37 Years After Debut, A Fan-Favorite Spider-Man Villain Is Finally Coming to the MCU

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According to Deadline, actor Marvin Jones III (who previously portrayed Tobias Whale on Black Lightning) has been cast as mob boss Lonnie Lincoln, aka Tombstone, in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Tombstone made his Marvel Comics debut back in 1988 and has never appeared in a live-action film before. The character appeared in 2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and has been adapted in other mediums, including Insomniac’s Spider-Man video game series for PlayStation.

How Tombstone Could Fit Into Spider-Man: Brand New Day‘s Story

Image Courtesy of Insomniac Games

In typical Marvel fashion, much about the Spider-Man: Brand New Day plot is being kept under wraps, but we do know that the film is aiming to take Spider-Man back to his roots with a more grounded narrative — something illustrated by bringing Jon Bernthal in to reprise the Punisher. The presence of Tombstone is further confirmation Brand New Day is fully embracing a street-level narrative, and a strong hint that organized crime could play a key role in the movie. In the comics, Tombstone is also a frequent enemy of Daredevil; right now, it doesn’t seem as if Charlie Cox is in Brand New Day, but Punisher could easily fill in for Daredevil, teaming up with Spider-Man to take down a dangerous crime boss.

Tombstone is just one of many villains said to be a part of Spider-Man: Brand New Day. There are others on that list with connections to the criminal underworld (including Mister Negative). At one point in the comics, Tombstone and other New York kingpins fought against each other in an effort to win points with Mayor Wilson Fisk. As established in Daredevil: Born Again, Fisk is currently New York’s mayor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so Brand New Day could pull from this storyline, pitting Tombstone’s gang against other factions, leaving Spider-Man to put the fires out and restore a little bit of peace to the streets. Even if Vincent D’Onofrio isn’t in Brand New Day, the film could still reference him.

With the emphasis on street-level aspects and Punisher’s involvement, it stands reason to believe Tombstone will have a sizable role in the film (perhaps even serving as the main villain). It’s been rumored that Spider-Man: Brand New Day will feature a montage in its opening moments depicting Peter fighting against various foes as a way to catch audiences up on what he’s been doing since Spider-Man: No Way Home (think the montage in The Fantastic Four: First Steps). That would be a fun way to give some smaller villains their 15 seconds of fame, but Tombstone is a large enough threat to be the primary focus of Brand New Day. We’ve never seen Spider-Man go up against the New York underworld in a film before, so there’s a lot of material there for director Destin Daniel Cretton to explore.

It’s nice to see the MCU’s Spider-Man movies go back to highlighting villains who haven’t appeared in live-action before. No Way Home was a special event, honoring the franchise’s history with the return of classic enemies, but that angle should really be a one-time thing. One of the ways Brand New Day can be successful and revitalize Marvel’s box office numbers is by doing something different with the source material. We previously got memorable versions of Vulture and Mysterio in Tom Holland’s solo movies, so there’s no reason to believe Tombstone won’t follow suit. With the villain’s skill-set, he could be one of the toughest opponents Spider-Man has faced yet.

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