These ‘Far From Home’ Villains Aren’t What They Seem, Based On Their Comics History

There's a bit of mystery surrounding the plot of Spider-Man: Far From Home, which hits theaters on July 2. Ever since the first trailer dropped, fans have been debated what they saw — and didn't see. How will Far From Home deal with Peter Parker's (Tom Holland) snap limbo? Who else was gone for those five years? When does the film take place, and who are its actual villains? Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) is featured in the trailers, but there's also the matter of the Elementals, Marvel villains from the comics. The source material may provide some hints about how these four characters may come into play.

First off, even though Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) introduces Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) to Peter as a good guy from another dimension, further investigation into Mysterio's Marvel comics backstory suggests that he probably can't be trusted. His intentions may not be as pure as Fury believes they are, but that also may not be revealed into well into the movie. There's another threat to be dealt with anyway. Far From Home director Jon Watts told Entertainment Weekly that Fury requests Spidey's help to battle a mysterious quartet called the Elementals — a team of "extradimensional humanoids" with power over the forces of nature.

According to Marvel.com's biography of the Elementals, Hydron, Magnum, Zephyr, and their leader Hellfire possess power over water, earth, air, and fire, respectively. You can even see, in Far From Home's trailer, moments when Fury and Maria Hill face-off against a giant rock creature, when Mysterio goes up against an enormous water being, and when Spidey himself dives through a raging wind tunnel and escapes a fiery vortex.

"They can manipulate other energies, notably forming force fields or opening dimensional portals," the bio continues. "They were virtually immortal and their origins are unrevealed. They were cast from one universe and traveled to earth sometime before 3500 BC. Appearing as gods, they ruled a kingdom until they sought to extend their domain to what would become Egypt." The Elementals were eventually banished from the Earth, but made themselves a "Palace of the Gods" somewhere in space.

However, the Elementals actually never battled Spider-Man in the comics. They were more of a foe for Carol Danvers, then known as Ms. Marvel. The fact that one of her villains is appearing in a Spider-Man movie might suggest a cameo from Brie Larson as the incredibly powerful Captain Marvel, or it might mean that the Elementals could make an appearance in an upcoming Captain Marvel sequel. But that would mean that the Elementals go undefeated by the end of Far From Home.

But the fact that the Elementals never cross paths with Spider-Man in the books is a bit of a head scratcher. Why would they be in the movie if they're not a foe in Spidey's comic books? Nerdist theorizes that the Elementals that we're going to see in Far From Home are actually incarnations of Spider-Man villains Hydro-Man, Molten Man, and Sandman. But that would negate the one female character of the four evil Elementals, Zephyr, who controls air. Eliminating the one female villain in a group of four would be — How shall we say it? — pretty crappy of them.

But then again, what we know of the Mysterio from the comics is that he creates illusions. He conjures up visual effects that he passes off as magic to create chaos in order to swoop in and save the day and be considered the hero. So the Elementals might not actually exist at all, but rather be illusions of Mysterio's making. We'll just have to wait until Far From Home comes out to see if Spidey's really seeing the Earth's elements come to life, or if he's just being tricked.