Spider-Man: Brand New Day Originally Featured More Classic Villains, Before They Were Pushed to Spider-Man 5

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is turning Peter Parker’s corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe into a street-level saga. Set four years after the reality-altering finale of Spider-Man: No Way Home, the film follows an isolated Peter Parker (Tom Holland) as he rebuilds his life while confronting villains pulled straight from the deep cuts of Spider-Man comics. Tarantula, Boomerang, and Ramrod are all set to make their live-action debuts, joined by Mavin Jones III’s Tombstone. Mac Gargan (Michael Mando) returns as well, finally delivering on the Scorpion tease Spider-Man: Homecoming planted in its post-credits scene nearly a decade ago. Even the Hand’s ninja face Peter in the trailer. Yet according to director Destin Daniel Cretton, the rogues’ gallery audiences will see on screen was originally supposed to look very different.

“There was a whole other scene that ended up getting cut from the movie,” Cretton told Nerdtropolis, revealing that Brand New Day‘s already stacked villain lineup was initially even larger. “We were going to throw a whole bunch of villains into this one giant fight that ended up getting cut. We were looking at a lot of the old classics, and it was really fun, though. We got to design a lot of them. Maybe for another one we’ll bring it back.” Cretton’s comments don’t reveal if the scene had been shot, but the fight was important enough that villains got designed for the movie, which means the change occurred during the movie’s development, after an approved script.

Cutting the Villain Scene Was the Right Call for Spider-Man: Brand New Day

Removing an entire villain battle might sound disappointing for fans, but in the case of Brand New Day, the movie is already on the brink of being bloated. In addition to all the villains, the film balances Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) transforming into a rampaging Hulk, Punisher (Jon Bernthal) operating on his own moral code alongside Peter, and the bureaucratic Department of Damage Control monitoring superhuman activity across New York. On top of that, Marvel has kept the film’s central antagonist deliberately vague, teasing a mysterious force capable of hopping between possessed bodies. Sadie Sink’s role in the film remains unconfirmed as well, though speculation has connected her character to Jean Grey. Adding a full sequence of additional classic villains on top of that roster risked diluting focus.

Cretton’s description of the cut scene, a large-scale brawl built to showcase old-school character designs, also suggests the sequence was intended as an opening montage rather than a plot-critical set piece. Marvel Studios used a similar structure last year with The Fantastic Four: First Steps, showing the First Family tackling classic villains. That sequence originally included Mister Fantastic (Pedro Pascal) battling John Malkovich’s Red Ghost before that confrontation was cut for pacing reasons. Brand New Day appears to have followed a similar path, trimming a densely packed action sequence so the story could dedicate more screen time to the threats actually driving its plot forward.

The scrapped scene is unlikely to be lost for good. Brand New Day has already posted the strongest advance ticket sales of any Marvel release since Spider-Man: No Way Home, with box office tracking pointing toward an opening weekend north of $200 million domestically and $500 million worldwide. Given that Brand New Day is positioned as the opening chapter of a new Spider-Man trilogy, Cretton is expected to remain behind the camera for the next installment. That continuity gives Marvel and Sony a clear opportunity to revisit the shelved villains, whether in a future montage or a more substantial role once the story calls for them.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is scheduled to be released in theaters on July 31st.

Which classic Spider-Man villain do you wish had made it into the final cut of Brand New Day? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!