Spider-Man: Brand New Day Characters Who Matter More Than You Think

“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” has swung into theaters with record-breaking box office momentum, delivering what many fans are calling the strongest live-action Spider-Man story in years. At its center is a more emotionally layered Peter Parker (Tom Holland), who chooses to fully commit to life as Spider-Man rather than try to reclaim the relationships erased after Doctor Strange’s (Benedict Cumberbatch) memory-altering spell at the end of “Spider-Man: No Way Home.”

Like any major Marvel Cinematic Universe release, “Brand New Day” arrives packed with familiar faces, hidden comic book references, and lingering questions designed to keep audiences talking. The film’s supporting roster is especially interesting because several characters who appear briefly — or seem minor at first glance — carry much deeper significance in Marvel Comics. Here are the “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” characters whose comic book histories make them far more important than they may initially appear.

Anyone who has watched “The Bear” knows Lisa Colón-Zayas brings serious weight to every role, which makes her casting as Jean DeWolff in “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” feel anything but accidental. Given her Emmy-winning talent, it seems likely Marvel has bigger plans for Detective DeWolff than one supporting appearance.

On the page, Jean DeWolff is a police captain rather than a detective, and she has long functioned as one of Spider-Man’s closest law enforcement allies — essentially his answer to Batman’s Commissioner Jim Gordon. Coming from a family with deep police ties, DeWolff is a trusted partner to Spider-Man and occasionally works alongside other New York-based heroes. She is also more than capable in the field, even taking on supervillains herself. Her comic book journey takes a tragic turn when she is murdered by her former lover, the vigilante officer known as Sin-Eater, though in classic comic fashion, she is later brought back and killed again.

The comics also portray DeWolff as considerably younger than the version seen in “Brand New Day,” with one of her defining personal details being a hidden romantic affection for Spider-Man. The film wisely reshapes that dynamic into something more grounded, building her connection with Peter as a mentor relationship that gradually develops into real friendship. Considering how much the movie already has to balance, that choice feels more natural. As one of the most recognizable police figures in Spider-Man lore, Jean DeWolff is a character who could easily return, and Colón-Zayas would be a welcome presence in future MCU Spider-Man stories.

Michael Mando’s Mac “Scorpion” Gargan has technically been part of the MCU since “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” but “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” finally pushes him closer to his comic book identity by putting him in the classic Scorpion suit. In Marvel Comics, MacDonald “Mac” Gargan begins as a private investigator before J. Jonah Jameson hires a questionable scientist to transform him into a superpowered weapon with a scorpion-inspired battle suit — all in the name of destroying Spider-Man. If nothing else, Jameson has always been committed to holding a grudge.

As one of Spider-Man’s long-running villains, Scorpion has gone through multiple reinventions, often upgrading his armor and weapons along the way. From an MCU perspective, however, his most intriguing comic book chapter may be his time bonded with the Venom symbiote. That version of Gargan blends the monstrous look of Venom with the menace of the Scorpion armor, creating one of his most dangerous forms. With the symbiote, Gargan even impersonates Spider-Man during the “Dark Avengers” storyline. Because Mac Gargan remains active in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the door is still open for a live-action version of that terrifying evolution someday.

Tombstone, played by Marvin “Krondon” Jones III, appears as one of several quick-hit villain cameos near the start of “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” helping show what Peter Parker has been doing during the movie’s four-year time jump. Because his appearance is so brief, the film leaves Tombstone largely unexplored — at least for now.

In the comics, Lonnie “Tombstone” Lincoln is considerably more prominent. A strong bulletproof albino mafioso, he’s notorious for his unsettling look and sharp, filed teeth. He’s one of the many recurring villains regularly encountered by Spider-Man and Marvel’s other street-level superheroes. His superpowers and organized crime connections make him a devastating opponent with a penchant for surviving deadly situations.

The reason Tombstone isn’t featured more in “Brand New Day” is probably more complicated than mere screen time issues. Versions of the character have appeared in multiple Spider-Man shows as of late, which was a pretty good indicator that he was never going to be a major antagonist for “Brand New Day.” Eugene Byrd’s Lonnie is a prominent cast member of “Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man,” to the point that the show’s first season puts heavy focus on his supervillain origin story. A version of Lonnie Lincoln also turns up on “Spider-Noir,” played by Abraham Popoola — who, incidentally, is also featured in the MCU as Dag from “The Marvels.”

As pointed out in our “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” trailer breakdown, the film’s opening montage features a nod to Spider-Man’s appearance on the cover of “The Amazing Spider-Man” #134, which dropped in 1974. Drawn by John Romita and Danny Crespi, the cover features Spidey in dangerous ferry combat against the supervillain Tarantula, which “Brand New Day” recreates with gusto.

In the film, Tarantula is such a small presence that the actor portraying him isn’t even credited. As you might suspect, the comic version of the character has a larger role. There, Tarantula is Anton Miguel Rodriguez, a brutal South American mercenary from the fictional country of Delvadia. While he starts out without superpowers, he complements his martial arts prowess with deadly, drug-laced spikes in his gloves and boots. He eventually receives a power-up that turns him into a monstrous spider-human hybrid, which makes him considerably more powerful and dangerous.

Considering Spider-Man’s strength level even before his power-up near the end of the movie, it’s no big shock that “Brand New Day” relegates the powerless Tarantula to cameo status. Still, his place in Spider-Man’s comic book history makes it fitting to see him in a live-action story that specifically focuses on Spidey serving as the street-level New York City hero we know him as.

Aidan Kennedy’s Boomerang turns up as another cameo from a comparatively low-ranking Spider-Man enemy. In “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” he’s only seen briefly throwing multiple boomerangs at Spidey, but in the comics, he gets far more attention.

Frederick “Boomerang” Myers is pretty much what it says on the tin: A supervillain with the unfortunate gimmick of using trick boomerangs to commit crimes. As a means of locomotion, he also has jet thrusters built in his boots. A former baseball pitcher, Boomerang is as accurate as they come. However, he’s still just a human, which means he’s not particularly high on Spider-Man’s list of powerful threats — even after receiving power-ups on the way, from new suits to a Venom-style symbiote that turns him into a monstrous Spider-Man-like creature known as Comeback.

Outside supervillainy, Fred Myers has also made an impression on Spider-Man’s life. Notably, he spends some time as Peter Parker’s roommate, and even befriends him, leading to amusing team-up antics between Spider-Man and Boomerang. This is the kind of storyline few key Spider-Man villains could get away with, which makes Boomerang stand out.

Ramrod (Billy Clements) serves as the biggest joke among the movie’s villain cameos. All we see of him is Spider-Man easily dodging his headbutt attack and sending him into a sturdy brick wall. Though the incident is left unaddressed, the grander context suggests that Ramrod is or at least works for one of the New York crime bosses that Spider-Man fights and defeats early in the game — and that the villain’s efficiency against the superhero clearly leaves something to be desired.

The power and mechanical body parts that Ramrod displays during his minuscule screen time don’t come out of nowhere. His comic version boasts a similar set of cybernetic head and torso enhancements as the MCU character, but that’s just part of his deal. In the comics, Ramrod has significant cybernetic enhancements that give him great strength, speed, and other physical abilities that make him a legitimate danger. He is, however, no mob boss. Instead, the original Ramrod is a construction crew leader who receives dangerous injuries, and gets turned into a cyborg. It’s essentially a construction-themed version of Robocop’s origin story, only the end result is a villain.

The presence of Zabryna Guevara’s Sheila Rivera is the movie’s most direct reference to the events of “Daredevil: Born Again” Season 2, and if the movie’s obvious four-year time skip wasn’t enough, her presence effectively confirms that the events of the film take place after. Here, we see Rivera as the interim mayor of New York City, presenting Spider-Man with the key to the city. Before this, the last time we saw her was during the events of “Born Again,” when she was serving as then-mayor Wilson “Kingpin” Fisk’s (Vincent D’Onofrio) Chief of Staff.

Rivera is a capable political operator who originally came into Fisk’s orbit as the villain’s mayoral campaign manager. For much of Fisk’s tenure, she serves as a voice of reason to varying degrees of success and lives to tell the tale, despite the low survival rate of those in the villain’s inner circle. As a political expert with an evident knack for surviving even the direst of circumstances, she’s a natural holdover from the old regime after the explosive ending of “Born Again” Season 2.

From his ability to build a Spider-Tracker app to his knack for using sling rings without any real training, Jacob Batalon’s Ned Leeds is a man of many talents. However, Peter Parker’s best friend prior to Doctor Strange’s mass memory erasure has a darker side in the comics.

On the printed page, Ned Leeds is a reporter who continuously finds himself as a serious suspect whenever the Green Goblin-like supervillain Hobgoblin turns up. Ned is so associated with the villain that for a long time, many thought the two are one and the same — even in-universe. Yet, Ned’s actually more of a professional scapegoat who keeps getting dragged into Hobgoblin-adjacent operations without actually being the threat. The fearsome villain’s true identity typically turns out to be Roderick Kingsley, Jason Macendale Jr., or someone else. Ned does eventually don the Hobgoblin costume in battle, but even then, Kingsley’s Hobgoblin is also around and is more prominent in the role.

Batalon has teased a possible dark Hobgoblin future for Ned in the past, and as long as he’s part of the franchise, there’s always a possibility that the MCU will explore some version of the character’s Hobgoblin connections. After all, the live-action Ned is good with gadgets and has a borderline obsessive fascination with Spider-Man, so he already has the makings of a villain should the MCU desire.

Shannon Young Cho’s Cindy is one of the students who appears during Bruce Banner’s (Mark Ruffalo) lecture, and her name might cause fans of the superhero Silk to perk up. It’s entirely possible that this Cindy is the MCU version of her civilian identity, Cindy Moon. Silk is a young woman with similar powers as Spider-Man, with the twist that she’s weaker, more agile, possesses a more complex spider-sense called “silk sense,” and can weave silky webbing from her fingertips. Somewhat inconveniently, a side effect of Peter and Cindy’s powers is that they also share a strong physical attraction.

The untold truth of Marvel’s Silk is pretty devastating. Bitten by the same spider that gave Peter his powers, she’s closely associated with the comic books’ “Spider-Verse” storyline that sees a vampiric supervillain called Morlun and his family devour people with spider powers across realities. To escape this fate, Cindy spends 10 years locked away in a bunker all by herself. Despite this tragic backstory, she has proven to be a tenacious and resourceful member of Marvel’s spider-family.

Incidentally, it should be noted that Cindy Moon has already appeared in the MCU, as one of Peter’s fellow Midtown School of Science and Technology classmates. Tiffany Espensen portrays her in “Spider-Man: Homecoming” and “Avengers: Infinity War.” It’s unclear whether Cho’s character is intended to be the same Cindy, but it seems unlikely that the MCU would have two separate Spidey-adjacent characters with this exact same meaningful name.

Jean Grey’s (Sadie Sink) older sister Sara (Olivia Booth-Ford) is a driving force in the young mutant’s crusade against Damage Control in the movie, and Sara’s death during the organization’s experiments is the tragic twist that unlocks Jean’s full, frightening power. Sara Grey also exists in the comics, but fans of “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” wouldn’t recognize that version of the character.

The comics Sara isn’t a telepathic mutant like Jean, but a regular, powerless person. She’s an adult, married woman whose grandest story arc sees the sisters kidnapped by supervillain Attuma. She approves of her sister despite humanity’s overall fear of mutants, which proves to be her undoing: Sara and her husband are murdered for publicly advocating positive human-mutant relations.

Sara eventually returns as a heroine called Beacon, who’s able to activate potential superpowers in people. However, this version is simply an energy creation Jean makes after unwittingly messing with the timeline, so the “real” Sara remains dead.

Improbably, the final physical antagonists of “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” are the ninja gang known as the Hand. They give Spidey a surprisingly hard time, what with being mind-controlled by Jean Grey and receiving backup from similarly-puppeteered Damage Control troops. It might seem strange, but the Hand do fit the film’s moderately street-level “small potatoes” sensibilities.

After all, the Hand are the ultimate antagonists of the street-level Defenders Saga stories, and “The Defenders” show concludes with the defeat of Alexandra Reid (Sigourney Weaver) and other Hand leaders, scattering the organization in the wind. Bringing this particular threat to face Spider-Man is a fun way to underline the film’s grassroots nature.

The live-action Hand have been excellent antagonists for Marvel’s TV shows, especially Madame Gao (Wai Ching Ho) and Elektra Natchios (Élodie Yung). In the comics, the organization’s history is far more extensive. They debuted in 1981, and their in-universe history goes back to the 16th century. They serve as all-purpose evil ninjas for the likes of Daredevil and Wolverine to battle, but they’re far more closely associated with various dark forces both Earthly and paranormal. The Hand have an extensive mythology and access to magical powers that allow for things like resurrecting powerful warriors. At one point or another, Daredevil, Kingpin, and even the Punisher have either led or served the organization, either as victims of circumstance or to reach their own goals.

Bill Metzger (Tramell Tillman), the boss of Damage Control, turns out to be the ultimate antagonist of “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” when he’s revealed to be conducting unsavory experiments on superpowered people — namely Sara Grey, who dies during one of them. Metzger makes the point of telling Jean that he doesn’t consider the Greys worthy of their abilities, which is why he tries to reproduce their powers in order to give them two more “suitable” candidates.

While this version of Metzger is somewhat similar to the comic book one in that he doesn’t think highly of powerful mutants whose abilities are effectively genetic crapshoot, there are some major differences. The William Metzger from the comics isn’t as much a government man with an agenda as he is a leader aspirant. He’s a militia commander who worms his way into politics on an anti-mutant platform, using populism and fearmongering as weapons and even turning one of his men into a superpowered mutant slayer. 

Unfortunately for the very Nazi-coded Metzger, his crusade is short-lived. As a holocaust survivor, Magneto has seen his share of this sort of thing. He unceremoniously ends Metzger’s aspirations by sending him on a one-way trip to space, sans spacesuit.

Finally, let’s get really deep with a one-scene character who doesn’t even get a name in the movie. “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” brings back one element of the Spider-Man mythos that has been absent since the Tobey Maguire era: The atrocious landlord. Here, Johnny Myers plays the unnamed building manager who rents Pete his asbestos-riddled hideout-slash-apartment that would be grossly unfit for anyone without super endurance. Though we barely spend any time with the building manager character, a guy who gleefully rents a property this hazardous is a clear throwback to the rent-hungry Raimi-era slumlord, Mr. Ditkovich (Elya Baskin).

Even Ditkovich isn’t the original model, though. Both he and the “Brand New Day” building manager owe their existence to Mamie Muggins, Peter’s landlady who was introduced in 1974 and promptly became a regular obstacle in maintaining his secret identity. Though Mamie is no villain, her various noise complaints and demands for rent have probably caused more trouble for Peter than most of his rogues gallery. As such, it’s nice to see the landlord trope back in Spider-Man’s live-action adventures.