The first Spider-Man: Brand New Day trailer showed a lot of action and more than a few different villains. While this was the first trailer, there have also been a lot of rumors and leaks from the film’s shoot, including at least one major villain not seen in the trailer at all, and other characters who might provide a threat.
The Spider-Man: Brand New Day trailer also didn’t show Sadie Sink, so who she is playing remains to be seen for now. If the rumors about her identity are true, Sink’s character might end up as one of the most powerful characters in the entire movie, and if one major star ends up hulking out as expected, it could shake up everything.
Tarantula
There were two major villains shown in the Spider-Man: Brand New Day trailer that played out as Easter eggs for comic book fans. One of these was a villain known as the Tarantula. What makes this character such a great Easter egg is that the director and visual effects team replicated his debut comic book cover.
The cover of The Amazing Spider-Man #134 showed Tarantula attacking Spider-Man on a boat, while a police officer was kneeling and shooting at him. The shot in the Spider-Man: Brand New Day trailer was a duplicate of that cover in a live-action scene. It was brilliant.
As for Tarantula himself, this was during an interesting time in Spider-Man comics where Spider-Man had also confronted the Punisher for the first time, which ties into Tarantula’s addition to the trailer and movie. As for his power level, Tarantula has no superhuman powers and is just a skilled fighter.
Boomerang
Spider-Man swinging with Boomerang throwing boomerangs at him in Spider-Man: Brand New Day
Around the same time that the trailer showed Tarantula, it also showed Spider-Man fighting Boomerang. This was also a replication of a comic book cover, but it wasn’t his first appearance since Boomerang actually debuted as a Hulk villain way back in Tales to Astonish #81 in 1966.
Instead, this was a duplicate of the cover of The Amazing Spider-Man #345. While that cover had a yellow background and no city landscape, this was added to the trailer. However, Boomerang’s appearance is even more exciting since he became Peter Parker’s roommate in the comics without either knowing the other’s identity.
Fred has had an awkward relationship with Spider-Man ever since that time, and his showing up in Spider-Man: Brand New Day might just be a wink at that. Boomerang also has no powers, but he is highly accurate when throwing his boomerangs, thanks to his past as a star baseball pitcher.
The Punisher
Jon Bernthal’s Punisher in Spider-Man: Brand New Day
It might not be accurate to call the Punisher a villain, but he is a killer, and that means he is in no way a hero. Spider-Man seems to have some sort of relationship with Frank Castle based on the trailer, and it seems almost antagonistic as Frank even levels a gun at him.
While Spider-Man just wants the Punisher to “go home” during one battle, the two seem to approach the villains from different angles, which makes them, at best, uneasy allies. The Punisher made his Marvel Comics debut in Amazing Spider-Man #129, with him gunning for Spidey thanks to misinformation from the Jackal.
The Punisher might be one of the most dangerous characters in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, but he is not technically a bad guy, so he isn’t as much of a threat to Spider-Man as he is a nuisance.
Man-Spider (Rumored)
The Spider-Man: Brand New Day trailer hinted at Man-Spider, but it didn’t show up. This comes from one leak about the movie, and it might not end up being true. However, there are a lot of things that happened in the trailer that tease that it might be part of the overall plot.
The scene with Peter Parker trapped in webbing, similar to a cocoon, is another scene pulled straight out of the comics. In this comic book moment, Peter was losing his humanity and ended up morphing into an actual spider-creature with multiple arms and a less-than-human appearance.
The entire theme of this trailer shows Peter Parker is losing his sense of identity, and he is becoming only Spider-Man, with Peter Parker disappearing. If the movie literally shows this by him becoming a Man-Spider (as Bruce Banner told him that changing DNA is dangerous), it could be an extreme threat to the hero.
Tramell Tillman’s Character
Tramell Tillman is one of the two major cast members in Spider-Man: Brand New Day who does not have his character named. However, he narrates a portion of the trailer, and he appears to be someone with a lot of power. There are plenty of hints at who he could be, and at least one of them is for certain.
While his identity is up for debate, Tillman almost assuredly plays a part in the Department of Damage Control. The DODC has become more important since it debuted in Spider-Man: Homecoming, and they have since caused trouble in Ms. Marvel and Wonder Man. Tillman’s character seems to recruit Spider-Man to work with them.
This makes Tillman one of the biggest threats of any villain in the movie, since he has the government on his side and has an entire army of officers at his disposal. Even worse, he might end up being William Metzger, a Marvel character who is the head of an anti-mutant organization, making the DODC a future X-Men foe.
Scorpion
The Scorpion was one of the first villains announced for Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and he got some big action scenes in the trailer, attacking Spider-Man with his high-powered tail. What makes this so exciting is that he debuted in the post-credit scene in Spider-Man: Homecoming and has been MIA since then.
In that scene, he approaches the Vulture in prison and reveals he had fought Spider-Man before and wanted his secret identity, to which the Vulture lied and said he didn’t know it. Michael Mando, who appeared as Scorpion in that scene, returns to play the character in action here.
It is unclear how big a role the Scorpion will have, but with the anticipation, hopes are that it won’t be one of the several flashback scenes (like Boomerang and Tarantula might be). Mac Gargan is an extremely dangerous villain, and he even worked as an evil Venom in the comics. He is as threatening as they get.
Tombstone
The one primary villain signed for Spider-Man: Brand New Day, who never showed up at all in the first trailer, was Tombstone. Marvin Jones III signed on to play Tombstone in the film, following his voicing the role in the Spider-Verse movies, as well as playing Tobias Whale in DC’s Arrowverse series Black Lightning.
Unlike the animated Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man series (which is part of the MCU), where Lonnie Lincoln is a high school student, Tombstone here is more similar to his comic book counterpart, an older veteran crime lord. He is expected to be one of the main mafia men on the streets in the new movie.
This makes him very powerful and a genuine threat, although Wilson Fisk still seems to be pulling the strings from his position as the city’s mayor. If the threat of Damage Control is coming from the government, Tombstone might want to take care of things his own way, although his lack of trailer time only makes this speculation.
The Hand
Almost no one expected to see the Hand in the Spider-Man: Brand New Day trailer. The Hand last appeared in the Netflix Marvel series, showing up in everything from Daredevil to The Defenders. While Daredevil is not in the cast, the Punisher is, and he has first-hand experience with these ninja assassins.
The biggest thing to note here is that they are all controlled by a demon called the Beast (not to be confused with the X-Men character). However, they are a massive army of ninja warriors who will die for their cause, and that makes them the biggest threat in Spider-Man: Brand New Day from that perspective.
There are a lot of scenes that show people being mind-controlled, which ties into the Hand easily. If this movie somehow pulls off a loose adaptation of the Shadowland storyline from Marvel Comics, this could make the Hand a genuine threat to the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The Hulk
Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) talking to Peter Parker in class in Spider-Man: Brand New Day
The Spider-Man: Brand New Day trailer only showed Bruce Banner, and not the Hulk. This is interesting since the last time he was seen, he was the smart version of the Hulk, and barely saw a need to change back to Banner. However, here he seems to be working as a lecturer.
Banner was even warning the Hulk Inhibitor Device he had in Shang-Chi’s post-credits scene. However, the biggest rumor coming out of the movie’s plot is that Bruce Banner will turn into the Hulk during the movie and rage out, going back to the mindless, destructive Hulk.
If Banner turns into the Savage Hulk again, he will become one of the most threatening and destructive beings on the planet, and someone that no one has a chance of defeating. It will be up to Spider-Man to talk him down, but the question of why Hulk rages out might be because of the biggest threat in Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
Sadie Sink’s Character
The biggest question many are asking about the Spider-Man: Brand New Day cast is who Sadie Sink is playing. With Sink not technically showing up in the trailer, her identity remains a mystery for a little while longer. However, there were two scenes where Sink might have been in the trailer without her face being seen.
One saw a person attached to a chair with devices clamped onto their hands. The second was a person with their back to the camera, wearing a hoodie. The biggest rumor is that Sadie Sink is playing the younger, MCU version of Jean Grey, the mutant fans know from the X-Men franchise.
If this is true, and if the DODC is hunting Jean Grey down, this could explain the mind-control scenes of the officers. It could also explain Savage Hulk if Jean causes him to lose control of his mind. Finally, if the Beast is controlling Jean to control the Hand, she would be the biggest threat in Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
Release Date
July 31, 2026
Director
Destin Daniel Cretton