Spider-Man: Brand New Day will feature nine villains — what this means for the future of the MCU

When Spider-Man: No Way Home brought together five antagonists from different universes in a single story, many felt the limit for villains in a Spider-Man movie had been reached.

The sequel, however, goes even further: Spider-Man: Brand New Day is expected to feature around nine villains — plus additional confrontations with the Hulk and the Punisher.

The information comes from insider Alex Perez, who shared the details on his Patreon, later reported by the site The Cosmic Circus. According to Perez, most of these antagonists will be lesser-known to the general audience — “niche, B- or C-level” Spider-Man villains from the comics.

This is not a gathering of major names like the classic Sinister Six, but something different: a hostile New York filled with smaller threats that, together, turn Peter Parker’s life into chaos.

The three villains already confirmed

So far, previous reports have pointed to three characters who will appear in the film:

Scorpion (Mac Gargan), played by Michael Mando, who previously made a brief appearance in Spider-Man: Homecoming. In the comics, Gargan wears a cybernetic suit that gives him superhuman strength, agility, and durability. He is a violent mercenary and poses a direct physical threat to Spider-Man.

Tombstone, portrayed by Marvin Jones III. He is a crime boss with nearly indestructible skin, enhanced strength, and extreme tolerance for pain. He functions less as a hired thug and more as an underworld strategist — the kind of villain who moves pieces from behind the scenes.

William Metzger, played by Tramell Tillman. Unlike the other two, Metzger has no superpowers. He leads an anti-mutant militia, using extremist rhetoric and armed organization to hunt mutants. Rumors suggest his main target will be Jean Grey, portrayed by Sadie Sink — placing the film at a direct intersection between the Spider-Man corner of the MCU and the X-Men.

Why so many villains at once?

The decision to focus on lesser-known villains is not random. No Way Home worked because its five antagonists were already familiar to audiences — each carried the emotional weight of previous films. Repeating that formula would be difficult without leaning too heavily on forced nostalgia.

The new approach appears to be different: building an environment in which Peter Parker is surrounded by simultaneous threats on multiple levels. Scorpion represents physical danger. Tombstone embodies organized crime. Metzger introduces a political and ideological dimension. The remaining villains, still unrevealed, are expected to fill out other layers of this web of problems.

This structure echoes classic comic book arcs in which Spider-Man has to deal with multiple crises at the same time — something the films have not truly explored yet.

Hulk and the Punisher also enter the equation

In addition to the nine villains, Tom Holland’s Spider-Man will face a savage version of the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) and the antihero Punisher (Jon Bernthal).

Neither is technically a villain in the traditional sense, but both represent conflicts that go beyond simple fights: an out-of-control Hulk is a force of nature, and the Punisher operates in a moral gray zone that directly clashes with Spider-Man’s principles.

All told, that makes eleven superpowered — or dangerously armed — characters standing in Peter Parker’s way. The creative challenge for director Destin Daniel Cretton will be balancing this large cast without turning the film into a shallow sequence of nonstop battles.

What we still don’t know

Six of the nine villains remain under wraps. Spider-Man’s rogues’ gallery in the comics is vast, ranging from names like Shocker, Chameleon, and Vulture to more obscure options such as Hammerhead, Mister Negative, The Spot, or the Jackal. Any combination is possible, and the final choices will say a lot about the kind of story the film aims to tell.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is scheduled to hit theaters on July 31, 2025.