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Credit: Marvel
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is an ever-changing place, thanks to new releases hitting theaters and streaming with a Disney+ subscription. The next highly anticipated upcoming Marvel movie is Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which will finally catch up with Peter Parker after No Way Home’s ending. And after we got the movie’s first footage, there are tons of fans comparing Peter to Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark.
What we know about Spider-Man 4 has been limited, but fans were thrilled when Brand New Day’s first trailer finally arrived. One shot in particular quickly went viral: Peter in a black tank top. On top of showing off Tom Holland’s superhero body, it also harkened back to an early MCU scene with Tony Stark. As one tweet pointed out:
So what exactly is being referenced here, besides Holland’s massive arms? Specifically, a scene in Iron Man 3 (which is totally a Christmas movie) where Tony Stark is shown working on his armor in a black tank top. Another viral tweet about this subject shows the sequence of Robert Downey Jr., check it out below:
I’ve got to admit I totally see the resemblance. Add in Tony’s mentorship role to Peter throughout the MCU, and this parallel feels particularly powerful. A ton of fans who spent years watching the Marvel movies in order have made this connection, and are sharing similar posts on social media. For example:
While Peter Parker’s guardian was Marisa Tomei’s Aunt May, it’s hard to deny that Tony became a father figure for the wall crawler. This is what made Tom Holland’s reaction to Tony Stark’s death in Avengers: Endgame so powerful. And I have to wonder if this black tank top connection was accidental or a purposeful bit of repetition by the costume department of Brand New Day.
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The Spider-Man trailer had big moments like the inclusion of Jon Bernthal’s Punisher and Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner, so it’s surprising that a black tank top has made this much of a splash. There are a ton of tweets pointing out this connection to Tony Stark, as you can see below:
Tom Holland’s Peter Parker was introduced in Captain America: Civil War, recruited by Tony Stark to join his team during the tarmac battle. He’d go on to mentor the young hero in Spider-Man: Homecoming and go to space with him in Avengers: Infinity War. Their relationship was super captivating, and unfortunately, cut short due to the battle against Thanos. Another tweet reads:
All of this chatter about Tony and Peter has me super curious to see if Tom Holland ends up appearing in Avengers: Doomsday or Secret Wars. Since Robert Downey Jr. is playing Doctor Doom, an evil variant of Stark, I would love to see Spider-Man’s reaction to his mentor suddenly being a multiversal villain. Hopefully, he gets confirmed for one of The Russo Brothers’ blockbusters sooner rather than later.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day will hit theaters on July 31st as part of the 2026 movie release list. We’ll just have to wait and see if there are more connections to Tony Stark throughout its runtime.