Spider-Man: Brand New Day is set to feature a cornucopia of villains. The film’s first trailer provided glimpses at the likes of Scorpion, Boomerang, Tarantula, and the Hand — and there’s even more fans can expect to see. Brand New Day will mark the live-action big-screen debut of notorious crime boss Tombstone, portrayed by Marvin Jones III (who previously voiced a different version of Tombstone in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse). Like most of the Brand New Day narrative, details about Tombstone’s role are being kept under lock and key. He was one of the characters missing from the trailer, so viewers are still waiting to see what he’ll look like, but that first look may have just been revealed.
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On X, the account Cosmic Marvel shared an image of Brand New Day promotional artwork up for sale on Allposters, which features Spider-Man and various villains. Tombstone can be seen in the lower right. Additionally, the X account MCU Film News posted Brand New Day artwork modeled after a famous Spectacular Spider-Man comic book cover, showcasing a confrontation between the web head and the crime boss. Check out both in the space below:
What Will Tombstone’s Role In Spider-Man: Brand New Day Be?
These looks at the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Tombstone are stylized illustrations, which obviously isn’t the same as seeing the character in live-action footage or a production still, but since the artwork is promoting Brand New Day, it stands reason to believe they’re accurate representations of how Tombstone will appear in the movie. Based on these images, the filmmakers did their best to stick as closely to the source material as possible. Tombstone’s hairstyle and apparel feels like it was pulled from the page. The character’s skin color is not an exact 1:1 interpretation of how it looks on the aforementioned Spectacular Spider-Man cover, but that could be chalked up to artistic license for the movie. Tombstone’s albinism is a defining trait of the character, so as long as that’s portrayed in some capacity, there shouldn’t be much issue.
Seeing Tombstone featured in two pieces of new promotional artwork raises questions how how he’ll fit into Spider-Man: Brand New Day. There’s only so much screen time to go around, so some villains are going to have smaller roles than others. It’s long been rumored (and seemingly confirmed by the first few pages of the Brand New Day script) that the film features a montage at the beginning, showcasing Spider-Man’s exploits against various members of his rogues’ gallery. Tombstone could be part of that sequence, which would arguably be a disappointing turn of events. The character debuted in the comics almost four decades ago and is only now being adapted to live-action film. He deserves more of the spotlight than a glorified cameo in a montage.
One possibility is that Tombstone could have a meatier supporting role that involves the Punisher. As a crime boss, Lonnie Lincoln would surely find himself in Frank Castle’s crosshairs. Perhaps Spider-Man and Punisher team up at some point to put a dent in Tombstone’s operation and/or bring the mobster to justice. A key selling point of Brand New Day is its embracing of Spider-Man’s street-level roots, and there aren’t many villains that fit better with that than Tombstone, who combines organized crime elements with comic book sensibilities. Tombstone probably won’t be the main villain of Brand New Day, but he could have a sizable part to play.
It’ll be interesting to see if Tombstone is featured in any future Brand New Day marketing materials. On one hand, spotlighting a long-time Marvel villain making his MCU debut would be a great way to build addition buzz for the movie’s debut. However, anticipation is already off the charts for Brand New Day, so there isn’t a real reason for Sony to show all of their cards now. The film is out at the end of July, and if we’ve gone this far without seeing any footage of Tombstone, the studio might as well hold him back for the premiere, preserving a surprise. In the meantime, promotional artwork does enough to generate excitement about his MCU appearance.
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