In Spider-Man: Brand New Day, an assortment of villains from the hero's rogues gallery will be making their live-action debut and return. While the sequel will confine most of these supercriminals to a montage, some will pose an ongoing threat to Peter Parker, including the return of Michael Mando's Scorpion and the live-action introduction of Marvin Jones III's Tombstone.
However, some villains have yet to be revealed, with the biggest mystery being Sadie Sink, who is widely assumed to be an antagonistic Jean Grey. But there's one more villain rumored to appear that could lead to an adaptation of one of Spider-Man's most controversial stories. Alex Perez from The Cosmic Circus revealed, "I know Miles Warren is one of the antagonists in the movie, but as Jackal, not necessarily the scientist." While Kraven the Hunter name-dropped Warren, this Spider-Man sequel would mark his first live-action appearance in the franchise.
In Marvel Comics, Miles Warren was a professor of biochemistry at Empire State University who became obsessed with cloning and dressed up as something that didn't look like a jackal. Rather, Brand New Day might give Miles Ben Reilly's outfit, since the name works thematically with his Anubis mask and his gimmick of bringing the dead back to life.
It's unknown how large Miles' role in Brand New Day will be, but from Perez's wording, it's unlikely to be a one-and-done comic book cover tribute in a montage. Some already pegged Keith David as Warren, who narrates part of the trailer: "Spiders have three life cycles. When between cycles, it can leave the spider vulnerable to threats."
However, in the leaked Brand New Day trailer, many of these same lines were used and voiced by a different actor. The leaked trailer also showed it to be from a video about spiders Peter was watching online, so it could have nothing to do with Warren. But it could just as easily have been a placeholder (it being a leak), and it wouldn't be the first time a supervillain made an educational video thematically relevant to the plot (i.e., as Olivia Octavius in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse).
With Warren's rumored presence and Peter's powers potentially mutating out of control, it might mean Spider-Man's most polarizing story could be on the horizon sooner than expected, especially with Tom Holland's past fixation with it.
How This Spider-Man Villain Leads to the Clone Saga
The Clone Saga is a '90s identity crisis story in which Jackal led Peter Parker to believe his life was a lie and that Ben Reilly was the real Peter Parker, which spiraled into an infamous storyline that ran over 70 issues. Holland has expressed his fondness for Brian Michael Bendis' well-received modern retelling of the story from Ultimate Spider-Man, which lasted for nine issues.
In 2017, when Holland was interviewed by Brazilian entertainment site CinePop (via Screen Rant), he said, "I really like the Clone Saga" and that "it could be really cool if Peter, or Spider-Man, has to fight people with the same powers as him." He used Jessica Drew from Ultimate Spider-Man, a female clone of Peter Parker, as an example:
"I really like the Clone Saga. I think it could be really cool if Peter, or Spider-Man has to fight people with the same powers as him. Spider-Woman's super cool...I think she's called Spider-Girl who is his clone. They kind of like hit it off and they take their masks off and they're like... [shocked look] What the hell?! They're like the same person, but she's just a girl. I think that's really cool."
This could mean that some version of Jessica Drew might make it to live-action, unlike Olivia Wilde's canceled attempt at the character, if Holland's wish is ever granted.
That same year, when speaking with CinemaBlend, Holland showed interest in adapting the story and how "It would be so cool...I could play seven characters" and reiterated how he "[liked] the idea of having characters in front of Spider-Man who have the same powers as him:"
"There are so many things we have not seen in Spider-Man yet...I want to use bad guys never seen in movies. The first films were so traditional, and so scrupulously followed the character's classic plot...So there's a lot of stuff left in stock. The Clone Saga, for example. It would be so cool...I could play seven characters. That means seven checks! And I like the idea of having characters in front of Spider-Man who have the same powers as him. It would make sense, because cloning is more or less coming true. It would make sense to talk about that. Like a villain who would say, 'This kid has super powers, I want twenty like him who fight for me. I'll take one of his hairs and try to clone him.' And obviously, it would go wrong!"
Whether he's merely a minor villain or the true mastermind of Brand New Day, Warren's presence in this sequel has many implications for the future of Spider-Man in the MCU.
