SPOILER ALERT: This post spoils some surprise appearances in Spider-Man: Brand New Day and character details.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day contains many familiar faces as well as one major newcomer.
The fourth solo Spider-Man installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, stars Tom Holland as the web slinger, but his Peter Parker has been forgotten by the majority of the world, including his closest friends MJ (Zendaya) and Ned (Jacob Batalon). In addition to the stress of that event, Tom Holland’s Peter is undergoing some sort of puberty or metamorphosis with the arachnid DNA overwhelming his senses. There is also a mysterious psychic threat on the prowl that he is dealing with.
For all the famous faces in Spider-Man: Brand New Day and their respective characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, read on.
Tom Holland as Peter Parker aka Spider-Man
Image Credit: Jay Maidment
Tom Holland’s Peter Parker has appeared in four standalone Spider-Man films now as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, starting with Spider-Man: Homecoming in 2017. Then came Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) in which he costarred with Jake Gyllenhaal and Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) in which Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield also appeared as their versions of Spider-Man. Holland made his debut as the MCU’s webslinger in Captain America: Civil War (2016), and he also appeared in Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019).
Tom Holland made his film debut in The Impossible (2012) about the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 in Thailand. He played Thomas Nickerson in In the Heart of the Sea (2015), Jack Fawcett in The Lost City of Z (2016), Arvin in The Devil All the Time (2020), Todd in Chaos Walking (2021), Cherry in Cherry (2021), Nathan Drake in Uncharted (2022), Danny Sullivan in The Crowded Room and, most recently, Telemachus in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. He also voiced Jip in Dolittle (2020) and Ian Lightfoot in Onward (2020).
Zendaya as MJ
Image Credit: Jay Maidment
Zendaya’s MJ stands for Michelle Jones, or Michelle Jones-Watson. MJ is super smart, but she isn’t always warm and welcoming. She loves murder mysteries, and she quickly becomes one of Peter Parker’s closest friends and confidants.
Zendaya is coming off a busy year of films and one TV show in particular from The Drama alongside Robert Pattinson in April to the third season of Euphoria’s bow at the end of May. She also appeared as Athena in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, and she still has Dune: Part Three coming out in December, the same day as Avengers: Doomsday. Many know the actress, singer, dancer and model from Disney Channel’s Shake It Up series as well.
Jacob Batalon as Ned Leeds
Image Credit: Jay Maidment
Jacob Batalon plays Peter Parker’s best friend Ned, who completes the trifecta of friends who are so smart that they are all capable of getting into MIT. In Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Ned has created a Spider-Man tracker app as well as a red string board with which he traces the webslinger’s movements.
Batalon’s Ned appears in all of the solo Spider-Man installments, and he has the Doctor Strange ability to open portals through the multiverse, at least in No Way Home. He also appears in Avengers: Endgame. The actor played Reginald Andres in Reginald the Vampire, Gene in Shortcomings (2023), Roscoe in Novocaine (2025), Keon in Let It Snow (2019) and James, who was embodied by A in Every Day (2018).
Liza Colón-Zayas as DeWolff
Image Credit: Jay Maidment
The Bear star Liza Colón-Zayas portrays FBI Director DeWolff, who has teamed up with Spider-Man to track crime in New York City. She encourages the webslinger to rest every now and then because she sees his workaholic tendancies.
Colón-Zayas won an Emmy for her portrayal of Tina Marrero in Season 3 of The Bear. She recently voiced Janet in IF (2024), and she played Officer Elaine in Cat Person (2023). The actress is also known for playing Dolores Rodriguez in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Rita in In Treatment and Principal Fallow in David Makes Man.
Tramell Tillman as Director Bill Metzger
Image Credit: Jay Maidment
Tramell Tillman’s Director William ‘Bill’ Metzger is in charge of the Manhattan branch of the Department of Damage Control. The character has some similarities in demeanor to Tillman’s Severance character, Mr. Seth Milchick.
Tillman won an Emmy for the Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series role in Severance Season 2 as Mr. Milchick. He also recently appeared as Captain Bledsoe in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (2025). He also appeared in HBO Max’s Sweethearts (2024) as Coach Reese.
Sadie Sink as Jean Grey
Image Credit: Brianna Bryson/WireImage
Stranger Things star Sadie Sink plays Jean Grey in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which many fans guessed from the beginning. Jean is a powerful telepath and telekinetic who becomes a member of the X-Men. Her mutant DNA manifested during a traumatic childhood moment when she watched her best friend get hit by a car in the comics.
Sink is most well-known for portraying Max Mayfield in Stranger Things, since Season 2 of the supernatural Netflix series. She also starred in the Taylor Swift-directed short film, All Too Well: The Short Film (2021) alongside Dylan O’Brien, and she portrayed Ellie, Brendan Fraser’s character’s daughter, in The Whale (2022). She played Ziggy Berman in Netflix’s Fear Street film trilogy.
Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova
Image Credit: Mike Marsland/WireImage
Florence Pugh’s Thunderbolt and now New Avenger Yelena Belova appears in Spider-Man: Brand New Day when Peter consults her about the dark web and information he needs access to, such as Jean Grey’s identity and what the Department of Damage Control is up to. He visits her as Spider-Man in her “office” which is a bathhouse.
The actress most recently portrayed the sister of Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) in Thunderbolts* (2025) after debuting in the role in Black Widow (2021). Still more recent films for Pugh include We Live in Time (2024), Dune: Part Two (2024) and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer (2023). She was nominated for an Oscar for her supporting role as Amy in Greta Gerwig’s Little Women (2019), and she also turned heads with her performance in Ari Aster’s Midsommar (2019).
Upcoming for the actress are Dune: Part Three, Avengers: Doomsday and Paramount’s film adaptation of The Midnight Library from Studio Canal and director Garth Davis. On the television side, Pugh will appear as Cathy Ames in Netflix’s East of Eden this fall.
Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle, The Punisher
Image Credit: Jay Maidment
Jon Bernthal’s Frank Castle, aka The Punisher was first introduced in the second season of Netflix’s Daredevil. He also had a spin-off series The Punisher, and he reprised the role under Marvel Studios in Daredevil: Born Again.
Bernthal is known for playing Brad in The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), Brax in The Accountant (2016) and The Accountant 2 (2025), Griff in Baby Driver (2017) and Rick Macci in King Richard (2021). He also plays Michael ‘Mikey’ Berzatto in The Bear, and recently portrayed Jack Harper in Netflix’s adaptation of Alice Feeney’s His & Hers. He can also be seen as Menelaus in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey.
Mark Ruffalo as Dr. Bruce Banner aka The Incredible Hulk
Image Credit: Jay Maidment
Mark Ruffalo reprises his role as Dr. Banner, or The Incredible Hulk. He has DNA mutated by Gamma radiation that causes him to turn into the green guy, but he has created an inhibitor to limit his transformation.
Ruffalo has played the MCU Incredible Hulk since Avengers (2012). He has since reprised the role in Iron Man 3 (2013), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Captain Marvel (2019), Avengers: Endgame (2019), Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021), Disney+ series She-Hulk (2022).
The actor has been nominated for four Oscars for The Kids Are All Right (2011), Foxcatcher (2015), Spotlight (2016) and Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things (2024), most recently. He is also known for playing Matt Flamhaff in 13 Going on 30 (2004), Dylan Rhodes in Now You See Me (2013) and Now You See Me 2 (2016), for portraying Rob Bilott in Dark Waters (2019). More recently he reprised the role of Dylan Rhodes in Now You See Me: Now You Don’t (2025), played Daniel LeBlanc in Netflix’s limited series All the Light We Cannot See, Kenneth Marsall in Mickey 17 (2025), dad in Hal & Harper, Tom Brandis in Task and Lou in Crime 101 (2026).
Marisa Tomei as Aunt May
Image Credit: Mike Marsland/WireImage
Marisa Tomei is back in flashbacks as Aunt May, who tragically died in Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021). She appeared as May Parker in Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Avengers: Endgame (2019) and Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019).
Tomei won an Oscar for her Best Supporting Actress role in My Cousin Vinny (1992), and she was nominated for her roles in In the Bedroom (2001) and The Wrestler (2008). She also played Ida Horowicz in The Ies of March (2011) and Kate in Crazy, Stupid Love (2011).
Naomi Watts as E.V.
Image Credit: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
Naomi Watts voices E.V., Peter Parker’s AI helper who completes his many requests.
Watts played Parker’s character’s mother in his film debut, The Impossible (2012). She is Oscar-nominated for her roles in The Impossible as well as 21 Grams. She is also known for Mulholland Drive (2001), King Kong (2005), Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014), and more recently, the roles of Liberty Ronson in All’s Fair and Jackie Kennedy Onassis in Love Story, both Ryan Murphy shows.
Keith David
Image Credit: Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images
Keith David voices the spider puberty video.
He is known for playing General Kimsey in Armageddon (1998), Frank in They Live (1988) and Childs in The Thing (1982) as well as for voicing Dr. Facilier in The Princess and the Frog (2009). More recently, David has appeared in Will Ferrel’s show The Hawk, as Willy the Wonker in American Fiction (2023) and as Hershel Wheeler in Netflix’s From Scratch (2022).
Michael Mando as Scorpion
Image Credit: Steve Granitz/FilmMagic
Michael Mando plays villain Scorpion in Brand New Day.
Mando played Nacho Varga in Better Call Saul and Jeff in Criminal. He has the Gundam film coming up.