Spider-Man: Brand New Day is still shooting in the UK, and the aftermath of whatever happens at that Department of Damage Control prison has been revealed in a new set video. We'll share more footage and photos from set with you later today, but the MCU looks to have gained a major character from the comics.
According to scooper @MyTimeToShineH, Liza Colón-Zayas has been cast as Jean DeWolff. Given that this is a street-level adventure, that makes sense, and Jean was portrayed as a woman of colour in the Ultimate Spider-Man comics.
In the main Marvel Universe, Jean DeWolff was one of the first law officials to come out in support of Spider-Man openly. Tragically, Jean was murdered by the Sin-Eater, who turned out to be her colleague and former lover, Sergeant Stan Carter.
Carter's mind had been blighted by the death of his partner, and he decided Jean must be killed because she upheld the legal system. It was only after she was killed that Spider-Man realised how attached he had become to her, while it was heavily implied that Jean had romantic feelings for the web-slinger.
With Spidey so busy tackling world-ending threats in previous movies, he hasn't had many interactions with the police. Peter Parker has had many allies on the force over the years, including George Stacy, Yuriko Watanabe, and William Lamont.
Exploring that in Spider-Man: Brand New Day will give this adventure a much different feel, and even just seeing Spidey talking to the cops and parademics makes this character feel more in line with his counterpart on the page.
"I did a lot of sneaky research online—looking at what people were saying in the interim between Spider-Man: No Way Home and now Spider-Man: Brand New Day," Holland recently said of his Spider-Man: Brand New Day preparation. "I really just kind of put together a vibe of what people were looking for and went to Marvel and said, 'This is what I think we should be doing.'"
"And I think that's exactly what we are doing," the actor continued. "So, it's been a really fun process developing the movie. It's the first time I've ever been allowed in that part of the process, and it's definitely a stressful experience. But I think where we've got to, now that we're shooting, we are shooting absolute gold."
Are you excited to potentially see Jean DeWolff in Spider-Man: Brand New Day next summer?
Spider-Man: Brand New Day shares a title with a divisive era of storytelling, which, thanks to a deal with Mephisto, saw the wall-crawler get a fresh start when his marriage to Mary Jane Watson ended and his identity became secret again. He faced many new sinister foes during that time and was surrounded by an overhauled supporting cast, including Mister Negative, Jackpot, Menace, and Carlie Cooper.
Instead, all signs point to Spidey teaming up with (and at some point fighting) The Punisher to take on a Savage Hulk, with The Scorpion thrown in for good measure.
Several other villains are reportedly set to appear in the movie, including Tombstone, Tarantula, Boomerang, and Ramrod. There's been some chatter online about the Venom Symbiote factoring into the story, potentially setting the stage for Mac Gargan to eventually don the alien costume.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings helmer Destin Daniel Cretton directs Spider-Man: Brand New Day from a script by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers. Tom Holland leads a cast that also includes Jon Bernthal, Mark Ruffalo, Zendaya, Sadie Sink, Michael Mando, Tramell Tillman, Marvin Jones III, and Liza Colón-Zayas. Thunderbolts* star Florence Pugh has also joined the cast.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day will be released in theaters on July 31, 2026.