Marvel Studios just unveiled another upcoming villain for the MCU, this time pulled from one of its darkest corners. The studio already has a heavy slate of antagonists waiting in the wings across its 2026 and 2027 projects, with Spider-Man: Brand New Day set for July 31, VisionQuest due on Disney+ later this year, and Avengers: Doomsday arriving in December. The latest reveal arrives on the small screen, courtesy of Daredevil: Born Again.
The newest addition to the MCU villain slate was unveiled in the Born Again Season 2 finale, which closed with Heather Glenn slipping on the bloodied mask of the serial killer Muse.
This image, paired with set photos from Season 3 showing Margarita Levieva in a full Lady Muse costume on location, all but confirms the therapist is taking up the mantle of the killer she shot dead in Season 1.
It's a sharp departure from the comics, where Heather never becomes Muse. Instead, she dies by suicide after a doomed engagement to Matt Murdock. Her story is pretty grim in the comics, but it seems it's about to take an even darker turn in the MCU.
This intriguing creative choice gives the show a new and exciting antagonist now that Wilson Fisk has been ousted as Mayor and shipped off into exile.
Other Upcoming Villains Marvel Studios Will Introduce Soon
Scorpion
Michael Mando is back as Mac Gargan in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, nine years after his exciting tease in the post-credits scene of Spider-Man: Homecoming. The first trailer gave Scorpion a decent amount of screen time, showing him in a heavily armored mech-tech suit and warning Spider-Man to stay out of his way. Fans have been waiting for a proper showdown between Scorpion and Spider-Man for years, and it looks like they’re finally getting their wish. Among Brand New Day's confirmed rogues, he's one expected to play a meaningful role in the film.
Tarantula
Anton Miguel Rodriguez is one of the lesser-known names on Spider-Man's villain roster, but the trailer confirmed Tarantula is showing up too. He's seen briefly in a fight on a boat with two NYPD officers, in a shot that visually mirrors the cover of The Amazing Spider-Man #134. In the comics, Tarantula's a trained killer with retractable spikes in his boots that inject poison, and he's been depicted as a hired gun.
It's been reported that Brand New Day will feature an opening montage of Spider-Man fighting multiple villains. Tarantula will likely be one of them, and he might not play a major role in the film.
Boomerang
Frederick Myers, aka Boomerang, is the second street-level newcomer confirmed for Brand New Day. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, he's an obscure Marvel villain best known to modern readers from Nick Spencer and Steve Lieber's The Superior Foes of Spider-Man, a cult comic about a B-list Sinister Six. The trailer briefly shows him going up against Spider-Man, and like Tarantula, he's likely to appear in the opening montage as one of the antagonists Spider-Man dispatches.
Savage Hulk
Mark Ruffalo is returning as Bruce Banner in Brand New Day, but a steady drip of merch reveals from Hasbro and Funko has all but confirmed the Smart Hulk era is ending. Official figures branded as Savage Hulk, including a Talk'n Electronic Mask and a Marvel Savage Smash figure, point to Banner losing control and reverting to the rage-driven Hulk last seen at the start of Avengers: Infinity War.
The trailer placed Banner at Empire State University as a professor Peter Parker turns to about his strange new mutation. It'll be interesting to see how Savage Hulk is introduced in the film. Some fan theories have suggested the Hulk Inhibitor on Banner's wrist either fails or gets tampered with, possibly tied to the same mind-control plot that Damage Control is dealing with.
Ultron
James Spader is reprising the role he last played in 2015's Avengers: Age of Ultron for VisionQuest, the eight-episode Disney+ series set to debut in late 2026. Showrunner Terry Matalas has confirmed Ultron will appear in both his classic robot form and a human form inside Vision's mind, where Paul Bettany's White Vision has been keeping the AI behind what Bettany described as a firewall. The series is the closing chapter of the WandaVision trilogy, following WandaVision and Agatha All Along.
Jocasta
T'Nia Miller, known for The Fall of the House of Usher and The Haunting of Bly Manor, is making her MCU debut as Jocasta in VisionQuest. In the comics, Jocasta was built by Ultron to serve as his bride, fashioned with parts of Janet Van Dyne's mind, before eventually rebelling and joining the Avengers. Marvel's official description for her MCU version calls her a cunning and powerful robot driven by revenge, suggesting the show may keep her firmly on the antagonist side rather than following her comic redemption arc.
Doctor Doom
Robert Downey Jr. is returning to the MCU as Victor von Doom in Avengers: Doomsday, out December 18. Joe and Anthony Russo are directing, and Joe Russo went on record at CinemaCon 2026 calling Doom the greatest Marvel villain of all time, ranking him above Thanos. The character was teased in the post-credits scene of The Fantastic Four: First Steps, and CinemaCon footage showed Downey using a noticeably different voice and posture under the mask, a clear effort to separate Doom from his Tony Stark legacy.
With Lady Muse arriving on the small screen and Doom causing all manner of chaos in the next Avengers event, Marvel Studios is set to introduce some of the best villains the MCU has ever seen.
Geraldo Amartey is a writer at The Direct. He joined the team in 2025, bringing with him four years of experience covering entertainment news, pop culture, and fan-favorite franchises for sites like YEN, Briefly and Tuko.
