It's been a week dominated by leaks for Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Inevitably, some fakes might slip through the cracks, but we've heard from multiple sources that this newly revealed shot of The Scorpion is the real deal.
Michael Mando's head is a little big for Mac Gargan's body, but this isn't concept art or a photograph. Since 2012, Marvel Studios has created artwork like this as part of merchandise style guides.
They don't always feature an actor's likeness, and sometimes look a little off (in Spider-Man: No Way Home's case, the Green Goblin had little in common with Willem Dafoe beyond the costume). This piece also matches the silhouette we've seen in other artwork.
For what it's worth, we've been told by one source that Marvel creates a design with an actor in their final—or near-final—movie costume to place on products and packaging. These are made in Photoshop, and typically enhanced using the industry-standard Adobe Illustrator vector file format.
So, what does this possible first look at The Scorpion tell us? Mac is wearing an armoured suit over pretty normal-looking clothes, likely meant to enhance his strength and speed. The biggest change is the tail, which seems to be made up of hydraulics.
It has the feel of a prototype suit and matches the aesthetic of characters like The Vulture and Mysterio. In other words, it's a comic book classic, albeit with the MCU's fingerprints all over it. We do, however, hope that the villain dons a mask or helmet of some sort.
Despite being one of Spider-Man's original villains (created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko), Scorpion rarely gets the same level of respect as characters like Doctor Octopus and Green Goblin. In fact, he's become a secondary baddie, often easily dispatched by the wall-crawler.
That changed in Mark Millar and Terry Dodson's Marvel Knights Spider-Man when Mac learned of Spidey's secret identity (courtesy of Norman Osborn). With that, he enacted a plan which saw him stage Aunt May's death and assemble the "Sinister Twelve" to take Peter down.
Eventually, he bonded with the Venom Symbiote and spent years as a demented, monstrous Venom who ate innocent people as both a member of the Thunderbolts and Dark Avengers.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings helmer Destin Daniel Cretton directs Spider-Man: Brand New Day from a script by returning Spider-Man franchise writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers.
Tom Holland plays Spider-Man in a cast that also includes Jon Bernthal (The Punisher), Mark Ruffalo (The Hulk), Zendaya (MJ), Sadie Sink, Michael Mando (The Scorpion), Tramell Tillman, Marvin Jones III (Tombstone), Jacob Batalon (Ned Leeds), and Liza Colón-Zayas. Avengers: Doomsday star Florence Pugh is expected to reprise her Thunderbolts* role as Yelena Belova.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day will be released in theaters on July 31, 2026.