News Spider-Man: Brand New Day Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s Body-Hopping Villain Could Be One of These Marvel Characters A few likely candidates for the identify of the unseen threat By Matthew Byrd | Published on June 18, 2026 Photo: Marvel Studios Comment 0 Share New Share Photo: Marvel Studios It’s not just that Spider-Man: Brand New Day is going to feature a ton of villains. The far more interesting thing about the movie is that it’s going to seemingly feature a veritable army of somewhat “lesser” villains who will emphasize the street-level themes the story is reportedly built around. Not since the Spider-Man animated series have we seen Peter Parker battle such an array of antagonists (if only for a scene or two). We actually still don’t even know how many villains will be in the movie. However, the latest trailer for Brand New Day focused a little less on the quantity of the upcoming villains in order to hone in on an unseen and unnamed threat that can seemingly hop between bodies at will. Who is that mysterious malice? Marvel isn’t saying and, to be honest, nobody is entirely sure. That being said, there are really only a handful of candidates the unidentified new villain could realistically be. So unless Marvel throws a considerable curveball our way, here are the likely identities of the new threat. Jean Grey Buying into this theory requires you to look at the Brand New Day trailer from a slightly different perspective. Maybe the “villain” that we see hopping between bodies isn’t a villain at all. Maybe Damage Control is trying to frame Jean as a villain when they’re really just trying to capture what they consider to be a rogue mutant. This also forces you to consider the possibility that some of the scenes featuring that supposed new villain may have been edited in a specific way to make Jean look more villainous than she actually is. It’s a bit of a stretch, but it’s certainly the most popular theory. While body (and/or mind) hopping isn’t necessarily one of Jean’s primary powers, it’s certainly well within her considerable capabilities. Perhaps more importantly, it feels like an open secret that Jean Grey is going to appear in the film (and will reportedly be played by Sadie Sink). What has turned out to be a fairly reliable series of rumors and leaks has also long suggested that Jean will initially be somewhat at odds with Spider-Man, as she sees him as a potential threat and asset of Damage Control. Mister Negative If Jean Grey isn’t the mysterious new figure hinted at in the Brand New Day trailer (which still certainly seems like the most likely possibility), then determining their identity requires us to dig a bit deeper into Spider-Man’s roster of rogues. So far as that goes, though, Mister Negative is an interesting candidate. Mister Negative has risen in popularity over the years (thanks partly to his memorable appearance in Insomniac’s Spider-Man games), and he certainly has the ability to corrupt and bend people to his will. As a part-time philanthropist with a Jekyll/Hyde thing going on, it’s easy to imagine that Negative could fit into the street-level story Brand New Day is setting up. The big problem with this theory is that Mr. Negative’s powers create a distinct visual effect that is notably absent from the trailer. Editing a trailer to obscure certain information is one thing, but completely removing such a distinct visual effect feels like a bit of a stretch. Still, it’s an option. Shadow King Like Mr. Negative, the biggest argument for the Shadow King theory is the character’s abilities. As one of the most powerful telepaths in the X-Men universe, Shadow King certainly has the ability to take people over in a manner similar to what we see in the Brand New Day trailer. And yes, those looking for an X-Men connection could argue that a Shadow King appearance would help pave the way for more of those characters to make their MCU debut. That said, this feels like a significantly less likely possibility. There looks to be a lot going on in Brand New Day, and introducing a character like Shadow King just seems like it would be a plot point too many. Given the X-Men/Jean Grey connection (it’s easy to imagine that Jean could be blamed for Shadow King’s actions), though, you can’t rule out the chance we get a Shadow King appearance. Krahllak Right off the bat, it’s fair to say that the biggest argument against Krahllak is the character’s relative obscurity. An ancient demon that has rarely ever crossed paths with Spider-Man would be a strange primary antagonist for the biggest Spider-Man movie yet, to say the least. However, Krahllak is the driving demonic force behind The Hand: the ninjas we’ve seen prominently featured in the Brand New Day trailers released so far. He’s also had many run-ins with Daredevil and Punisher in the past, which is certainly noteworthy when you consider that at least one of those characters appears in Brand New Day and both have been integral parts of the build up to the movie. Krahllak is also capable of possessing people, though he rarely does so in the same free-wheeling body-hopping style we saw in the latest trailer. Madelyne Pryor Right, so this is a bit of a cheat given that Madelyne Pryor is a clone of Jean Grey. She’s also closely associated with some X-Men characters and plotlines that would be incredibly awkward to squeeze into a new Spider-Man movie with little established X-Men MCU presence. If you allow yourself to believe that the MCU would be willing to rewrite the Pryor origin story, though (which is hardly unheard of), then there’s a strong argument to be made for the possibility of the character’s debut. It’s a little cheap, but an “evil” version of Jean Grey, who is the result of some kind of experiment, would explain some of the things we seem to see in the trailer. If you’re really into the conspiracy of it all, this could also help explain some of Sink’s coy statements regarding her upcoming role.[end-mark] The post <i>Spider-Man: Brand New Day</i>’s Body-Hopping Villain Could Be One of These Marvel Characters appeared first on Reactor.