Jake Gyllenhaal joined Instagram and revealed he is starring as a villain in the upcoming Spider-Man film.

The US actor will play Mysterio in Spider-Man: Far From Home, which will see British star Tom Holland reprise his role as the web-swinging superhero.

Gyllenhaal had been rumoured to be in the film and confirmed the news on Instagram on Wednesday.

View this post on Instagram

I just realized I’m not playing Spider-Man.

A post shared by Jake Gyllenhaal (@jakegyllenhaal) on

His maiden post on the social media website was a video showing him engrossed in a Spider-Man comic titled The Return Of The Man Called Mysterio!

As he pulled the comic book away from his face, he said: “Woah, What the …!”

He jokingly captioned the post: “I just realized I’m not playing Spider-Man.”

In the comments section, his Spider-Man: Far From Home co-star Zendaya posted applause emoji while fellow Marvel star Mark Ruffalo wrote, “same” along with a sad face emoji.

Mysterio, real name Quentin Beck, first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #13 in June 1964. He is a special effects experts who uses his talents to commit crimes.

Spider-Man: Far From Home is a sequel to 2017’s  Spider-Man: Homecoming and is due to be released in July 2019.