Spider-Man: Brand New Day‘s тιтle announcement carries some story implications that bode well for one major Spider-Man villain who’s been seriously underused in the web-swinging hero’s Marvel movie catalog. Spider-Man’s movie history is considered one of the greatest of all time in the superhero genre, comparable with the likes of Batman’s own DC film roster. This is a not unfair status for the hero to have, as every Spider-Man actor has added something new and special to the role, and every new release in this cinematic timeline has provided at least one great moment or story for the franchise.
With that said, though, there’s still plenty of room for future Spider-Man movies to build the hero’s on-screen empire in new and exciting ways – especially when it comes to adapting more comic storylines, and bringing more iconic characters into the limelight. As such, there’s a lot of pressure on the story of Spider-Man 4, but also a lot of hope about how it can continue Spider-Man’s arc in the MCU timeline. Based on the most recent announcement about Spider-Man 4 – namely, its new тιтle – the franchise does seem to have opened up a perfect way to bring an underrated Spider-Man villain into the fray.
Spider-Man 4 Being Announced As Spider-Man: Brand New Day Has A Lot Of Major Story Implications For The MCU Movie
2025’s CinemaCon saw the official announcement of Spider-Man 4‘s тιтle, unveiling it as Spider-Man: Brand New Day. This makes sense given the ending of Spider-Man: No Way Home saw Peter sacrifice his connections with those left in his life, erasing their memories of Peter Parker and ensuring he’d have to start from scratch in a lot of ways, mirroring the One More Day comic story, which itself resets Peter’s life and retcons who knows Peter Parker is Spider-Man – as well as erasing Peter’s marriage to MJ – before leading into the comic Brand New Day story.
While Brand New Day’s main focus is on resetting Spider-Man’s story for the most part, it also sets up several plotlines which could hold some fascinating potential for the MCU version of the story, from things like having J. Jonah Jameson step away from The Daily Bugle due to health problems, to Spider-Man encountering several new villains alongside the cast of fresh characters in the Marvel series. Currently, this means there are a lot of different story avenues the MCU could adapt when it comes to the fourth Spider-Man movie – but one holds particular promise.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s Story Is The Best Chance Yet For Mister Negative’s Movie Debut
Brand New Day brings a selection of new characters into its story, but one of the most interesting is Mister Negative, who is a ruthless crime boss when using his darkforce powers, and then a charity-running philanthropist when in his civilian idenтιтy of Martin Li. This duality makes the character a fascinating antagonist for Spider-Man and a fascinating character in his own right, especially when the wide range of comic stories that Mister Negative has appeared in over the years is also taken into account, including one of the Secret Wars comics that is set to inspire Avengers: Secret Wars.
Despite this, Mister Negative has appeared in none of the live-action Spider-Man movies thus far, having instead had his on-screen roles be in animated Spider-Man shows. This makes the fact that he’s a notable figure in Brand New Day – and thus seemingly a very likely candidate for the Spider-Man 4 movie cast – all the more promising, and seemingly all the more likely to mean the character is about to get a major movie debut in the next year, particularly given this can build on Marvel’s previous success with the Spider-Man games and their own successful adaptation of Mister Negative’s story.
Part of Mister Negative’s lack of live-action movie appearances is understandably down to his later debut in the comics, which naturally removed him as a potential villain for earlier Spider-Man releases. Mister Negative’s first comic appearance being in 2007 meant there was zero chance of him appearing in the Spider-Man movies before this time, with the first film that had the opportunity theoretically being 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man.
Mister Negative specifically debuted in 2007’s Free Comic Book Day The Amazing Spider-Man #1.
However, his lack of film appearances since then can be attributed to the idea that Spider-Man movies have tended to focus on more classic villains who were introduced decades before, since figures like Doctor Octopus and the Green Goblin have more comic material to draw from, and are more familiar to the general public. That said, given the majority of these villains have now had some kind of appearance in the original MCU Spider-Man trilogy, it would also seem especially pertinent timing to let Martin Li take the stage.
Why Mister Negative Is A Perfect Spider-Man Villain For The MCU
Mister Negative carries the potential to add both visually unique fights and scenes – due to the nature and look of his powers – as well as an emotionally engaging villain story into the MCU. The story of Martin Li carries similarities to the likes of the Hulk to a degree, as the Mister Negative idenтιтy and his darkforce powers are established as separate to Martin Li and his own lightforce powers, and the conflict of these two entirely contrasting figures forcibly co-existing not only adds extra dimension to their story, but also adds complicated layers to Mister Negative’s conflict with Spider-Man.
Sadly, the MCU has lost one of the most tense sides of Mister Negative’s comic story, as in the comics, Aunt May volunteers as the charity Martin Li funds, creating a bond between the villain and Spider-Man’s cherished family member. However, there are ways Spider-Man: Brand New Day could potentially still adapt this tense setup, as having another character who Peter cares for volunteer instead of May could work here – and indeed could facilitate something like a way to keep Zendaya’s MJ in the story, since it’d then be more likely that she’d keep run into Peter if he was hunting Mister Negative down.
There are still a wealth of Spider-Man villains yet to appear in the MCU, and Brand New Day opens the potential for far more than just Mister Negative to make their way into the franchise and face off against Spider-Man in this chapter of his story. With that said, though, Mister Negative looks to be a prime candidate for at least a brief appearance in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, particularly since the movie debut would be such a major move for the character and his on-screen history.
Upcoming MCU Movies
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Thunderbolts*
- Release Date
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May 2, 2025
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The Fantastic Four: First Steps
- Release Date
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July 25, 2025
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Avengers: Doomsday (2026)
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Spider-Man: Brand New Day
- Release Date
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July 31, 2026
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Avengers: Secret Wars
- Release Date
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May 7, 2027
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