MCU fans imagine a universe where Mysterio is the Earth’s defense against an Avengers-level threat

In a world where the master of illusions and king of drones Quentin Beck aka Mysterio left his battle against Peter Parker victorious and successfully fooled the world into believing he was the true successor to Iron Man, what would happen if an Avengers-level threat emerged?

That is the question fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe are debating on Reddit, thus effectively coming up with an entirely new episode of What If…? — should Disney wish to take on the challenge.

When he showed up to terrorize Peter’s life in Spider-Man: Far From Home, Beck had one goal: to be vindicated. His personal vendetta against Tony Stark for stealing his work and humiliating him led him to create fake, holographic creatures that he would fight using equally fake and holographic powers. All so he could get his hands on the AI sunglasses his former boss had left Spider-Man after death, which granted him access to all of Stark Industries’ tech and arsenal.

Had his cover not been blown or Spider-Man not stopped him in time, Beck would essentially have turned into an evil tech magnate — powerful, but easily blinded by ego. Therefore, if an Avengers-level threat did force him to act, he might have the necessary weaponry, but his true self would come out eventually.

On the social media platform, fans predicted that Beck would run away and cop out at the last minute, seeing as his intentions when becoming a hero weren’t to actually help save the world but to attract the attention and adoration that comes with the super job.

Alternatively, he might realize ahead of time how bad running away would look, and resort to his usual shenanigans. Mysterio faking a choreographed enemy attack that would give him an alibi to justify not helping the true superheroes out with a real threat is about the most Mysterio thing we can think of.

The potential is immense, and the prospect of seeing Sam Wilson’s Captain America scold the phony hero has us hoping Marvel and Disney really do turn this scenario into an episode of What If…?.