One prop on Peter Parker's wall hides two MCU villains in Brand New Day

If you blinked during Spider-Man: Brand New Day, there’s a fair chance you missed some of the best nods to Marvel villains hidden in plain sight. Rather than cramming in a parade of baddies for the sake of it, the film plants a host of subtle references around Peter Parker’s crime tracking antics — with one prop in particular doing all the heavy lifting.

On his social channels, production designer Will Dixon explained that everything on Peter Parker’s villain tracker board was built to be practical — no daft red string or collage of newsprint for dramatic effect.

Instead, Dixon insisted it had to feel like the sort of thing a genuine New Yorker with too much time on his hands (and spider powers) might throw together. So rather than just another set dressing for Hollywood’s idea of a detective, the board has a proper bit of thought behind it.

The prop with all the secrets

What’s actually on there, then? First off, the team went for proper New York crime heat maps and underground transit layouts, so Spider-Man can properly chase crooks using the same escape routes they would in real life. If that sounds like a lot of work for a detail most of the audience would never notice, you’re spot on — but it pays off for the eagle-eyed.

• Scorpion gets a nod via a mugshot-style photo — Dixon designed it to recall Mac Gargan’s arrest back in Homecoming, so it actually looks like a real intake snap from the MCU’s version of Rikers.
• Screwball is referenced too, even though she doesn’t show up at all. She’s there lurking in the background of the prop board for anyone who knows where to look.
• Smaller references to Foolkiller, Hypno-Hustler, and the Enforcers are tucked in, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it style.

Peter Parker’s villain board sneaks in mugshots and criminal dossiers for villains that never physically appear in the film.

So if you spotted the board and wondered ‘Who the hell is that supposed to be?’ — it wasn’t your imagination. That’s Marvel having a bit of a laugh with the superfans, just out of shot.

Behind the scenes: Spider-Man to X-Men

The Easter eggs aren’t the only bit of crossover; Brand New Day has a direct link out to the MCU’s next big thing. As outed by @cosmic_marvel, Sanja Milkovic Hays is carrying her tape measure straight from Peter Parker to the X-Men reboot’s wardrobe department. Hays has previous all over Marvel — Captain Marvel, No Way Home, Thunderbolts — plus a stint kitting out Spock and Vin Diesel, if you want to go wider. Her mark is all over the new suits, suggesting the next wave of mutants will have a touch of Queens flair whether they like it or not.