Sure, the year-capping blockbuster Avengers: Doomsday seems to be inspiring the vast majority of MCU rumors here in 2026 so far, but don’t go counting out Spider-Man: Brand New Day. The upcoming Marvel movie is just five months away, but audiences are still in the dark about quite a few details about it and the webslinger’s future. If this latest rumor is to be believed, we may already know one villain who will keep Peter Parker on his tippy-toed A-game in new Spider-Man movies
Beyond Michael Mando’s return as Mac Gargan/Scorpion (who first appeared in Homecoming), the key villain revealed thus far is Tombstone (a.k.a. Lonnie Lincoln, as portrayed by Black Lightning vet Marvin Jones III. This marks the first time Tombstone will appear in live-action, and the second time fans will hear Jones in the role, as he first voiced the antagonist for Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse.
Reports recently cropped up pointing to Tombstone being promoted for a larger-than-expected role as an overarching threat across not just Brand New Day, but its yet-to-be-confirmed sequels. After a bit of silence on that end, someone posted their curiosity on X, wondering if we will indeed see Tombstone across each of the supposed new trilogy’s entries. To which biz insider from Cosmic Circus, Alex Perez, replied with his own aligned feedback, saying on X:
Yep. And we will.
Obviously this isn't a full-on confirmation that everyone can and should hang their hat on. It's one rumor strengthened by another, and could end up turning out to be untrue by the time the next Spider-Man movie starts filming. Especially if audiences aren't impressed with the live-action Tombstone.
That's not an eventuality I'm anticipating, however. Tombstone is a fan-favorite comic foe, not just for Spider-Man, but also for The Punisher, so we'll likely get to see him facing off against Jon Bernthal's Frank Castle. Plus, audiences have already given approval to Marvin Jones III's vocal acting in Into the Spider-Verse, not to mention loving his intimidating run on Black Lightning. So the actor would have to intentionally blow up his own spot to spark any negative reactions on the big screen, but don't bet on that.
We do know that Brand New Day will kick off with a four-year time jump (thanks to a preview of Marvel's art book), which would give Tombstone time to make a name for himself in New York City's seedy underbelly. But we're still unclear what he or any other villains will be up to, as the gist is mainly that Spidey will unearth a wide-ranging mystery that brings the past back in consequential ways.
By all means, Tombstone could be more of a secondary baddie in the upcoming movie, only to rise up as a supreme antagonist in BND's expected sequel, and then either step back or double-down for the third film in this second trilogy. Or he could be an in-Peter's-face threat for all three, which would be something of a unique approach to the multi-villain roulette of modern comic book movies. Worst-case: he only shows up in the background of one scene, never to appear again, and we learn never to trust insider superhero rumors again.
Find out if this rumor pans out, as well as those about Gwen Stacey, when Spider-Man: Brand New Day hits the 2026 movie schedule on July 31, 2026.
