If previous rumors are to be believed, Spider-Man: Brand New Day‘s trailer might have been hiding a female villain in plain sight. While the MCU’s summer blockbuster has no shortage of villains, including Tombstone, Scorpion, Tarantula, Boomerang, Savage Hulk, and, seemingly, the X-Men superhero Jean Grey, there is still no big bad ready to follow in the footsteps of Mysterio and Vulture.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day‘s trailer unexpectedly featured Zabryna Guevara’s Sheila Rivera (Wilson Fisk’s Chief of Staff from Daredevil: Born Again) handing the web-slinger the Key to the City on a TV news broadcast.
While fans’ focus was instantly on the Born Again icon’s inclusion and Marvel Studios casually spoiling its own Disney+ series as it confirmed, as expected, that Fisk would leave office in Season 2, there may be a secret villain hiding in frame.
Notably, the women to the left and right of Spider-Man’s honoring are strangely in focus, seemingly indicating that they are more than background extras and may have some importance in the story, but the evidence doesn’t stop there.
This isn’t technically the first time fans have seen one of these mystery female actresses, as the purple-coated woman on the right next to Spider-Man was also spotted on set outside during Brand New Day‘s production last year.
There is reason to believe that this woman has more importance than meets the eye, as Spider-Man: Brand New Day was previously casting a “female villain” between “30s-50s” and of “any ethnicity.” Currently, there are no signs of anybody in Brand New Day‘s cast matching that description, unless, of course, The Bear star Liza Colón-Zayas’ character proves to be a surprise villain.
Notably, YouTuber John Rocha reported last September that Brand New Day‘s “main villain is a female shapeshifter.” That may initially sound like an everyday rumor that never panned out, but it may actually carry some weight, considering that Rocha was the first to report Hulk and Punisher’s roles in Spider-Man 4.
It initially seems far-fetched that Brand New Day has managed to keep yet another villain quiet amid endless leaks and rumors. However, it was only recently reported that the Jackal will be “one of the antagonists” in Spider-Man 4, which suggests that Sony and Marvel have managed to keep some character inclusions quiet.
Is Spider-Man: Brand New Day Hiding a Mystery Female Villain?
It’s tough to tell who Spider-Man: Brand New Day‘s female shapeshifter villain may be, as that doesn’t really fit anybody in the wall-crawler’s rogues’ gallery beyond Chameleon, who is classically male but could be gender-swapped for the MCU.
When this anonymous purple-coated woman was spotted on Brand New Day‘s set, some theorized that she could be Madame Masque, the Maggia crime syndicate’s leader, who has had the ability to shapeshift in certain adaptations.
It’s tough to see how Masque (usually an Iron Man villain) could complement Brand New Day‘s already massive roster of villains. Perhaps she could be entangled with Marvin Jones III’s Tombstone, or preparing for a gang war with him that Spider-Man is caught in the middle of and forced to stop.
If Spider-Man: Brand Day were to include a shape-shifting villain, it’s easy to imagine them burying themself deep inside the office of New York’s latest mayor, with Wilson Fisk seemingly dethroned after Daredevil: Born Again Season 2.
Granted, there is a chance that there is no shape-shifter in Brand New Day, and that the rumor was either false or simply a miscommunication for the body-hopping mind-control being done by Sadie Sink’s character (likely Jean Grey) in the trailer.
