21 ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ Moments With Bigger Marvel Connections

Warning: This story contains spoilers for Spider-Man: Brand New Day. "You have a gift. You have power," Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) tells her spider-powered nephew in Spider-Man: No Way Home. "And with great power, there must also come great responsibility." It's a hard-learned lesson for Peter Parker (Tom Holland), who wasted no time getting back into the swing of things after making it so that everyone — including lost love MJ (Zendaya) and best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon) — forgot Spider-Man's anonymous alter-ego. Brand New Day begins with a montage that spans the four years since the events of No Way Home. Framed around a crime board where Peter's "great power, great responsibility" mantra is displayed above the cases he's solved as a full-time crime-fighter, the three-minute montage sequence features such classic Spider-Man villains as Tombstone (Marvin Jones III), Boomerang, Tarantula, and Scorpion (Michael Mando), just to name a few. Of course, there are many more Easter eggs, references, and callbacks beyond blink-and-you'll-miss-them villain cameos. With the new movie now playing in theaters, here's a list of Spider-Man: Brand New Day Easter eggs we caught on a first viewing. Spoiler alert! 1. Amazing Fantasy #15 Image via Sony Pictures / Marvel Studios / Marvel Comics Paying homage to Spider-Man's first appearance in the pages of 1962's Amazing Fantasy #15, the comic cover recreation happens when Spider-Man swings off with a thug who accidentally stepped off a building ledge. The iconic cover (penciled by Jack Kirby and inked by Steve Ditko) was the only appearance of the man in the green suit for decades; he doesn't appear in the 11-page origin story by Ditko and writer Stan Lee. It wasn't until Amazing Fantasy (Vol. 2) #15 in 2005 that Marvel gave "the guy in Spider-Man's armpit" a name. In "I Was That Guy in Spider-Man's Armpit," by writer Dan Slott and artist Patrick Scherberger, Spider-Man saves the green-suited man (named Steve) after the hapless civilian falls out of a window while getting a look at the web-swinging masked marvel. 2. The Manfredi Crime Family Image via Sony Pictures / Marvel Studios In Brand New Day, the guy in Spider-Man's armpit is a member of the Manfredi crime family, according to the voiceover of a news reporter. Spider-Man (wearing the Iron Man-made Iron Spider suit from Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame) took down the Manfredi Mob before going on vacation to Europe back in 2019's Spider-Man: Far From Home, but these scenes were cut from the original theatrical version. The Manfredis did appear in the extended cut of Far From Home and the scene is included in "Peter's To-Do List," a three-minute short film comprised of deleted scenes. In the comics, Silvio "Silvermane" Manfredi was part of the Maggia crime syndicate and head of the Manfredi Family. Debuting in 1969's Amazing Spider-Man #73, the silver-haired mastermind is one of the major players in New York's criminal underworld, often vying for control with the steel-skulled Hammerhead as his enforcer. He's been everything from a cyborg to a disembodied head as he's waged war against the likes of Kingpin of Crime Wilson Fisk and their mutual enemy: Spider-Man. Most recently, actor Brendan Gleeson played a version of Silvermane in the Nicolas Cage-led Spider-Noir, and Ken Marino portrayed Joseph Manfredi opposite Hayley Atwell in Marvel's Agent Carter, set in the MCU in the 1940s. (Joseph's comic counterpart is Silvermane's son, who often battled Daredevil as the Batman-esque supervillain Blackwing.) 3. Scorpion: Spider-Man Adventures #2 Image via Sony Pictures / Marvel Studios / Marvel Comics Brand New Day is set in 2028, which means 12 years have passed since Spider-Man busted Mac Gargan during an illegal weapons deal involving the Vulture (Michael Keaton) and Shocker (Bokeem Woodbine) in 2017's Spider-Man: Homecoming (set in 2016). After a fight on the Staten Island Ferry, he was left scarred and jailed, only to somehow get his pincers on an armored suit equipped with a mechanical tail. When the vest and beanie-clad Spidey battles Gargan in winter, Spider-Man feels the sting of the Scorpion when his prehensile tail smacks the wall-crawler upwards into the air. This is a homage to the cover of 1994's Spider-Man Adventures #2, the comic book based on Spider-Man: The Animated Series. Like the Scorpion of the comics, the animated version of Mac Gargan was exposed to radiation and mutated by Dr. Farley Stillwell, who gene-spliced scorpion DNA to create an acid-spewing predator. J. Jonah Jameson of The Daily Bugle funded the creation of the supervillain specifically to destroy Spider-Man, only to make Gargan his own archnemesis. 4. Tombstone: Spectacular Spider-Man #142 Image via Sony Pictures / Marvel Studios / Marvel Comics 1988's Web of Spider-Man #36 marked the very first appearance of Lonnie Thompson Lincoln, but it was Spectacular Spider-Man #139 that revealed the origin of the gravelly-voiced, stone-skinned man better known as Tombstone. The former classmate of Daily Bugle editor-in-chief Joe "Robbie" Robertson, the hitman-turned-mob boss first crossed paths with Spider-Man when Lincoln broke Robertson's back. Frank Castle, a.k.a. the Punisher, was also gunning for Tombstone because he murdered a deputy district attorney that Castle served with in the Marine Corps. But before the Punisher could kill Tombstone, Spider-Man beat the gangster in Spectacular Spider-Man #142, which ended with Tombstone falling face-first into a cement mixer truck after a fight at a construction site. Although the cover teased a "final showdown" between Spider-Man and Tombstone, Lincoln continued to rock the underworld as he climbed its ranks. Brand New Day recreates the cover of Spectacular #142 as Tombstone, dangling Spider-Man off the edge of a girder, asks him through fanged teeth: "If I drop you from here, how long you think it'll take you to hit the ground?" "I don't know. You tell me," Spider-Man quips as he drop-kicks Tombstone over the edge before webbing him up for Detective Jean DeWolff (Liza Colón-Zayas). 5. Boomerang: Amazing Spider-Man #345 Image via Sony Pictures / Marvel Studios / Marvel Comics The montage also offers a glimpse of Spider-Man battling Boomerang, a.k.a. Fred Myers, a boomerang-throwing assassin who first appeared as a Hulk villain in 1966's Tales to Astonish #81. Although Boomerang came back time and again as an enemy of the Hulk, he fought Spider-Man for the first time when the terrorist Viper of Hydra sent Boomerang and the Silver Samurai after Spider-Man and Black Widow in 1979's Marvel Team-Up #83. Looking for a payday, the major league pitcher-turned-freelance assassin then pitched his specialized skills to the Kingpin, who sent him after Spider-Man in 1982's Spectacular Spider-Man #67. Boomerang returned as part of the Sinister Syndicate — a gang of hired guns that included the Beetle, Speed Demon, Hydro-Man, and the Rhino — in 1986's Amazing Spider-Man #280, which cemented Boomer as a member of Spider-Man's rogues gallery. Paying homage to the cover of 1991's Amazing Spider-Man #345 by artist Erik Larsen, Spidey dodges three of the Aussie assassin's trick boomerangs. 6. Tarantula: Amazing Spider-Man #134 Image via Sony Pictures / Marvel Studios / Marvel Comics In the comics, the spike-toed Tarantula is dangerous South American mercenary Anton Miguel Rodriquez. Debuting in 1974's Amazing Spider-Man #134, Tarantula hijacked a boat where Peter Parker, Mary Jane Watson, Flash Thompson, and Liz Allan all happened to be on board as passengers. Although Spider-Man's emptied web-shooter cartridges meant he was out of webbing — he couldn't yet shoot organic webs — he was able to match Tarantula's speed in a hand-to-hand, spider-to-spider fight until he was temporarily paralyzed by a poisoned stinger. Spider-Man recovered and caught the Tarantula with the help of an unexpected ally: the Punisher, who had been hired to kill the wall-crawler in his first appearance a few issues earlier in Amazing Spider-Man #129. 7. Ramrod: Amazing Spider-Man #221 Image via Sony Pictures / Marvel Studios / Marvel Comics Yet another comic cover homage features one of the most obscure Spider-Man villains: Ramrod, a cyborg with a metal plate in his head that makes him a man of steel. Ramrod's steel-plated cranium butted heads with Spider-Man for the first time during Peter Parker's trip to San Francisco in 1973's Daredevil #103, which revealed the ill-fated oil rig foreman's transformation into a half-man, half-machine hired gun. Brand New Day references Ramrod's little-known origin story with a newspaper clipping on Peter's crime board: "Worker Survives Near-Fatal Oil Rig Emergency." We see the steeled supervillain ramming his head into a wall just as he does in 1981's Amazing Spider-Man #221, where the rampaging Ramrod is no match for the webhead's spider-speed. 8. Empire State University Image via Sony Pictures / Marvel Studios The Spider-Man vs. Ramrod rematch took place on the campus of Empire State University, where Peter enrolled as a student way back in the classic Amazing Spider-Man #31 by Lee and Ditko in 1965. Peter's college years introduced him to Gwen Stacy and Harry Osborn, both of whom would have their fates intertwined with Spider-Man's archvillain: Norman Osborn, the Green Goblin. A science major who studied biophysics, Peter wouldn't graduate until 1978's Amazing Spider-Man #185. Brand New Day sees Peter visit ESU to pick the brain of mild-mannered physics professor Dr. Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), who uses a wrist-mounted inhibitor to stop him from turning into that "big, green raging monster machine": the Hulk. Because Banner found a way to suppress his gamma-irradiated DNA, Peter uses Banner's input to develop a universal inhibitor to curb his mutating arachnid DNA — a sort of "spider-puberty" manifesting in the form of new powers, which are the result of hormonal changes brought on by Peter's isolation and emotional trauma over losing his loved ones. 9. "Wolf Like Me" "Wolf Like Me" Music Video / Image via 4AD The opening montage is set to the TV on the Radio song "Wolf Like Me." Not only does the track feature vocals by Tunde Adebimpe — who made a cameo as Peter's high school chemistry teacher Mr. Cobwell in 2017's Spider-Man: Homecoming — but the "Wolf Like Me" music video was directed by none other than Jon Watts, director of the MCU Spider-Man trilogy. 10. E.V. Image via Warner Bros. Pictures Peter's AI assistant "E.V." is voiced by The Watcher and Love Story star Naomi Watts, who starred with Holland in his feature film debut in 2012's The Impossible. Peter previously utilized the Tony Stark-designed AIs Karen (voiced by Jennifer Connelly) in Homecoming and then E.D.I.T.H. (voiced by Dawn Michelle King) in Far From Home. 11. Keith David Image via Sony Pictures / Marvel Studios Also making a voice cameo is prolific actor Keith David, who narrates the spider video Peter watches to try and understand his spider-like mutation. Besides voice roles in Spawn and Gargoyles, David has voiced numerous Marvel characters across television and video games — including Black Panther and Nick Fury — and previously loaned his voice to an FBI agent in an episode of 2003's Spider-Man: The New Animated Series and Tombstone/Big Man in a 2008 episode of the animated series The Spectacular Spider-Man. 12. Frederick Foswell Image via Marvel Comics We hear that Spider-Man took down every major crime lord across New York's five boroughs over six months, including Tombstone. But when Peter informs DeWolff about a high-profile job in downtown Brooklyn in broad daylight, he mentions a name that comic fans should recognize: Foswell. In the comics, Frederick Foswell debuted in 1964's Amazing Spider-Man #10 as a Daily Bugle reporter who was secretly the masked crime lord known as the Big Man. The Big Man was the first crime boss that Spider-Man encountered, predating foes like Wilson Fisk/Kingpin and Silvermane, and it was Foswell who first hired the Enforcers — Montana, Fancy Dan, and Ox — to snuff out Spider-Man. Kingpin took over as the primary villain of organized crime with his debut in 1967's The Amazing Spider-Man #50, and Kingpin's men fatally shot Foswell just two issues later. 13. Mayor Fisk and Sheila Rivera Image via Sony Pictures Releasing Peter's "really good lawyer" Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) doesn't cameo this time, but there is a connection to his Disney+ series Daredevil: Born Again. You'll see Sheila Rivera (Zabryna Guevara), who served as Mayor Wilson Fisk's (Vincent D'Onofrio) chief of staff in the first two seasons, hand Spider-Man the key to the city during the montage, but another reference is harder to spot. After Peter meets Banner, he leaps down into an alley to test his universal inhibitor. It's during this field test that one of former Mayor Fisk's "Making NYC Safe" posters is visible on a dumpster. When Fisk was elected mayor during Charles Soule's Daredevil run in 2017, his very first official act was to clamp down on illegal vigilantes including Daredevil, the Punisher, and Spider-Man. 14. Avengers: The Kang Dynasty Image via Sony Pictures / Marvel Studios / Marvel Comics When a mind-jumping mystery villain commandeers a Department of Damage Control tank, Spider-Man races into action. One of the cop cars flung into the air during the chase sequence is marked with the number "269," which could be a reference to 1986's Avengers #269. The issue pits Earth's mightiest heroes against the time-traveling villain Kang the Conqueror, whose multiversal variants from the Council of Kangs were being killed off. Spider-Man: Brand New Day director Destin Daniel Cretton was set to direct Avengers: The Kang Dynasty before Marvel Studios reworked the Endgame sequel into Avengers: Doomsday, in which Robert Downey Jr.'s Victor von Doom takes over as lead bad guy. (Kang and his "divergent doubles," meanwhile, have been banished to Limbo.) 15. Naruto Image via Sony Pictures / Marvel Studios / TV Tokyo When Peter (pretending to be "Maynard") wanders into Ned's room to peek at his mystery board dedicated to Spider-Man's secret identity — "Could he be British?" asks one note, a nod to real-life Brit Holland — look in the background to see a poster for the Naruto anime on Ned's wall. (The Naruto poster was digitally removed for the trailer.) Cretton, who helmed Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings before Brand New Day, is set to direct the live-action Naruto movie based on the popular manga and anime. Longtime Spider-Man series producer Avi Arad developed the Naruto adaptation when it was first set up at Lionsgate back in 2015. 16. Mysterio Image via Sony Pictures / Marvel Studios / Marvel Comics During Peter's meeting with Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) in a bathhouse, Black Widow mentions "super graphic" fan art of Spider-Man and master of illusions Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal). Pornographic implications aside, Spider-Man did face multiple Mysterios when the fishbowl-helmeted villain made duplicates of himself in an attempt to kill the wall-crawler in 1979's Amazing Spider-Man #198. In this same issue, Spider-Man has his anonymity preserved when he's briefly hospitalized with his mask on, which happens late in Brand New Day. 17. Civil War Image via Marvel Comics In the movie, the Punisher (Jon Bernthal) accidentally shoots Spider-Man while aiming for a telepathic threat. He then holds a bloodied Spider-Man in his arms as he bursts into an emergency room. This is a nod to a page from 2006's Civil War #5, in which a public Peter Parker went AWOL from Tony Stark's New Avengers amid the superhero civil war that broke out over the Superhuman Registration Act. When S.H.I.E.L.D.-sanctioned supervillains Jester and Jack O'Lantern nearly killed Spider-Man, the Punisher took out the two Thunderbolts and saved Spider-Man's life when he brought him to Captain America's team of anti-registration outlaws. (Brand New Day has a running gag about Spider-Man saving Punisher on Staten Island, so now they're even.) In another nod to the comics, the younger Ultimate Universe version of Spider-Man dove in front of the Punisher's bullet to save Captain America in 2011's Ultimate Spider-Man #157. 18. Jean Grey's Scrunchie Image via Sony Pictures / Marvel Studios / Marvel Comics Spider-Man saves Jean Grey (Sadie Sink), the telepathic mutant who hijacked the minds of Scorpion, the savage green Hulk, and the Punisher in her vengeful search for V-Max and her missing sister: fellow telepath Sara Grey (Olivia Booth-Ford). It's revealed that Jean's sister died in the custody of the Department of Damage Control and Bill Metzger (Tramell Tillman), who hired the Hand ninjas after the DODC's efforts to apprehend enhanced individuals in Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, and Wonder Man. The only memento that Jean has of her sister is Sara's green-and-yellow hair scrunchie. Jean Grey's Marvel Girl costume from the Silver Age comics is green and yellow, a look that Jean debuted in 1967's X-Men #39, while X-Men #101 would give rise to the Phoenix (also clad in green and yellow) in 1976. Jean would again wear the green and yellow color scheme when she joined the five original X-Men as part of X-Factor in 1986's X-Factor #1. 19. Spidey Tracker Jingle Image via Sony Pictures / Marvel Studios Ned developed the Spidey Tracker: an app for fellow "webheads" to keep track of the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Not only is the ringtone an 8-bit version of the classic 1967 Spider-Man theme song, but Andrew Garfield's Peter Parker has a similar ringtone in 2014's The Amazing Spider-Man 2. 20. Tony Stark Image via Sony Pictures / Marvel Studios It may be a Brand New Day for Peter Parker, but the film flashes back to the end of Homecoming for a previously unseen conversation between Peter and Aunt May. The scene takes place after Tony Stark returned the Spider-Man suit in a brown paper bag with a simple message: "This belongs to you - TS." 21. Avengers: Secret Wars Image via Marvel Comics In a brief post-credits scene, the Spidey Tracker detects Spider-Man's location: somewhere in outer space. This suggests Spider-Man has been teleported off-world in a similar way to 1984's The Spectacular Spider-Man #89, which ended with the red-and-blue-suited Spider-Man's spider sense leading him towards a strange construct in Central Park. Spider-Man disappeared inside as he was transported to another galaxy. 1984's Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #1 revealed that the Beyonder, a powerful cosmic being, teleported Spider-Man and other heroes — including members of the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, and the X-Men — to Battleworld to fight the likes of Doctor Doom and other major Marvel villains. (In Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #8, Spider-Man famously received his black alien costume that would eventually bond with Eddie Brock to become Venom.) Avengers: Doomsday sequel Avengers: Secret Wars could be combining elements of the original 1984 series and the 2015 Secret Wars, which assembled heroes and villains from across the multiverse as they battled to save their realities from universe-destroying incursions. Release Date July 31, 2026 Runtime 145 Minutes Director Destin Daniel Cretton Writers Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Steve Ditko, Stan Lee Producers Amy Pascal, Kevin Feige, Rachel O'Connor, Avi Arad Cast Spider-Man / Peter Parker