WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Spider-Man: Far From Home, in theaters now.
One of the best ways that Spider-Man: Far From Home ties itself to the greater Marvel Cinematic Universe is through Mysterio's former connections to Stark Industries. Many of the people who work alongside him also used to work for Tony Stark, and all of them were fired for various reasons. Each of them harbors resentment for Stark as a result, seeing their arduous work going to a single rich man instead of changing the world as they'd intended it would.
The most notable of them, however, is William Riva. Played by Peter Billingsley (aka Ralphie from A Christmas Story), Riva actually appeared in the first film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, 2008's Iron Man. By the end of Far From Home, though, he sets himself apart from his fellow grunts, establishing himself as potentially a very dangerous figure for the future of the MCU.
BUT SIR, I'M NOT TONY STARK
Riva only has a brief appearance in the MCU before Far From Home, as an unnamed scientist working for the Tony Stark in Iron Man. Although he's established as a clever engineer, he's not up to snuff with the genius Stark, as indicated by the berating by Obidiah Stane. He's one of the scientists assigned to try and figure out how to replicate the arc reactor technology that Tony built to keep himself alive after being otherwise fatally wounded at the beginning of the film.
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Although Riva is clearly good enough to get hired by Stark in the first place, his inability to keep up with Tony ends up getting him chastized and fired. If you're still having trouble remembering him, he's the scientist that Stane yelled at for not being able to remake the arc reactor into a smaller unit, even though Tony had built one "in a cave, with a box of scraps!" He's at the core of one of the most memorable moments in the whole film.
THE MAN BEHIND THE "MAGIC"
After being let go for this lack of skill, Riva reappears as one of the men recruited by Quinten Beck to usurp Tony Stark's place as the biggest hero on the planet. He's essentially become the main technical mind behind many of Mysterio's actions. He helps control the cloaking technology that keeps the legion of Stark drones hidden from the world and is responsible for the holograms that crucially help Beck conjure up his image as a major superhero.
Although Beck is found out by the end of the film and in the process is caught in the crossfire of his own drone fire, Riva actually manages to escape any and all apparent punishment. In fact, Far From Home ends with him in a much better place than where he started. During Mysterio's final battle with Spider-Man, Riva makes sure to upload a great deal of information to a flash drive.
RIVA'S FUTURE
It's likely that Riva was the one to steal away video footage that implicated Spider-Man as the one who killed Mysterio and tried to attack London with drones. If this is true, that means Riva is the real person responsible for Spider-Man's identity being exposed to the world as a whole. A scientist who was barely in the MCU for one scene before Far From Home may have done more damage to Peter Parker's life than almost any of his villains have ever managed across almost all incarnations.
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But even beyond that, there's a chance that Riva could prove to be even more dangerous down the line. Riva had access to the Stark drone legion, which was not destroyed or decommissioned by the end of the film. The data he uploaded might still give him some degree of power over that force. If so, he could use it again down the line to attack any city at a whim. He also has experience working with Beck's hologram technology and has at least an understanding of how Tony Stark's arc reactor technology operates.
This is beginning to sound less like a random scientist from the background of the MCU and more like a genuine supervillain in the making. He could even potentially team up with someone in the future and help them become an even bigger threat. Far From Home may have subtly turned an otherwise forgotten figure from the history of the franchise into one of it's most dangerous minds.
Directed by Jon Watts, Spider-Man: Far From Home stars Tom Holland, Samuel L. Jackson, Zendaya, Cobie Smulders, Jon Favreau, JB Smoove, Jacob Batalon and Martin Starr, with Marisa Tomei and Jake Gyllenhaal.