Spider-Man: Brand New Day Character Round Up

New Characters for a Brand New Day

It’s a brand new day for Spider-Man in the MCU. After completing the “Home” trilogy, he’s about to begin a second set. This time, Marvel isn’t being stingy with the guest characters. We’ve got Spider-Man villains, evil organizations, and team-ups galore.

Who are the new and returning characters of Spider-Man: Brand New Day? Who’s the Big Bad? No idea, but we’ve got a few leads. Let’s explore the possibilities together.

Spider-Man

Played By: Tom Holland

You can’t have a Spider-Man movie without Spidey. Sony’s Venomverse learned that the hard way.

Peter Parker was thrown headfirst into the big leagues by Iron Man, who needed extra muscle in Captain America: Civil War. Peter was eager and hero-worshipped Tony Stark, but wasn’t ready for the responsibilities that came with his great power. He slowly became heroic over the course of Spider-Man: Homecoming and Infinity War. Peter was devastated when Tony died in Endgame and further shocked when a dying Mysterio leaked his identity and framed Spider-Man for a terror attack.

Spider-Man had trouble proving his innocence and hated the chaos hurting his friends. He asked Doctor Strange to erase everyone’s memories of his secret, but the spell was botched. The multiverse buckled under that failure, summoning the Sinister Six to kill Peter, who beat them with help from Toby McGuire and Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Men, but the damage was done. 

Green Goblin murdered Aunt May and the multiverse was about to destroy his world. Spider-Man realized that the spell’s focus was “Peter Parker” and had Strange perform another spell to erase him from everyone’s memories. It worked and the world was saved, but Peter was forced to abandon his friends because they couldn’t remember him.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s Michelle Jones

Played By: Zendaya

The MCU isn’t a stranger to altering characters, but it’s rare for one to change this extensively. You could watch the entire trilogy and not realize that Zendaya plays this world’s counterpart to Mary Jane Watson.

Michelle “MJ” Jones was one of Peter Parker’s classmates and a fellow outcast. The gloomy girl often said aloud what everyone was thinking, embarrassing or ticking off others. It took until the end of Homecoming for Peter to learn MJ’s name and realize that she was interested in him.

While on a world tour with his class, Peter worked up the nerve to reveal his secret to her. MJ took the wind out of his sails by revealing she already knew. They began dating and she stuck with him during the public outcry over his identity. Michelle and Peter were split apart by the spell that erased Peter Parker, but a knowing glance when they briefly met again implied that she may have remembered.

The Punisher

Played By: Jon Bernthal

Responsibility doesn’t mean the same thing for everyone. Peter’s code requires him to help anyone he is able to. But for one vigilante, it means that anyone who breaks the law needs to be punished.

Frank Castle was a U.S. Marine assigned to black-op missions. After returning home, his family was killed in the crossfire of a mob hit. Frank became The Punisher and waged a one-man war on crime. The Punisher often battled Daredevil over their opposing views on justice and killing, but they formed a shaky partnership.

The Punisher recently considered giving up his war after learning that Kingpin’s Anti-Vigilante Task Force had co-opted his symbol and ideology. How could he keep punishing when the innocent were being killed by others abusing his ethos? Fortunately, an attempted hit on Frank sparked a riot, leaving the Punisher motivated and baptized in fresh blood. 

The Hulk

Played By: Mark Ruffalo

The MCU has treated Hulk like crap. Legal issues have barred him from his biggest solo stories and reduced Hulk to Ruffalo’s CGI suit. In Spider-Man: Brand New Day, he’s finally breaking free.

Doctor Bruce Banner was a scientist trying to recreate Captain America’s Super Soldier Serum. An overdose of gamma radiation transformed him into a raging behemoth called The Hulk. Banner was hunted for years until he joined The Avengers for protection. He slowly learned that Hulk was his own person and began working to coexist with Hulk instead of suppressing him.

Banner created a gauntlet that could control Hulk’s energy and combine them into a Merged Hulk with his mind in charge of all that gamma-infused power. Hulk mostly retired from superheroics after Endgame, only briefly returning to teach his cousin Jennifer how to control her powers when she became the She-Hulk. He’s currently teaching students at a New York college, but trailers have shown Hulk will be unmerged and pissed off, leading to a fight with Spider-Man.

Scorpion

Played By: Michael Mando

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is filled with villains, but most of them seem to have minor roles. One madman has been waiting in the wings since Homecoming. It’s time for the Scorpion to strike.

Mac Gargan was a private investigator hired by J. Jonah Jameson to figure out how Peter Parker kept getting pictures of Spider-Man. He stalked Peter, but couldn’t find his secret. Jameson decided on a different tactic, paying Gargan to undergo an experiment that would make him a hero who could stop Spider-Man. It worked, turning him into the Scorpion.

Scorpion defeated Spider-Man, but chose to become a villain. He went on a crime spree and tried to kill Jameson, the only person who knew his secret identity. Spider-Man intervened, using hit-and-run tactics to wear down Scorpion before a knockout blow. Scorpion swore revenge on Spider-Man and Jameson.

Scorpion isn’t one for subtlety. He has superhuman strength, durability, and can crawl on walls. His armored tail can swap between a club form and a poisoned stinger. Overpowering opponents is his first, last, and only tactic, making it easy for Spider-Man to outwit him.

Mac Gargan cameoed in Spider-Man: Homecoming as a minor crook and the post-credit scene hinted at him eventually becoming Scorpion. He appears to be the villain’s main enforcer in Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

The Tarantula

Played By: ???

There’s not much screen time to go around in Spider-Man Brand New Day. A few supervillains are going to have to settle for cameos.

Anton Rodriguez was a revolutionary in a small South American country. His methods were too brutal for his fellow terrorists, who kicked him out. Anton immediately turned traitor and began working for the fascist government, hunting his former comrades as The Tarantula, his country’s counterpart to Captain America.

The Tarantula began robbing American cruise ships, interrupting Spider-Man’s vacation. Peter and The Punisher teamed up to fight him, but the Tarantula escaped to plot revenge. He underwent a flawed procedure to gain more power and mutated into a spider-monster. The Tarantula performed suicide by cop rather than live as a beast.

The Tarantula didn’t have many powers to start. He was an expert martial artist with enhanced agility and his boots had razor-sharp, poisonous spikes. Mutating into the Man-Spider made him more powerful, but was agonizing. 

Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s Boomerang

Played By: ???

Cameos aren’t good for getting a character into the spotlight, but they are excellent for introducing minor characters. So who is this loveable loser Spider-Man’s gonna easily take down?

Fred Myers was a baseball player who began taking bribes to throw games. He was caught, banned from playing, and contemplated suicide until he was approached to join The Secret Empire. The irreverent crook agreed to join them and become Boomerang after confirming that their offer wasn’t “a sex thing.”

Boomerang became a career crook, but only worked with second-rate teams and a short-staffed Sinister Six. He was a laughing stock in the villain community. Boomerang’s luck returned when he became Peter Parker’s roommate, slowly turning to anti-heroics and becoming Spider-Man’s ally. He even died to save the Wall-Crawler’s life.

Hockey sticks are Boomerang’s weapon of choice, obviously. He has dozens of trick boomerangs, including explosive, sonic, and electric types. His suit has rocket boots that allow him to fly. Boomerang recently bonded to a Symbiote named Passenger to become a new anti-hero called Comeback.

Tombstone

Played By: ???

It’s a banner year for this villain. He had a good supporting role in Spider-Noir and will be the deuteragonist in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man’s second season. Small wonder that Tombstone’s pacing himself with a cameo here.

Lonnie Lincoln was bullied as a child for being a Black albino. He became a bully to strike back at society, graduating to a criminal and then gangster. Former victim Robert Robertson tried to kill him, but accidentally gave Lonnie superpowers instead. He used his new strength and durability to become mob boss Tombstone.

Lonnie had one helluva rise through the criminal underworld. Our Tombstone Backstory has the scoop.

The Hand

Played By: N/A

Villains are fun, but mooks are just as important to an action movie. The heroes need armies of easily defeated minions to show how strong they are and make the Big Bads look more dangerous. Who better for the role than Marvel’s premiere cannon fodder?

The Hand was a ninja clan created to overthrow a cruel daimyo in feudal Japan. They were infiltrated by a rival clan that twisted The Hand into a cult worshipping The Beast. A mixture of black magic and martial arts made the clan a deadly threat that could only be opposed by a monastic order called The Chaste.

In modern times, The Hand serves as mercenaries for The Kingpin. They fight superheroes and are taken down en masse, but it doesn’t matter because magic resurrects them. Daredevil and The Punisher have both taken control of the clan to reform it, but failed. Turns out mad cults of undead ninjas are zealous in their beliefs. Who knew?

Ninjas of The Hand are skilled warriors on paper, but they are as ineffective as the Foot Clan’s mooks in practice. And yes, they are the inspiration for the Turtles’ foes. Lone shinobi tend to be far more dangerous than a hundred of their fellow Hand members. Their favorite tactic is resurrecting dead heroes like Wolverine or Echo as enforcers until the heroes can break free.

They haven’t fared well in the MCU. Daredevil and Iron Fist both fought against The Hand in their shows. The Defenders uncovered their plans to become immortal by harvesting the dragon bones that New York City was built on. They permanently killed The Hand’s New York leadership. After almost a decade, the cult has finally recovered enough to return.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s Mystery Lady

Played By: Sadie Sink

Now we’ve reached the biggest mystery of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, who the hell is Sadie Sink playing?! Marvel’s keeping it under their hat, but we’ve been in the weeds combing through the rumors for you and narrowed it down to a handful of suspects.

The most fitting choice is Adriana Soria, The Spider-Queen. She was a Marine who volunteered for a super-soldier experiment. Radiation twisted her mind, but gave Adriana the ability to control anyone with the “Insect Gene.” That would account for civilians being possessed by Mystery Girl and fit with Peter’s evolving powers, but there’s no reason for secrecy. Spider-Queen isn’t someone big enough to hide. Her stories are also SA-coded, so I don’t see Disney wanting that connected to their brand.

The most popular guess is that Sadie Sink is the MCU’s Jean Grey, meant to introduce the X-Men. Fans have linked behind the scenes shots of Sink’s outfit and hair color to Jean’s preferred style and trailers show that an unparalleled psychic is on the loose. But the framing feels off. Jean’s not the type to possess entire crowds that psychologically torture Spider-Man or unleash The Hulk to cover her tracks. It’s out of character. That leads into another theory, because Jean Grey has many stand-ins.

The simplest way to have Jean do this and not screw her up would be Madelyne Pryor, a morally-dubious clone created by the Phoenix Force. Introducing her could tie back into Fox’s X-Men franchise and set up the MCU’s Clone Saga. It could also be Rachel Summers, Jean’s daughter from the future who was forced into becoming a psychic attack dog, just like how Mystery Girl is a prisoner of The Hand. Rachel would be vicious to prevent recapture. 

Hope Summers, Jean’s grandaughter and the prophesied Mutant Messiah is my guess. The MCU is getting ready to push Mutants hard, so freeing her would be an easy way to justify many characters getting their powers at once, forcing the X-Men and Brotherhood of Evil Mutants into the limelight. Hope would also allow the MCU to tell Phoenix stories without starting the clock to a third Dark Phoenix Saga adaptation.

What characters are you looking forward to in Spider-Man: Brand New Day? Yell at us in the comments.

Image: Spider-Man and The Punisher (Jon Bernthal) in Columbia Pictures SPIDER-MAN™: BRAND NEW DAY. photo by: Jay Maidment

Jared Bounacos

Jared Bounacos has written for Movie Rewind since 2016.