Quentin Beck's Crew

"With our technology, and with E.D.I.T.H., Mysterio will be the greatest hero on Earth. And then everyone will listen! Not to a boozy manchild, not to a hormonal teenager. To me, and to my very wealthy crew. To us."

―Quentin Beck^[src]

Quentin Beck's Crew are a group of disgruntled ex-Stark Industries employees who, following the death of Tony Stark, used Quentin Beck's holographic technology to create illusions of the Elementals.

History[]

Foundation[]

"To the man who brought us all together, our former boss, Tony Stark."

―Quentin Beck^[src]

In late 2023, following Tony Stark's sacrifice, an opportunistic Quentin Beck searched for and recruited several disgruntled former Stark employees who shared in his disdain for their former boss. Some time following Stark's funeral, Janice learned that Stark had intended for control of the orbital defense satellite array under E.D.I.T.H. to be passed on to Peter Parker, Stark's protégé. Not happy by this information, Beck galvanized his crew to create a swarm of battle drones built by William Ginter Riva, equipped with his illusion projector technology, the narrative surrounding his character Mysterio as well as the Elementals, and the convincing design of his suit and the creatures he would go on to fight. With his crew behind him, Beck aimed to make Mysterio an international hero of Avengers caliber, and deceive Parker into handing over E.D.I.T.H.^[1]

Attack on Ixtenco[]

After months of preparation, Quentin Beck had initiated his plan in Summer 2024: false extra-dimensional attacks by "Elementals" in which he playing the hero defeated the threats. Beginning in Ixtenco, Mexico, Beck started a 'supernatural' event in which Talos and Soren had arrived to investigate, impersonating Nick Fury and Maria Hill, only to encounter Beck 'fighting' Sandman.

In the aftermath of Sandman's "defeat", an agreement to work together was made where Beck would work with Nick Fury's Crew to eliminate the threat of the Elementals. One week following Ixtenco, the battle with Cyclone occurred in Morocco, with the illusion still deceiving Talos and Soren, and moving the plan further along. Talos decided to recruit Spider-Man for assistance, having learned he was to be arriving in Europe for a school trip.^[1]

Battle in the Grand Canal[]

Mysterio vs — Mysterio "battles" Hydro-Man

Quentin Beck's crew prepared another attack in Venice, and by Beck telling "Fury" where the attack would be, Talos altered Peter Parker's class trip well in advance to have him participate in helping Beck himself subdue the Elemental. Tracking Parker's arrival, Beck's crew waited for the perfect moment to have Parker relatively isolated, while having maximum witness potential.

Commencing Hydro-Man's attack, the Elemental rampaged within the canal, and was intangible to Parker's web-shooters. As Parker was evacuating civilians, Hydro-Man then punched the bridge he was on, drenching Parker in river water. That attack was Beck's cue to enter the scene and 'battle' the entity, and giving just enough overwhelming power to make it seem Beck required help. This led to a 'team-up' with Beck and Parker working together to lure the Hydro-Man out of the water and destroy it inland, while Parker kept buildings debris from falling on the citizens underneath.

Spider-Man & Mysterio Far From Home — Mysterio meeting Spider-Man

Later that night, Beck had to meet Fury at his makeshift HQ, so Beck had to go alone, armed only with his narrative and on-hand tech. Afterwards, Talos returned later that evening with Parker to introduce him to Beck. Upon seeing Beck, Parker iterates the name his class gave him, "Mysterio", which Beck takes a liking to the name. With Mysterio meeting Spider-Man for the first time, Parker was told by Talos not to hide by his mask, and this allowed Beck's crew to pull information about him upon learning his name. Beck's team then planned attacks in accordance to Parker's trip itinerary.^[1]

Attack on the Prague Carnival[]

The crew's next attack was to occur in Prague, during the famous Carnival of Lights. They positioned their cloaked drone fleet in the planned positions. At the designated moment, a molten reaction was made to occur in the plaza fountain, with the Elemental's appearance made grandiose courtesy of the Illusion Projectors. Mysterio then waited for Spider-Man to give him the signal of engaging in a so-called fight against Molten Man.

Mysterio v — Mysterio 'kills' Molten Man

As the Molten Man seemed to gain the upper hand in the fight, Mysterio played the "heroic sacrifice" and performed a kamikaze attack to "kill" the Elemental. Beck's Crew then used an explosion so "Fury" would not find a lack of evidence from a molten path of carnage, believing the burst destroyed most evidence. Creating a grand explosion with a large area, the public then took Mysterio as a newly arrived hero, while "Fury" again bought into his lies. The scene played out, all drones in cloak went standby, as Parker helped Beck up. Beck was then to Berlin for talks of forming a new team.

Peter Parker & Quentin Beck — Peter Parker and Quentin Beck talking about the glasses

Following the battle, Parker and Beck went drinking at a late-night pub, which was actually populated with members of the crew acting as regular customers. As Parker only wanted to live his high schooler life, one of Beck's teammates picked the E.D.I.T.H. glasses off the floor and Parker, thinking about passing off the responsibilities, gave Beck access to E.D.I.T.H. As soon as Parker departed the pub to return to his hotel, Beck's crew dropped the illusion of the pub and celebrated their success at getting E.D.I.T.H. from Parker. Beck then stood on the bar, giving a toast to Tony Stark, Parker, and the various members of his crew.^[1]

Ambush in Berlin[]

Mysterio Whirlwind — Practice render of Battle of London

"You know William, one day, after I've had to kill Peter Parker because of this... I hope you remember, that his blood, is on your hands!"

―Mysterio to William Ginter Riva^[src]

Following Quentin Beck's claim to E.D.I.T.H., the crew began rehearsing the attack of the Elemental Fusion and how the action would play out. As Beck was commenting on his practical suit's readiness, he noticed his holographic suit had a render delay on his hand. While William Ginter Riva told him of the one drone's damage during the carnival battle as not important, Beck went into an angry panic.

Indeed, Beck noted that the campaign's success required deceiving even Nick Fury, whom he deemed the most paranoid and most dangerous man on Earth, commenting that Fury would put a bullet in his head should he realize the truth, and held everyone there at gunpoint by drone to elaborate his point. Using E.D.I.T.H., Beck found Michelle Jones on security footage taking the projector and presenting it to Peter Parker. As Beck realized the situation, he told Riva that Parker's death, and those of anyone he told, would be his fault.

Spider-Man & Mysterio — Spider-Man entrapped in an illusion

Beck intercepted Parker in Berlin disguised as Fury and took him to an abandoned office location. There, as Parker tried to present the evidence, Beck then sent him into a nightmare fueled illusion which emotionally assaulted Parker. To take it further, Beck used an illusion of Fury saving Parker to trick the hero into revealing who else could know the truth. While Beck truly did not want to kill him, he lured Parker into an oncoming train, and ordered E.D.I.T.H. to redirect the Midtown group to London, where he would stage the Elemental Fusion's attack to kill them among the hundreds of other casualties.^[1]

Battle of London[]

In preparation for their next attack on London, the crew dispatched inside the city. Quentin Beck used the Illusion Projectors to pretend to be helping Nick Fury searching for the Elemental, when he actually coordinated the whole attack from a bridge while William Ginter Riva checked on the illusions created by the drones. Gutes Guterman was sent to pick up Peter Parker's class, posing as a tour bus driver especially sent for them. Janice remained behind to look after the Mysterio Suit, and Victoria used her EMP Generator to create electromagnetic pulses to stage the attack.

Once the Elemental Fusion began to attack London, Guterman abandoned the class in the middle of Tower Bridge, hoping that the students would get killed in the ensuing havoc while Beck pretended to be fighting the Elemental. However, much to Beck's frustration, Spider-Man had survived and returned to sabotage their plans, taking down the whole illusions generated by the drones. Beck ordered Riva to stop the holograms, instead reclaiming all the drones to fight against Spider-Man.

Nevertheless, after a lengthy confrontation, Beck was defeated by Spider-Man and seemingly killed. With their leader gone, the crew members simply disappeared to evade arrest, but not before Riva reclaimed all the data recorded by the drones during their campaign so he could use them against Spider-Man.^[1]

Exposing Spider-Man[]

Spider-Man's Reaction — Spider-Man being exposed to the world

After the events in London, Riva took footage of Spider-Man and Mysterio from the drones, then used doctored footage with Beck's "last words" to frame Spider-Man for the drone attack on London. The footage also exposed his secret identity as Peter Parker for the whole world. This altered footage was then "leaked" online to The Daily Bugle for J. Jonah Jameson to then expose Spider-Man, making the wall-crawler an international public enemy.^[1]

Equipment[]

Stark Industries Combat Drones: Created by William Ginter Riva, these drones were modified with B.A.R.F. to orchestrate the Elemental attacks in different parts of the world to make Quentin Beck appear as a hero to the world. The drones were equipped with miniguns, lasers, flamethrowers and concussive blasters to make the illusions appear realistic.
Illusion Projectors: Advanced 4D interactive augmented reality holographic projectors, capable of multi-sensory influence. The illusions projected were of such a caliber, that everyone was fooled- including Talos, who himself is an experienced master shapeshifter and infiltrator. But after Parker's changed perception regarding Beck as a threat, the drones had no affect on his Spider-Sense. A major weakness to these projectors is their lack of physical mass simulation, thus if anything were to pass through the projections, there would be no direct interaction. This was evident upon Spider-Man's gliding into the Elemental Fusion during Beck's final attack over London.
Mysterio Suit: Designed by Janice, the suit is both a holographic representation, and a practical suit. It takes inspiration of known alien technology, while still incorporating power lights similar to Terran techno-armor. The practical suit is just for presentation with little use of the illusion tech without drones nearby. The suit's design is also likely influenced with some detail by Doctor Strange, to sell the mystical aspect of Beck's character.

Behind the Scenes[]

Director Jon Watts compared Quentin Beck's Crew to a film crew, being inspired by the multiple crews Mysterio often had in the comics, comparing Beck as the film director, Gutes Guterman as the writer and Janice as the costume director.^[2]