Spider-Man: Brand New Day will have a secret villain that’s yet to be revealed. While Tom Holland is teasing them, here’s some possible theories on who the mysterious villain could be.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is being directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, who previously helmed the MCU film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, which was released in 2021. The movie will once again be led by Tom Holland as he reprises his role as Peter Parker/Spider-Man. Emmy winner Zendaya and Jacob Batalo are also expected to return for the sequel. They will be joined by cast members Sadie Sink (Stranger Things), Liza Colón-Zayas (The Bear), Jon Bernthal, and Tillman, among others.
After the latest trailer for the movie came out, Holland has been out doing press for the movie. In a recent promotional event, Holland teased that the main villain of the movie had still not been leaked, and “is very much in secret.” This has left fans theorizing who it could be, and whether or not it had anything to do with the mind control aspect teased in the trailer. While we don’t know for sure, we do have some guesses.
5 characters that could be the secret villain in Spider-Man: Brand New Day
Mister Negative
Perhaps one of the most rumored villains in the upcoming movie, Mister Negative could be the mysterious villain. In the world of Marvel Comics, Mister Negative was an unnamed gangster who became the villain after he was forced to be a test subject for an experimental procedure involving a synthetic drug. The experiment gave Negative powers over the Darkforce and Lightforce, and split his personality into Mister Negative and Martin Li, or Mister Positive.
Rumors of Mister Negative appearing in the movie first popped up after the character appeared in the Marvel’s Spider-Man video game. This brought the character to the spotlight, and earned him a ton more fans. While his powers don’t exactly correlate to mind control, Mister Negative does have the ability to bring people into the Darkforce, and could trap Peter there against nasty visions of people who hate him.
William Metzger
This is a character we are 99% sure will be in the movie, but in an unknown capacity. Trammell Tillman’s William Metzger is a not-so-well-known character from the world of the X-Men. In the comics, Metzger is an anti-mutant activist, and his hatred of the group and mutants of all kind is well known. Throughout his history in the comics, he’s even tried to develop anti-mutant weapons in an effort to stop them.
It’s not specifically confirmed whether or not Tillman will be Metzger, but his character is referred to as “Bill” in the trailers, and all signs point to it. Could he believe that Parker is a mutant and be looking to get rid of him? Or perhaps there will be other mutant threats in the movie that we don’t know about just yet. That brings us to…
Jean Grey
Obviously, Jean Grey is not the first person that comes to mind when you think of “villain.” She’s traditionally portrayed as one of the “good guys” in the world of Marvel, but has at times shown off more villainous tendencies, especially during her Dark Phoenix stages. Of course, her inclusion in the movie is completely unknown, but it is heavily rumored that Stranger Things’ Sadie Sink will be playing Grey in the upcoming movie.
Grey’s powers also fit perfectly with the secretive villain. In the Brand New Day trailer, Parker can be seen battling against an unseen entity, that seemingly body-hops into different people to taunt him. While Grey can’t do exactly that, she is more than capable of taking over people’s minds, and is capable of getting to Spider-Man on a psychic level. Perhaps Grey is being controlled by someone else herself, leading us to a potentially even more wild theory.
Mister Sinister
This one would be the most wild of all possibilities. Mister Sinister is one of the X-Men’s most well-known villains, and one of the most powerful entities in all of Marvel’s history. We’ll just say right now that it’s pretty unlikely he would be in this movie, especially due to the fact that if he’s likely to appear in any movie, it’ll be a proper X-Men movie.
Still, with an X-Men movie on the horizon, and Jean Grey rumored to be in this, Marvel could go for the ultimate surprise. Debuting Sinister in this movie, and having him be at the heart of the problems for Parker through his involvement with Grey, would add an even crazier layer on top of this movie.
Jackal
Our final theory is saved for the most likely one. Jackal might not be one of Spider-Man’s most iconic villains, but he is one of the most vicious. Originally debuting in the 1990s, Jackal is the villain name of Professor Miles Warren, a professor who researches genetics and biochemistry, and also has an unhealthy obsession with Gwen Stacy. After Stacy’s death, he creates the Jackal alter-ego to take revenge on Spider-Man.
While not having any superpowers initially, Jackal does gain some superhuman powers throughout his history in the comics. With the new movie set during Peter’s college years, it would place him right in the midst of Jackal, and due to the litany of other villains involved in the movie, it fits perfectly that Jackal might be using them to get to Spider-Man as some sort of revenge plot.
