio again for a few reasons.

Mysterio might be a more well-known character and role at this point, but Prophet is a chance for Jake Gyllenhaal to step completely into the forefront of a comic book movie. As the main character in the movie, he will not take a backseat to any other character or cast member that appears in the Image Comics adaptations. He had plenty of screen time as Mysterio in Spider-Man: Far From Home, but he was still second-fiddle to Tom Holland’s Spider-Man. Unless Mysterio’s next appearance is in a Sony solo movie, reprising his Marvel villain role would once again make him a secondary focus of any film.

This will not be the case when it comes to Prophet. Playing John Prophet means the movie should be focused squarely on Gyllenhaal’s character and his performance. It also helps that Prophet is a character that holds rich potential in terms of developing him for the big screen, giving an actor of Gyllenhaal’s caliber a chance to fully flesh him out. And while the Image Comics character has a following and has found varying levels of success across the decades, he is not as well-known or iconic as Mysterio. This should also allow Gyllenhaal and the Prophet team a chance to make the character their own without too much backlash.

The other exciting element that comes from Jake Gyllenhaal’s Prophet movie is the involvement of Sam Hargrave as the film’s director. The former stuntman and stunt coordinator turned heads with his abilities as an action director with Extraction and Extraction 2.

Jake Gyllenhaal having the opportunity to partake in Prophet‘s practical action scenes is better than more Mysterio illusions. (Source: screenrant.com)

(ROHN ROMULO)