Now that the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Spider-Man Home trilogy is comfortably in the rearview, some fans are wondering howcome we never got a full-blown arc for Michael Mando‘s Mac Gargan, AKA Scorpion, that was teased at the end of Spider-Man: Homecoming?
Mando’s role as Ignacio “Nacho” Varga in the crime drama Better Call Saul has arguably taken center stage in the series more and more with each subsequent episode. It has also proven to be one of his most nuanced roles to date, with Mando impressively embodying the multidimensional character with leading man prowess, as well.
Mando’s ability to hold his own on screen was enough to make one fan ask why he hasn’t been tapped as the main antagonist in a Spider-Man film yet.
“After watching Michael Mando’s performance on Better Call Saul, I desperately want the next Spider-Man movie to finally bring him back as Scorpion,” a user wrote in a post on Reddit, in the r/MarvelStudios subreddit. “It’d be a total waste if they didn’t.”
With last year’s box-office behemoth, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Marvel gave us a pseudo-Sinister Six plot — well, Sinister Five, it turned out — which sadly did not include Scorpion.
Many people on Reddit agreed with the original poster’s assessment that we need more Mando in future Spider-Man films.
“YES. Mando is crushing it on Saul this season,” one user wrote. “Nacho, man. Love the character and Mando’s work. Just tears your heart out.”
Another fan pointed out how 2017’s Homecoming was seemingly chock-full of teases that have yet to be followed up on, such as Donald Glover’s Prowler, and by extension, his nephew only mentioned briefly in dialogue, Miles Morales.
Though Miles Morales has yet to be cast in the live-action space, one user seemed certain Prowler would only be introduced alongside Miles in a future film.
Another user hypothesized that since the symbiote goo was teased as being left behind in the universe of Tom Holland’s Peter Parker, at the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home, it’s entirely possible Mando’s Mac Gargon may take up the mantle of Venom in a subsequent MCU film, as there is precedent for that very storyline in the comic books.
As good as No Way Home was, another user could not help but point out it seemed like Far From Home was positioning Scorpion as the next big bad in the third installment, but the filmmakers decided to go a different route.
“I really hope he doesn’t go to waste, they set him up really well in Homecoming and he is such a good actor,” another fan wrote.
Mando has long proven to be a capable actor portraying villains, as can be seen in his breakout role as Vaas Montenegro in the 2012 videogame, Far Cry 3. Mando even starred in a series of shorts tied into the Far Cry universe that served as a prequel to the game, called the Far Cry 3 Experience.
But with his role in Better Call Saul, especially this season, Mando is seemingly poised to make the transition from antagonist to sympathetic protagonist, giving us even more of a reason we are rooting for his return as a complex villain in the Spider-Man films.
“As the story progresses, he becomes one of the only characters who — while the whole show is breaking bad — is breaking good,” the actor recently said of his character, Nacho, in Better Call Saul, in an interview with Vulture. “I believe that, to me, was a monumental revelation in the character. And it made him heroic, romantic, and transcendent.”
Here’s hoping we haven’t seen Mando’s final foray into the world of Marvel.