Spider-Man fans are buzzing as the friendly neighborhood superhero is swinging back to a movie theater this summer, with Tom Holland reprising his role as Peter Parker and his alter-ego.
With the arrival of a "Spider-Man: Brad New Day" trailer on Wednesday, fans are beginning to dissect the possibilities for Spidey in the fourth installment of his MCU movies.
A variety of characters popped up, including multiple villains and an anti-hero. However, a mystery also remains about the identity of the film's main bad guy, or girl.
There have been a variety of suggestions tossed around as far as the possible villain or leader of the other villains, which could unlock more things for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The new trailer checks in at over 2:30 and features many scenes of the main hero, who has been forgotten by his friends, like MJ (Zendaya) and Ned (Jacob Batalon), The Avengers, and everyone else.
Fans of Frank Castle's Netflix series see Jon Bernthal reprising his role as The Punisher for the first time in a MCU film. He appears about 50 seconds into the trailer to run into Spider-Man with a black van.
Based on the trailer, Punisher could be involved in battling whatever is menacing New York City, and he might believe it’s Spider-Man. Or, Spidey may attempt to stop Punisher’s unorthodox methods to deal with other villains, which could cause massive damage to the city.
Viewers also see an appearance from actor Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner, aka The Incredible Hulk, but from the brief scenes shown, he’s involved in helping Peter understand his DNA and not the big green guy.
While Punisher continues his anti-hero role and Bruce Banner gives us scientific explanations, more villains pop up in the new trailer, including Scorpion, The Hand, Tarantula, and Boomerang. In one scene, Spider-Man is even battling a group of ninjas in the air.
However, there’s also that mysterious hooded villain alluded to in the trailer, and so far, everyone has only seen a shot of their back wearing a hood.
On various X trailers on Twitter, fans shared their best guesses at who is behind it all in the new Spider-Man movie.
“We are possibly entering the golden era of Spider-Man... if street-level villains like Scorpion, Boomerang, and Tarantula are already in play, someone has to be building the tech for them. Doc Ock being a secret villain behind it makes too much sense,” an X commenter suggested.
However, another commenter indicated that it could be Norman Osborn as the mastermind behind it all.
That said, actor Sadie Sink, best known for her role as Max in Netflix’s hit "Stranger Things," didn’t have any appearance in the trailer. However, some fans believe she may have been the one wearing the hood.
There was some speculation that Sink might portray Jean Grey, a powerful member of the X-Men, who has yet to be introduced much in Marvel-connected films aside from Deadpool movies. Grey could potentially act as a villain, but another rumor might be stronger.
A popular villain guess for Sink’s character seems to be Shathra, described on Marvel Wiki as a “Wasp Goddess” possessing many superhuman abilities, ranging from strength to speed to regenerative healing and immortality.
There have been some other wild guesses online, including one that Peter’s friend Ned, who doesn’t know Peter or that Peter is Spidey after the last movie, will be the movie’s villain, taking over as the new Hobgoblin due to having so much technology at his disposal. However, other speculation points at Mephisto, Lizard, and Sting.
One thing is clear: everyone is remaining tight-lipped about the identity of this main villain since movies tend to be better with surprises. However, it may not be long until online sleuths piece together enough clues to determine the true mastermind running everything in "Spider-Man: Brand New Day."