Brand New Day Rumor Claims Three Villains Have Been Lined Up, And I’m Really Hoping One Of Them Ends Up Being Legit

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Now that Spider-Man: Brand New Day is set to begin filming soon and has a spot on the upcoming Marvel movies calendar, we’ve been getting more frequent updates on Tom Holland’s fourth solo feature as Peter Parker. The latest rumor is alleging that three specific villains have been selected for Brand New Day. While I’d certainly welcome seeing this specific trio cause trouble, there’s one in particular I hope ends up being legit, as it’s someone we’ve already spent some time with in the MCU.

This rumor originated from a now-deleted Instagram post from user Chris Higashi (via ComicBookMovie), who claimed that Scorpion, Boomerang and Tombstone were revealed as the Spider-Man: Brand New Day villains at the Disney Blockbuster Consumer Products presentation in Las Vegas. Now scooper MyTimeToShineHello (again, via ComicBookMovie) is saying that Michael Mando is on deck to reprise Mac Gargan, who will become Scorpion. Mando, best known for playing Nacho Varga in Better Call Saul, first appeared as Gargan in Spider-Man: Homecoming.

Needless to say all of this should be taken as a grain of salt for now, but I sincerely hope that Michael Mando is returning for Spider-Man: Brand New Day. His version of Gargan was introduced as a criminal who wanted to buy from Michael Keaton’s Adrian Toomes, but Tom Holland’s Spidey interrupted the sale. Gargan was left with some bad facial injuries and sent to prison, and while there, he met up with Toomes and asked if there was any truth to the rumor that he knew Spider-Man’s secret identity.

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Toomes lied and said he wasn’t aware who was underneath the mask, and the Spider-Man: Homecoming end credits tease of Gargan and his “friends” wanting to exact revenge on the Web-Slinger was never followed up on. Spider-Man: Far From Home and Spider-Man: No Way Home moved away from street crime in favor of spotlighting villains like Mysterio and the baddies from Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man movies. We did, however, get to see an alternate version of the MCU’s Gargan become Scorpion in the animated series Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, which can be streamed with a Disney+ subscription.

Considering that Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin is apparently off limits for a Spider-Man movie, Tombstone works nicely as a different crime boss villain to use, and I can easily see Boomerang being one of his subordinates. However, Scorpion is one of those classic members of Spider-Man’s rogues gallery who still hasn’t been fully adapted on the big screen. I would absolutely be game to see Michael Mando in that green armor and whipping around that cybernetic tail trying to kill the Webbed Wonder.

Since casting information has started trickling in for Spider-Man: Brand New Day, perhaps we’ll learn in the coming weeks if Mando has indeed signed on. For now, Tom Holland’s co-stars on the movie, which opens on July 31, 2026, include Sadie Sink (who may be playing Peter Parker’s daughter from another universe) and Liza Colón-Zayas.