Spider-Man: Brand New Day will bring some major changes to the MCU, but one of the biggest is a behind-the-scenes detail that you may not have known about. After breaking open the multiverse in 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home, Brand New Day will bring Spidey back to the big screen. This time, however, nobody knows who Peter Parker is. So, the loner web-swinger will have to balance several new threats, including the Punisher, the Hulk, Scorpion, the Department of Damage Control, Sadie Sink’s mystery character, and more.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Unlike No Way Home, Brand New Day is set to bring Spider-Man back to a street-level story. His connections to the Avengers have been severed, and Doctor Strange has ended his dealings with the multiverse. A street-level story is what many Spider-Man fans have been begging for, and Brand New Day is finally delivering on this wish. Ironically, though, Brand New Day has a major connection to one of Spidey’s most iconic multiverse stories.
Brand New Day Is The First Time An Animated Cast Member Has Continued Their Performance In The MCU
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is introducing a ton of new Marvel villains to the MCU, but one of the most notable is Tombstone. The superhumanly strong street-level villain is one of the most powerful criminals in New York City, with him often running in the same circles as characters like Kingpin and Hammerhead. Tombstone is one of the most significant Spider-Man villains who hasn’t yet been adapted to a live-action movie. However, he has been getting a lot more love from the franchise lately. Tombstone appeared in Prime Video’s Spider-Noir series, but even that isn’t his most notable appearance in recent years.
Tombstone’s first theatrically released feature film appearance was in the critically acclaimed 2018 film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Tombstone wasn’t a major villain in the film, but he was a supporting antagonist, working with characters like Scorpion in service of Kingpin’s multiversal plan. In the film, Tombstone was voiced by Marvin Jones III, also known as Krondon. Like Tombstone, the actor also has albinism, making him a fantastic choice for the beloved villain.
Interestingly, Into the Spider-Verse won’t be Jones’ last time portraying Tombstone. The actor will make his live-action debut as the character in Brand New Day, meaning that the MCU is carrying him over from the animated film. This is the first time that the MCU has brought back a voice actor to portray their animated character in live action. Jones’ albinism makes him an ideal choice for bringing Tombstone to life in live action, and many fans of Into the Spider-Verse are excited to see him return in the upcoming film.
Although Jones is playing both iterations of Tombstone, these versions are different characters. Miles Morales’ universe in Into the Spider-Verse is entirely different from the mainline MCU. However, the same actor portraying variants of the same character has occurred before in the MCU, such as with Jonathan Majors’ portrayals of the various Kangs.
Tombstone’s MCU Casting Brings The Franchise One Step Closer To Acknowledging The Spider-Verse
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse firmly connected itself to other Spider-Man movies and projects. The film confirms that it exists in the same multiverse as projects like Venom, The Amazing Spider-Man, Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man, The Spectacular Spider-Man, PlayStation’s Spider-Man games, and the MCU’s Spider-Man. In fact, Donald Glover even reprises his role as Spider-Man: Homecoming‘s Aaron Davis in Across the Spider-Verse, with him being trapped in the Spider-Society’s multiversal prison.
So, while the Spider-Verse films have acknowledged the MCU, the reverse hasn’t happened. No MCU movie has connected itself to the Spider-Verse films, even though many of the stories in recent years focus on the multiverse. While it may be hard to make an animated Spider-Verse character appear in Avengers: Doomsday, it wouldn’t be hard for a multiversal character to reference the Spider-Society, glitching, Spot, or any of the series’ other elements.
However, having a Spider-Verse actor play a variant of their role in Brand New Day is the closest that the MCU has gotten to this. Brand New Day‘s casting could very well be setting up a future connection to the Spider-Verse movies, and Jones’ various Tombstone castings could be referenced as part of this. While this is far from a confirmation that the movies will crossover in the MCU, it is at least a sign that the MCU is taking notes from the Spider-Verse films.
What do you think? Leave a comment belowย and join the conversation now in theย ComicBook Forum!
