SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY Rumor Points to Tombstone as the Next Trilogy’s Big Bad

A new rumor about Spider-Man: Brand New Day is making the rounds, and if it’s legit, it could reshape what we thought the future of Spidey’s corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe would look like.

While many fans expected Wilson Fisk to loom large over Peter Parker’s next chapter, word is that another classic villain may be stepping into that role for the long haul, and it could have serious implications for Daredevil: Born Again as well.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is set to give Peter Parker a clean slate. Four years have passed since we last saw him. The world has moved on. Peter Parker is gone, erased from memory, but Spider-Man is still out there doing what he does best.

He’s locked in, protecting New York City, and operating at the top of his game. That relative peace won’t last. A strange string of crimes drags him into something much bigger than he expects, forcing him to confront a tangled mystery that ties back to his own past.

This time around, the threats are grounded. Street-level. The Scorpion, Boomerang, and Tarantula are all reportedly in the mix. Tombstone is also part of the story, and up until now, many fans assumed all of this would eventually collide with Mayor Wilson Fisk and lead to a major Spider-Man and Daredevil showdown.

That might not be happening.

According to The Cosmic Circus insider Alex Perez, Lonnie Lincoln, aka Tombstone, is being positioned as the overarching villain for this new Spider-Man trilogy. Not just a one-and-done crime boss. The crime boss.

Perez hints that Daredevil: Born Again Season 2, which is confirmed to wrap up the Mayor Fisk storyline, could actually lay the groundwork for this shift in power.

He writes, "Even if [Fisk] loses his mayoral seat, the power vacuum he left taking out his competition leaves him at the top of the underworld game for when he eventually returns to his enterprise. You guys need to look ahead."

That’s an interesting tease. It suggests Fisk may step back from the spotlight for a bit, while someone else rises to dominate the streets. In the comics, particularly during Zeb Wells’ run on Amazing Spider-Man, Tombstone proved he’s more than capable of playing long-term chess with the criminal underworld.

If the MCU leans into that version of the character, we could see him pulling strings behind multiple villains, possibly even outfitting them with tech and resources as part of a larger scheme.

That would give this trilogy a cohesive throughline, with Spider-Man battling a rotating roster of classic rogues while a single mastermind quietly tightens his grip on New York.

Director Destin Daniel Cretton, who previously helmed Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, recently teased the emotional core of the story in an interview with Who Let Us Out.

He said, "We are exploring a time in Peter Parker’s life that I find incredibly relatable, where he is learning to step into kind of a new phase in life. You’ll all learn more very soon."

This isn’t high school Peter anymore. This is a young man navigating adulthood, isolation, and the consequences of choices that erased him from the lives of everyone he loves. To survive what’s coming, he’ll need to be sharp physically and mentally, and ready to deal with the fallout of his past.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is directed by Cretton from a script by returning franchise writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers.

Tom Holland returns as Spider-Man, joined by Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle, Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner, Zendaya as MJ, Sadie Sink, Michael Mando as The Scorpion, Tramell Tillman, Marvin Jones III as Tombstone, Jacob Batalon as Ned Leeds, and Liza Colón-Zayas.

Florence Pugh is also expected to reprise her Thunderbolts role as Yelena Belova following her appearance in Thunderbolts*, with connections building toward Avengers: Doomsday.

If Tombstone truly is the big bad of this next Spider-Man trilogy, that’s a cool pivot. It keeps things grounded in New York’s criminal underworld while still allowing room for bigger MCU connections down the line. And if Fisk eventually returns to reclaim his empire, the collision course between these power players could get intense.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day swings into theaters on July 31, 2026.