‘Brand New Day’: which Spider-Man villains officially appear? Here's the list

So, Spider-Man: Brand New Day has finally swung into cinemas, and if you were worried Tom Holland's friendly neighbourhood Spidey might be a bit too chipper after all that multiverse drama in No Way Home, rest easy: this film finds him thoroughly knackered, a loner adrift in New York, running on empty and up to his web shooters in villains.

The timeline’s been nudged on by about four years since his last big-screen outing, and director Destin Daniel Cretton wastes no time showing us why this Peter Parker’s running on fumes. The movie zips through a rapid-fire run-in with just about every B-lister villain you can think of – not all get a proper face-off, but they all chip in to show Spidey's become a proper institution in the MCU’s Manhattan again, now he’s back from his cosmic gap year.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day plonks our hero back on the streets of New York after a decade of all that space and wizard business, and suddenly the city's rogues' gallery is crawling out of the woodwork for a slap.

The Baddie Montage

There’s a gloriously comic-nerd friendly stretch where Spidey tears through a heap of lesser big bads, some popping up just long enough for you to nudge your mate and say 'That’s [insert obscure villain here]!’ Apparently Cretton thought it’d be fun to pay homage to some classic comic panels – and fair play to him, it works. Here’s the roll-call:

• The Hand: Usually Daredevil’s lot, this evil ninja collective has been causing trouble in Marvel comics for nearly five decades. If you watched the old Netflix shows, you’ll remember their shadowy shenanigans. In Brand New Day, The Hand are dressed up as reformed mercenaries, working security for the Department of Damage Control under the not-remotely-trustworthy Bill Metzger. Unsurprisingly, they're still villains, and Spidey ends up in a major prison brawl with them, now powered up with some fresh organic spider-abilities. The fight is one of the film’s highlights, and if you ask me, there’s every chance these goons will reappear on the MCU payroll at some point.
• Ramrod: Turns up, rampages through a brick wall, gets leapfrogged by Spider-Man, and is never seen again. Proper comic-to-screen cameo, this. He’s a cyborg with a steel skeleton and the sort of brainpower you’d expect. A deep cut for the purists.
• Tarantula: Blinks into existence just long enough for a scuffle, blades out. By trade, he’s the Delvadian Captain America, souped up with poison-tipped stabbiness and Olympic-level moves. Don’t get attached, he’s barely in frame long enough for a fight.
• Boomerang: Yes, really. Former pro baseball hopeful turned super-powered assassin for hire, armed with – wait for it – a selection of very deadly boomerangs. He’s rocked up in various Marvel baddie line-ups over the years (Thunderbolts, Sinister Syndicate, you name it), but here? Blink-and-you-miss-him territory.
• Tombstone: Now we’re into proper supporting cast. Fans of Into the Spider-Verse might recognise the voice and the file-sharp teeth – Marvin Jones III plays Tombstone again in Brand New Day. He’s a classic New York crime boss – built like the side of a pub, skin like cheap porcelain, and in the comics he eventually gains super-durability after a dodgy science mishap. In Brand New Day, he’s stuck as a very muscular human, but keep your eye out for a power upgrade in future sequels.
• Scorpion: If you’ve been crying out for more Michael Mando in your Spidey, you’re in luck. He’s back as Mac Gargan, this time sporting a cybernetic tail and proper supervillain armour. There’s one caveat: in the film’s main punch-up, Scorpion’s being puppeteered by Jean Grey, which is not a sentence I ever expected to write about a Spider-Man film. The early montage confirms Spidey and Scorpion have already had previous, and the door is fairly wide open for more of Mac Gargan’s vendetta later on. Scorpion’s survived all sorts in the comics, from playing host to the Venom symbiote to getting called up as a baddie Spider-Man in the Dark Avengers. He’s very much not dead at the end of this – so, yes, expect another swing at him.

Michael Mando returns as Scorpion, and this time, his cybernetic gear gets a proper workout — it’s the most substantial any villain gets in Brand New Day, teasing plenty more to come.

The State of Spidey

By the time the credits roll, all these foes make one thing crystal: Peter Parker is absolutely battered, emotionally and physically, by this return to street-level chaos. The MCU’s version of New York is crawling with threats, and while the big cosmic players are off sorting their own messes, Spider-Man’s left holding the bag back home. For fans who spent years on the mythos – or who just like watching a superhero on the ropes – this film really leans into the toll of the job, without ever letting up on the city’s parade of colourful wrong’uns.