For as many rumours and casting reports we've had for Spider-Man: Brand New Day, there's a great deal we still don't know about the web-slinger's MCU return.
All signs point to it being a street-level adventure, with The Punisher likely there to test how far Spidey is willing to go to protect New York. The Scorpion also looks set to return on a revenge mission, with a potentially Savage Hulk thrown in for good measure.
How all these disparate elements fit together is the big mystery when it comes to Spider-Man: Brand New Day, but scooper @MyTimeToShineH is claiming to have learned more about some scenes currently being shot.
It's said that "The Punisher has a female partner to help him track and kill criminals. They are now filming huge action scenes with the two of them chasing and trying to kill Spider-Man villains."
Given Sadie Sink's physical similarity to the character, Frank's new ally could be Rachel Cole-Alvez. In the comics, just hours after Rachel Cole's wedding to surgeon Daniel Alves, a gang war erupted, resulting in the deaths of twenty-nine people at their wedding reception, including her new husband.
Following her recovery, the Marine sergeant teamed up with The Punisher to take her revenge on the criminals who destroyed her life.
Several B and C-list villains from the comics, like Tarantula and Boomerang, are expected to appear in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. They could be among Frank and his mystery ally's targets, and it seems Marvel Studios intends to flesh out the wall-crawler's world with the many villains he's faced since the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home.
We've heard that they'll appear in an opening montage recapping the past few years for Spidey, with them presumably returning later in the movie, when they fall into The Punisher's crosshairs (for whatever reason, he's now targeting superpowered crooks).
Spider-Man: Brand New Day shares a title with a divisive era of storytelling, which, thanks to a deal with Mephisto, saw the wall-crawler get a fresh start when his marriage to Mary Jane Watson ended and his identity became secret again. He faced many new sinister foes during that time and was surrounded by an overhauled supporting cast, including a resurrected Harry Osborn.
Mister Negative, Jackpot, Menace, and Carlie Cooper were some of the standout additions to his world, though they don't currently look set to appear in this movie. Instead, all signs point to Spidey teaming up with (and at some point fighting) The Punisher to take on a Savage Hulk, with The Scorpion thrown in for good measure.
Several other villains are reportedly set to appear in the movie, including Tombstone, Tarantula, Boomerang, and Ramrod. There's been some chatter online about the Venom Symbiote factoring into the story, potentially setting the stage for Mac Gargan to eventually don the alien costume.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings helmer Destin Daniel Cretton directs Spider-Man: Brand New Day from a script by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers. Tom Holland leads a cast that also includes Jon Bernthal, Mark Ruffalo, Zendaya, Sadie Sink, Michael Mando, Tramell Tillman, and Liza Colón-Zayas. Thunderbolts* star Florence Pugh is also rumoured to have joined the cast.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day will be released in theaters on July 31, 2026.