• Bandai SH Figuarts action figure listings have leaked plot details for Spider-Man: Brand New Day, describing Peter Parker as living “alone, erased from everyone’s memory” and undergoing “uncontrollable transformations” — language widely interpreted as pointing toward a Man-Spider arc
• A separate figure listing confirms Savage Hulk (not Smart Hulk) will appear in the film; Mark Ruffalo’s presence as Bruce Banner was shown in the first trailer, but Marvel had not officially confirmed his green alter ego would appear
• The film is also bringing back organic web-shooting — a power Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man had in Sam Raimi’s trilogy but that never carried over to Tom Holland’s MCU version, which uses mechanical web-shooters
• Kevin Feige told press the film is “focused on the classic elements of Spider-Man” — a significant reset from the cosmic and multiversal stakes of Holland’s previous three films
• Brand New Day, directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, is releasing this summer; the cast includes the Hulk, the Punisher, Tombstone, and Scorpion, alongside new images spotlighting Daredevil villain connections

Two months out from release, Spider-Man: Brand New Day is keeping most of its plot under wraps. That changed this week — not through an official Marvel announcement, but through toy listings.

Bandai’s SH Figuarts line of action figures, sourced via French retailer France-Figures, included product descriptions that are doing a lot of narrative heavy lifting. Per ComingSoon, the Peter Parker figure’s description reads: “Peter Parker lives alone, erased from everyone’s memory. In Brand New Day, he faces new threats in New York while undergoing uncontrollable transformations.” A separate listing for a Hulk figure confirms he appears in Savage form — the out-of-control green version, not the calm, articulate Smart Hulk seen in recent MCU entries.

The “uncontrollable transformations” language, combined with the teaser footage that showed Parker with black eyes and what appeared to be organic webbing growing from his wrists, has fed months of speculation that the film will feature a Man-Spider arc — a storyline from the comics in which Peter Parker’s spider-half begins to take over his human biology. Nothing has been officially confirmed, but the toy copy isn’t exactly subtle.

Back to Basics — With a Twist

Kevin Feige, speaking to press ahead of the film, framed Brand New Day as a deliberate course correction after three films that sent Spider-Man to space, into the multiverse, and up against Thanos. “Brand New Day is focused on the classic elements of Spider-Man,” Feige told Comic Book Movie. Peter Parker is back in New York, broke and anonymous, fighting street-level crime after the events of No Way Home wiped him from everyone’s memory.

Part of that classicism includes a notable callback: organic web-shooting is returning. In Sam Raimi’s trilogy, Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man generated webs biologically, a controversial departure from the comics that many fans actually came to love. Holland’s MCU Spider-Man has always used mechanical web-shooters built by Tony Stark. The return of organic webbing — apparently tied to Peter’s physical changes in the film — reconnects the character to both the Raimi era and his comic origins simultaneously.

The full cast picture is still coming into focus. Images released this week spotlight connections to Daredevil’s villain world. Confirmed appearances include the Hulk (in Savage form, per the toy leak), the Punisher, Tombstone, and Scorpion. Destin Daniel Cretton, who directed Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, is at the helm. Spider-Man: Brand New Day arrives in theaters this summer.

The post Toy Leaks Just Revealed Major ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ Plot Details — Savage Hulk, Organic Webs, and a Man-Spider Transformation appeared first on Cream.

• Insider MyTimeToShineH claims Kevin Feige wants Venom in Avengers: Secret Wars (Dec. 12, 2027)
• Tom Hardy’s Venom left a symbiote fragment in the MCU during Spider-Man: No Way Home
• Mark Ruffalo recently hinted Spider-Man will fight “an alien” in a future MCU film
• Secret Wars is already casting extras for “enhanced beings” ahead of its summer shoot
• The Russo Brothers are directing; the confirmed cast includes Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, and Tom Holland

Tom Hardy’s Venom may finally be getting his MCU moment — and it could come in the biggest Marvel movie ever made. According to insider MyTimeToShineH, Kevin Feige is eager to include Venom in Avengers: Secret Wars, the Multiverse Saga finale currently slated for December 12, 2027.

The scoop is unconfirmed for now, but MyTimeToShineH has a strong track record on Marvel intel, and the timing makes a certain kind of sense. Ever since Hardy’s Eddie Brock stumbled into the MCU — and then stumbled right back out — fans have been waiting for the Lethal Protector to properly share a screen with Tom Holland’s Spider-Man. That moment has been teased, dangled, and delayed for years. Secret Wars could finally be where it pays off.

The Breadcrumbs Are Already There

The groundwork was quietly laid in 2021. At the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home, a small piece of the Venom symbiote was left behind in the mainline MCU universe when Hardy’s version of the character was pulled back to his own reality. It was the kind of detail that Marvel doesn’t drop by accident.

Then last month, Hulk actor Mark Ruffalo — who is set to appear in the upcoming Spider-Man: Brand New Day — was at a Q&A at Italy’s Ministry of Education and Merit when he let something slip. He didn’t say Venom by name, but he told the audience, “I promise you 1000% that [Spider-Man] will be fighting an alien in the future.” Whether that’s a hint at Venom specifically or something else entirely, the comment immediately set fan communities buzzing.

For comic readers, the Venom-in-Secret-Wars angle carries extra weight. In the original 1984 Marvel Comics run, the Secret Wars storyline is literally where Peter Parker first bonds with the alien symbiote — the one that eventually becomes Venom. If the Russo Brothers are drawing from that source material, an encounter between Spider-Man and the symbiote on Battleworld wouldn’t just be fan service. It would be faithful adaptation.

What We Know About Secret Wars So Far

Production on Avengers: Secret Wars is set to begin later this summer, primarily in the UK. But a U.S. casting agency is already seeking extras for the film, with a call out for civilians, military personnel, scientists, fighters, survivors — and, notably, “enhanced beings.” On a Battleworld set in a medieval-style reality inspired by Doctor Doom’s Latveria, that last category could mean almost anything.

The confirmed cast is already stacked. Robert Downey Jr. returns as Doctor Doom, joined by Chris Evans as Steve Rogers, Anthony Mackie as Captain America, Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange, Paul Bettany as The Vision, Letitia Wright as Black Panther, Simu Liu as Shang-Chi, and Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter. The Fantastic Four lineup — Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach — is also confirmed, along with Sadie Sink in an undisclosed role.

The script is being written by Michael Waldron with additional work from Stephen McFeely, and the Russo Brothers — back in the Marvel fold for the first time since Avengers: Endgame in 2019 — are directing.

No official word yet on Hardy’s involvement, and Marvel isn’t commenting. But if Feige really is pushing to make this happen, the pieces couldn’t be more perfectly arranged. A symbiote fragment already sitting in the MCU. A Spider-Man film in the pipeline. The Russo Brothers back. And a story that, in the comics, was always about an alien costume in the first place.

The symbiote has been patient. It might not have to wait much longer.

The post Kevin Feige Wants Venom in Avengers: Secret Wars appeared first on Cream.

• Sony and Marvel released a new behind-the-scenes teaser for Spider-Man: Brand New Day, showing off practical stunt work filmed in London and Edinburgh
• Tom Holland says the film has “the best action we’ve had in any of these movies,” with more on-camera stunts than any previous Marvel production
• Director Destin Daniel Cretton confirms the tank sequence — first seen in set photos — is the movie’s opening action scene
• Early test screening reactions are calling it the best Spider-Man film ever made
• Spider-Man: Brand New Day hits theaters July 31, 2026

Two months out from its July 31 release, Spider-Man: Brand New Day is already making some very big promises — and early signs suggest it might actually keep them.

Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios dropped a new behind-the-scenes featurette this week, titled “Practical Production,” giving fans their best look yet at the real, on-location stunt work that forms the backbone of the MCU’s fourth solo Spider-Man film. Tom Holland and director Destin Daniel Cretton both appear in the clip, talking up what sounds like the most physically ambitious Spidey movie to date.

“This is some of the best action that we’ve had in any of these movies,” Holland says in the video. “We’ve shot the most stunts on the day in camera. Putting Spider-Man on the street with cars exploding. It’s just so awesome. It’s going to allow the audience to be part of the experience.”

That’s a bold statement from a guy who’s already swung through two MCU trilogies and a multiverse event — but watching the footage, it’s hard to argue. The teaser shows real web-swinging through city streets, practical effects, and what looks like full-scale chaos with actual vehicles. No volume stage, no green screen safety net. Just Spidey on the ground, in the mix.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=6GW4JPeqm3s%3Fsi%3DK9YW-0qtTaFwaByF

The Opening Scene That Stopped Traffic in Edinburgh

Cretton, who previously delivered some of Marvel’s most inventive action sequences with Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, revealed that the sequence featured in the teaser — the now-famous tank scene that drew massive crowds when it filmed on location in Edinburgh, Scotland, dressed up as New York — is actually the film’s opening action set piece. He described it as “exhilarating” to shoot, and noted it was the very first thing they filmed for the movie.

“One of the results of that was that we were seeing thousands of people showing up to watch us work,” Cretton said. “It was a really lovely reminder to us how much this movie means to a lot of people in the world.”

Eagle-eyed fans watching the featurette closely will also catch something interesting: at one point, Peter is seen wearing a puffer vest jacket and hat over his suit — a cold-weather disguise that looks remarkably similar to what Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man wore in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Whether it’s a deliberate nod or a happy coincidence, it’s the kind of detail that’s going to send corners of the internet into a spiral for the next few weeks.

Also worth noting: new Halloween costume merchandise from Rubies has given fans a surprisingly detailed look at Peter’s new web-shooters for the film. They’re clunky, homemade, and a far cry from the Stark Industries tech he’s used before — which lines up with the movie’s premise of a Peter Parker who is fully on his own, with no Tony Stark safety net. The official plot description confirms that Peter undergoes some kind of unexpected “physical evolution” during the film, and the web-shooters appear to be edited out of several scenes in the existing trailer, suggesting they won’t be around for long before something bigger takes over.

A Fresh Poster and a Story That Starts From Zero

Alongside the featurette, Sony also unveiled a new poster — easily the closest look we’ve gotten at Holland’s suit in the film. It’s a clean, striking design: the bottom half of his face visible beneath the mask, the suit dominating the frame. Simple, but it hits. The accompanying tagline says everything about where this story is headed: “The world has forgotten Peter Parker, but he hasn’t forgotten them.”

Set four years after the events of No Way Home, Brand New Day finds Peter living completely alone, having erased himself from the memories of everyone he loves — including Zendaya’s MJ and Jacob Batalon’s Ned. He’s a full-time Spider-Man now, protecting a city that doesn’t know his name. Holland has spoken about how much that emotional reality drives the story.

“I think what Peter Parker is going through post-Spider-Man: No Way Home is really profound and unique to the superhero genre,” Holland previously said. “The thing I’m most excited about with Brand New Day is I think more so than any of our previous movies, New York is really a key character in the fabric of this movie.”

He’s also described the film as being about “finding their identity and becoming adults” — and for Peter specifically, that means “learning to really find an identity” while dealing with a physical change that threatens his existence and a wave of crime that brings some genuinely dangerous new threats to his doorstep.

A Stacked Cast and Some Very Intriguing Additions

The film brings back Holland, Zendaya, and Batalon, and adds a lineup that reads like a street-level MCU dream team. Michael Mando returns as Scorpion, Marvin Jones III plays Tombstone, and Mark Ruffalo is in as Bruce Banner — with promo art already showing the Hulk alongside Spider-Man, suggesting Banner won’t just be sitting this one out. Tramell Tillman plays Department of Damage Control boss Bill Metzger, setting up what sounds like an institutional antagonist alongside the physical threats.

Jon Bernthal is back as Frank Castle, and the recently released Disney+ short film The Punisher: One Last Kill does important work resetting Frank’s status quo ahead of his appearance here. In that special, Frank wrestles with whether to hang up the skull after completing his revenge mission, ultimately recommitting to being a street-level protector. Bernthal has talked about the challenge of bridging the tonal gap between the two projects. “With Spider-Man, I think what was most important — because, obviously, tonally it’s different and such an honor to be a part of it, especially with my dear friend Tom Holland — it was important to us that one Punisher could walk off one set and walk onto the other,” he said.

And then there’s Sadie Sink, whose role remains officially undisclosed but has become one of the most discussed mysteries in Marvel fandom right now. Many believe she’s playing Jean Grey — a mutant fugitive with telekinetic powers — and there’s a rumor circulating that Bernthal’s Punisher may be acting as her protector in the film, a dynamic that would make a lot of sense given what One Last Kill established about Frank’s instinct to shield people who remind him of his daughter.

The Test Screening Buzz Is Extremely Loud

Cretton confirmed that test screenings have already taken place, and that he was very pleased with how audiences responded. But the reactions going around are something beyond diplomatic studio-speak.

Insider John Campea reported that the responses were “beyond excellent” and better than the studio had hoped for. Scooper MTTSH went further, sharing that people who attended are calling Brand New Day “the greatest Spider-Man movie” yet. Test screening hyperbole is real, and a self-selected audience is not general audiences — but it’s worth pointing out that early test screening reports are often mixed, so uniformly glowing reactions do mean something.

Rumblings are also growing that a full new trailer is imminent, possibly attached to The Mandalorian and Grogu when it opens next weekend. Given that the first Brand New Day trailer broke records for trailer viewership when it dropped in March, the appetite for more footage is clearly not going anywhere.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and written by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers. It opens July 31, 2026.

The post Spider-Man: Brand New Day Teaser Promises Best MCU Action Yet appeared first on Cream.

• VisionQuest, the conclusion of the WandaVision trilogy, premieres October 14 on Disney+
• Paul Bettany returns as Vision alongside James Spader, who reprises his role as Ultron from Age of Ultron
• First footage shown at Disney’s 2026 Upfronts teases Vision wrestling with his humanity — and Ultron taunting him from inside his own mind
• Terry Matalas, showrunner of Star Trek: Picard, is leading the series
• A grown-up Tommy Maximoff, Vision and Wanda’s son, will also appear

James Spader is coming back to the MCU — and he’s not going to be nice about it.

During Disney’s 2026 Upfronts presentation in New York City on Tuesday, Paul Bettany took the stage alongside Robert Downey Jr. and Tom Hiddleston to announce that VisionQuest will premiere on Disney+ on October 14. The series is the long-awaited final chapter of the WandaVision trilogy, and it’s bringing back one of the MCU’s most underused villains: Ultron, voiced once again by James Spader — who also appears in human form this time around.

“VisionQuest is the conclusion of the WandaVision trilogy,” Bettany said on stage. “It’s a deeply personal story about identity, purpose, and what it means to be a human, but with robots and lasers.”

What the First Footage Reveals

A brief teaser was screened for advertisers in the room, and based on The Wrap’s description of the footage, it sets up a fascinating internal journey. For most of the clip, Bettany appears in human form, essentially watching Vision’s memories play out like a movie. This is White Vision — the one who flew off at the end of WandaVision after Scarlet Witch’s Hex gave him his memories back, but not the emotional life behind them.

A line from the preview says it all: “I have his memories, but not his feelings. I have his face, but not his virtue.”

And lurking inside that crowded mind? Ultron. Spader’s voice taunts Vision throughout, and when a young Tommy Maximoff briefly appears in the footage, Ultron sneers: “It’s a boy!”

The implication is wild and very Marvel: Vision has been quietly storing the consciousnesses of various MCU AIs inside his own head — keeping them alive, essentially — but one of them requires serious containment. Bettany teased this dynamic last year, saying, “One of the things that’s fun about that is that we finally get to see what it’s like inside Vision’s mind, and it’s more cluttered than you would think. He’s clearly been saving and copying and pasting [the AIs] to keep them alive inside his head.” He added: “One of them, of course, has to be kept behind a pretty impressive firewall because he’s a psychopath. But [Ultron is] a clever one.”

A Stacked Cast Built Around AI Characters

The full cast list makes the scope of VisionQuest clear. Alongside Bettany and Spader, the series features Ruaridh Mollica as a grown-up Tommy Maximoff (a.k.a. Speed), T’Nia Miller as Jocasta, James D’Arcy returning as J.A.R.V.I.S., Orla Brady as F.R.I.D.A.Y., Emily Hampshire as E.D.I.T.H., Henry Lewis as Dum-E, Jonathan Sayer as U, Todd Stashwick as Paladin, and Faran Tahir as Raza.

Tommy’s appearance is particularly loaded. In WandaVision, he and his twin brother Billy vanished when Wanda brought down the Westview hex. But Agatha All Along revealed that Billy’s soul had slipped into the body of a recently deceased teenager named William Kaplan — and that Billy had managed to find a body for Tommy too. That’s presumably the Tommy we meet in VisionQuest, now grown and, based on the footage, about to come face to face with the android who is, technically, his father.

Running the whole thing is Terry Matalas, the showrunner who revitalized Star Trek: Picard with its acclaimed third season — a strong signal that Marvel is treating this one as a prestige closer, not just a placeholder series.

The End of an Era

WandaVision debuted in January 2021 as the very first Marvel series on Disney+, and it set the bar high — a formally inventive, emotionally rich love story wrapped in TV-era parody. Agatha All Along followed in 2024, spinning off Kathryn Hahn’s scene-stealing villain. VisionQuest now closes the loop on that whole corner of the MCU.

Elizabeth Olsen, who played Wanda Maximoff through WandaVision, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and beyond, has not been announced for the new series. Whether Scarlet Witch makes an appearance — or whether Vision’s journey is meant to stand on its own — remains one of the bigger questions heading into fall.

For now, fans will likely get a proper trailer at San Diego Comic-Con or D23 this summer. But the promise of Spader back in Ultron mode, Vision reckoning with what it means to feel human, and a grown Tommy Maximoff walking into the picture? That’s more than enough to get excited about.

The post VisionQuest Gets October Premiere Date — and James Spader Is Back appeared first on Cream.

• Matt Murdock publicly revealed himself as Daredevil in the Born Again Season 2 finale, trading his anonymity to strip Mayor Fisk of leverage.
• The move leaves him facing a public trial and a prison sentence — and sets up a “Devil in Cell Block D” arc for Season 3.
• Only five MCU heroes still operate behind the protection of a secret identity.
• Spider-Man, Moon Knight, Ms. Marvel, White Tiger, and Scarlet Scarab are the last holdouts in a franchise that has largely gone public.
• Spider-Man: Brand New Day opens July 31, 2026, and will be the first solo film to fully explore Peter Parker’s magically wiped identity.

When Tony Stark walked up to that podium in 2008 and told the world “I am Iron Man,” he didn’t just change his own story — he set the tone for an entire franchise. The MCU has always been a universe where heroes largely operate in the open: press conferences, congressional hearings, government registries. Anonymity was never really the point. But a handful of characters kept holding the line on that classic comic book tradition, and none held it longer or more stubbornly than Matt Murdock.

That changed in the Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 finale. In a climactic courtroom confrontation, Matt (Charlie Cox) stripped off the mask — figuratively speaking — and outed himself as Daredevil, choosing to destroy Mayor Wilson Fisk’s (Vincent D’Onofrio) leverage over him rather than protect his own anonymity. It’s a decision that lands him in a prison cell by the end of the episode, sharing space with the surviving members of the Anti-Vigilante Task Force he spent the season fighting. Season 3 is already in production and filming, with that “Devil in Cell Block D” setup clearly driving where the story goes next.

But Matt’s public outing reshuffles something larger across the MCU. With Daredevil now known to the world, only a small group of heroes still relies on the safety of anonymity. Here’s who’s left — and how secure their secrets really are.

5. Scarlet Scarab (Layla El-Faouly)

Layla El-Faouly (May Calamawy) didn’t exactly plan to become a superhero. Her transformation into the Scarlet Scarab happened in the chaos of Moon Knight‘s final battle, when she channeled the power of the Egyptian goddess Taweret to help Marc Spector (Oscar Isaac) defeat Arthur Harrow (Ethan Hawke). There were civilians present. But in the middle of a supernatural battle, the odds that anyone clocked her face — let alone her name — are pretty slim.

Layla’s background actually works in her favor here. Her history as an archaeological artifact smuggler operating under falsified documents means she already knows how to keep her real identity off any official record. We haven’t seen her or the Scarlet Scarab mantle since Moon Knight wrapped, but her secret appears intact. For now.

4. White Tiger (Angela Del Toro)

One of the most exciting introductions in Born Again Season 2 was Angela Del Toro (Camila Rodriguez), who stepped into the White Tiger mantle after the murder of her uncle Hector Ayala (Kamar de los Reyes) — himself a vigilante whose amulet grants superhuman speed, strength, and agility. Angela assembled a homemade costume from her late uncle’s gear and threw herself into Daredevil’s resistance movement, fighting alongside him through to the final courthouse battle against Fisk’s corrupt Anti-Vigilante Task Force.

She’s a fan-favorite character from the comics, and Born Again is clearly just the beginning of her story. The people closest to the resistance know who she is, but the broader public — and the authorities — don’t. Her identity is still protected, at least for now, though the more active she becomes, the harder that will be to maintain.

3. Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan)

Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) has been juggling high school homework and a secret identity since her Disney+ debut in 2022, and she’s gotten remarkably good at both. Her mutant physiology and cosmic hard-light abilities put her in the Department of Damage Control’s crosshairs almost immediately, which is a big part of why she guards her identity so fiercely. Her family and close friends know — and have her back — but Kamala keeps the wider world in the dark specifically to protect her community from DODC scrutiny.

Even after teaming up with Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) and Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) during The Marvels, she came home committed to preserving her anonymity. Right now she’s working on recruiting other young enhanced individuals, building what looks like the MCU’s next generation of heroes — and doing it quietly, from the shadows. The secret identity isn’t just personal for Kamala. It’s structural to everything she’s building.

2. Moon Knight (Marc Spector)

No one in the MCU has a more complicated relationship with identity than Marc Spector — and that’s before you factor in the divine servitude to an ancient moon god. Marc (Oscar Isaac) and his alternate personality Steven Grant share a body while operating almost entirely off the global intelligence grid, using Khonshu’s magic and Marc’s mercenary skills to carry out their missions. The violent nature of what they do demands absolute secrecy; exposure would mean prosecution from international authorities.

And then there’s the third personality, Jake Lockley — a wrinkle that keeps even Marc and Steven unaware of their own total body count. Moon Knight’s whole existence is built around operating in the shadows, as far from a superhero press conference as you can get. His secret identity isn’t just intact — it’s practically baked into the mythology of the character.

1. Spider-Man (Peter Parker)

Peter Parker (Tom Holland) already lived through the nightmare of a public outing. When Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) broadcast his name to the world at the end of Far From Home, it cost Peter everything — his college prospects, his friends’ safety, his sense of a normal life. The fix was extraordinary: a universe-wide memory spell cast by Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) at the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home that wiped Peter Parker from the mind of every living person on Earth.

It worked. Completely. Peter now operates in genuine isolation — hand-sewing his own suit, monitoring police scanners from a rundown apartment, with no Stark Industries backing and no one who remembers who he is. It’s the most thorough secret identity reset in MCU history, and it cost him everyone he loved.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day, opening July 31, 2026, will be the first solo film to fully explore what that blank slate actually looks like — and whether Peter can build a life from nothing while still being Spider-Man. Interestingly, the film is also expected to feature Frank Castle’s Punisher, and may include the MCU’s first proper look at The Hand, the ninja death cult that looms large in Daredevil lore and could factor heavily into Born Again Season 3.

That’s the thread connecting all of this. Matt Murdock gave up his secret to take down Fisk, and now he’s sitting in a prison cell while the world he protected keeps spinning. Spider-Man gave up everyone he knew just to get his secret back. The cost of anonymity in the MCU has never been clearer — and the few heroes still holding onto it are doing so knowing exactly what’s at stake if they lose it.

The post 5 MCU Heroes Still Keeping Secrets After Daredevil’s Big Reveal appeared first on Cream.

• MCU X-Men writers are prioritizing “character-first storytelling” inspired by Chris Claremont’s legendary comic run
• Marvel’s new Midnight X-Men comic reimagines mutants as blood-hungry monsters — and fans aren’t sure it works
• Upcoming X-Men event series DNX may be setting up a major callback to Grant Morrison’s celebrated New X-Men run
• Beef creator Lee Sung Jin and The Bear’s Joanna Calo are writing the MCU reboot alongside director Jake Schreier
• Midnight X-Men #1 hits shelves August 5, 2026; the MCU film is rumored for a 2028 debut

It’s a big time to be an X-Men fan. Marvel’s mutants are front and center across comics and film right now — and the conversations happening around each project couldn’t be more different. One is full of genuine excitement. One is raising real questions about whether darker always means better. And one might be quietly setting up one of the most ambitious storytelling twists in recent X-Men comics history.

Let’s get into all of it.

The MCU Reboot Has a Clear Vision — and It Sounds Promising

The creative team behind Marvel Studios’ upcoming X-Men film has been talking, and what they’re saying is exactly what longtime fans have been waiting to hear. Director Jake Schreier — who helmed Thunderbolts* — brought in two of his collaborators from that film: Beef creator Lee Sung Jin and The Bear co-showrunner Joanna Calo. And in a recent interview with Men’s Health, Jin opened up about why he couldn’t say no to this one.

“I wasn’t planning on doing another Marvel thing because I do have a lot I want to explore in my personal projects,” he said. “But Jake is one of my best friends, and when he comes calling with X-Men… come on, you drop everything for that.”

Jin’s connection to the franchise runs deep. He grew up watching the animated series every Saturday morning, devoured X-Men ’97 when it arrived, and has a genuine love for Chris Claremont’s foundational comic run — the same run Schreier has cited as a key inspiration. That 1975 era of Uncanny X-Men introduced Storm, Nightcrawler, and Colossus to the world alongside Cyclops and Wolverine, and it remains the gold standard for what X-Men storytelling can be.

“What I’m excited about with Jake’s vision for the X-Men — and [Marvel president Kevin Feige and co-president Lou D’Esposito] are fully aligned with his vision — is that he wants to get back to focusing on the characters first,” Jin said. “These are amazing characters with very rich backstories full of so much emotion. There are so many intra-team dynamics and relationships. There’s soapy stuff. And sure, there are political themes baked into the DNA of X-Men too, and those are evergreen, but we want to get back to character-first storytelling.”

He also gave a rare glimpse into how hands-on the process has been: “We’ve been in the lab every day. It’s me, Joanna Calo, Jake, Kevin, and Lou. We’re in the trenches together and it’s invigorating.”

Feige’s involvement isn’t a surprise — he got his start as an associate producer on the original 2000 X-Men film, and mutants have been his unfinished business ever since. Reports suggest the lineup could mirror X-Men ’97, though there’s also talk of going back to the original “First Class” five. That question — teenage team or established heroes — may not be settled until the script locks in. The film doesn’t have an official release date yet, but shooting is rumored to begin this year ahead of a 2028 debut.

Midnight X-Men Has a Cool Premise With a Real Problem

While the MCU version is leaning into what makes mutants resonate, Marvel’s new comics initiative is doing something very different — and it’s already stirring debate before a single issue has hit shelves.

The Midnight Universe is Marvel’s new dark-reimagining line, positioned as an answer to DC’s Absolute Universe. The tagline: “hope dies in the shadows.” The first book out of the gate is Midnight X-Men, written by Jonathan Hickman — co-creator of Invincible — with art by Matteo Della Fonte. It’s set in a Manhattan where mutant factions and vampires are locked in a brutal territorial war. The cover of issue one shows a vampiric Storm and Nightcrawler mid-battle. The series description says these X-Men “no longer fight for acceptance” — instead, “they hunger for blood.”

As a premise for a What If? story, that’s genuinely interesting. As the flagship title for a new ongoing universe? It raises a harder question.

The X-Men have always worked because mutants are a metaphor — for racial minorities, for queer people, for anyone who’s ever been told they don’t belong. The franchise’s most enduring villains aren’t monsters; they’re politicians, pundits, and fear-mongers. That’s the engine. Turning mutants into literal blood-drinking predators in turf wars with vampires doesn’t just darken the story — it inverts the entire moral framework that makes X-Men meaningful. It arguably validates the worst things the franchise’s human antagonists have always said about mutants.

The comparison to DC’s Absolute Universe is also worth unpacking. What’s made that line work is that the darkness serves to illuminate something heroic underneath — characters stripped of everything still choosing to fight for something. The Midnight Universe, at least as described, doesn’t seem to offer that same counterweight. There’s no light to push against the shadow.

Midnight: X-Men #1 arrives in comic shops on August 5, 2026. It could absolutely surprise people. But right now, the concept is generating more skepticism than hype.

The DNX Event Might Be Hiding a Brilliant Twist

The most quietly fascinating X-Men story developing right now isn’t the darkest or the loudest — it’s the one with the most interesting theory attached to it.

Marvel’s next major X-Men event, DNX, spins directly out of the current X-Men (Vol. 7) run, which has pitted the team against a villainous organization called 3K. The group’s roster includes Cassandra Nova, Astra, Joseph, and Wire — but the big reveal is that the mastermind behind it all is Hank McCoy. The original Beast. A character who turned villainous during the Krakoa era and was presumed dead, now leading a scheme to release a deadly virus with the X-Men and the Fantastic Four standing in his way.

There’s a visual detail that’s caught a lot of attention: Beast’s fur has changed from his iconic blue to white. It’s a striking look — more feral, genuinely unsettling. But it’s also not new. The last time Marvel gave us a white Beast was 22 years ago, in the final arc of Grant Morrison’s legendary New X-Men run. That story, “Here Comes Tomorrow,” introduced a villain named Sublime — not a human, but a bacteriological lifeform that had been evolving on Earth for billions of years. Sublime took control of Beast, turning him into the Beast of Apocalypse and nearly ending the world in its attempt to seize the Phoenix Force.

X-Men editor Tom Brevoort has spoken openly about being a huge fan of Morrison’s run, and the current X-Men series has already pulled heavily from that era — Cassandra Nova being a key example. The white fur, the increasingly extreme behavior, the willingness to cross lines that Hank McCoy once held sacred — it’s all pointing somewhere. If DNX reveals that Beast’s worst actions weren’t entirely his own, that Sublime has been pulling strings again, it would be both a satisfying explanation for a character arc that many fans found hard to accept and a genuine payoff for readers who’ve been tracking these breadcrumbs.

It would also give one of Marvel’s original X-Men a path back — which, given everything the character has been through, feels overdue.

“This is the privilege of a lifetime,” Lee Sung Jin said about writing the MCU reboot. “It’s the coolest IP out there, in my opinion.” Whether you’re watching the comics or waiting for the film, it’s hard to argue with him right now.

The post X-Men Is Everywhere Right Now — Here’s What’s Happening appeared first on Cream.

• Jon Bernthal calls The Punisher: One Last Kill the “most psychologically complex, darkest version” of Frank Castle ever
• The TV-MA rated Disney+ special drops May 12, 2026, directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green
• Bernthal co-wrote the script with real military veterans involved as producers and on-set consultants
• The special bridges the gap between Daredevil: Born Again and Spider-Man: Brand New Day
• Bernthal also appears as a toned-down Punisher in the PG-13 Spider-Man: Brand New Day on July 31

Jon Bernthal isn’t easing back into the skull. When The Punisher: One Last Kill hits Disney+ on May 12, Bernthal says fans are getting the darkest, most psychologically brutal version of Frank Castle that’s ever been put on screen — and he means it.

“It’s the most psychologically complex, darkest version of the Punisher that you’re going to see,” Bernthal told The Kelly Clarkson Show. “I believe it’s what the fans want.”

The TV-MA rated MCU Special Presentation is directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green and picks up the thread left dangling at the end of Daredevil: Born Again Season 1 — specifically that post-credits scene where Frank Castle slipped out of Kingpin’s makeshift prison without freeing anyone, without helping Matt Murdock, and without explanation. One Last Kill is where those answers live.

Veterans at the Core of Frank’s Story

What makes this one feel different isn’t just the rating or the darkness — it’s where Bernthal went to find the soul of it. He co-wrote the script with Green, but the real emotional foundation came from working alongside Nick Koumalatsos, a Marine Raider who wrote a book about his own battle with pain and hopelessness, and who serves as a producer on the project.

“It was such an honour,” Bernthal said. “Cody Alford, a Marine Raider, and Colton Hill, a Green Beret, were on set. They’re badass. They’re more than badass. They’re just beautiful human beings, and they really wanted to do something for the veterans community — especially for these guys, the tip of the spear guys who are really suffering when entering back into the world. And I think that’s very much at the core of a Frank story.”

It’s a grounding that the character has always deserved. Frank Castle’s tragedy has never just been about violence — it’s about a man who was built for war and doesn’t know how to exist outside of it. Wrapping that story around real voices from that world gives One Last Kill a weight that goes beyond comic book spectacle.

The official synopsis keeps it simple: “As Frank Castle searches for meaning beyond revenge, an unexpected force pulls him back into the fight.” But Born Again showrunner Dario Scardapane has offered a fuller picture of what this special actually is in the MCU timeline. “I think this tells the story of what happened next after Punisher [Season 2] and before and during the events of [Born Again] Season 2,” he said — suggesting the special is doing a lot of narrative heavy lifting, tying up loose ends from Frank’s Netflix run while bridging him into his big-screen future.

Two Very Different Punishers, Same Year

Here’s the wild thing about 2026: audiences are going to see two completely different versions of Frank Castle within about two and a half months of each other. The savage, unfiltered one arrives May 12 on Disney+. Then, on July 31, Bernthal shows up in the PG-13 world of Spider-Man: Brand New Day alongside Tom Holland’s Peter Parker — and the tonal gap between those two projects is enormous.

Bernthal addressed that shift head-on. “With Spider-Man, I think what was most important — because, obviously, tonally it’s different, and such an honour to be a part of it, especially with my dear friend Tom Holland — it was important to us that one Punisher could walk off one set and walk onto the other. Tonally, they couldn’t be more different, but I hope we were able to achieve that. It’s very important.”

There’s already a glimpse of what that dynamic looks like — reportedly, Spider-Man webs the Punisher’s mouth shut at some point to stop him from swearing, which tells you everything about the energy of that pairing. It’s a long way from TV-MA brutality, but Bernthal seems genuinely invested in making both versions of Castle feel like the same man.

The path here is worth appreciating. Bernthal first played Frank Castle in Daredevil on Netflix back in 2016, got his own two-season solo series, and was widely considered one of the best castings in the Marvel Netflix era. When he came back for Daredevil: Born Again Season 1 last year, the fan response was electric. Now he’s got a solo special, a co-writing credit, and a summer blockbuster on the way — all in the same calendar year.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=M3ARHSIydqY%3Fsi%3DJGiRlbb4EP2pITzP

Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, Brad Winderbaum, Sana Amanat, Bernthal, and Green all serve as executive producers on One Last Kill, with Trevor Waterson as co-executive producer. The social embargo lifts May 11 at 5pm PT, with reviews going live the following evening.

The Punisher: One Last Kill arrives on Disney+ on May 12.

The post Jon Bernthal Promises Darkest Punisher Yet in One Last Kill appeared first on Cream.

• Alan Cumming confirms Avengers: Doomsday has secret characters disguised under fake names in the script
• The actor, returning as Nightcrawler, says he’s not in the film very much but loved the experience
• Cumming called his X2 experience “shocking” and praised the Russo brothers for the much warmer Doomsday set
• Rebecca Romijn also described a “surreal” day on set with 35 cast members filming together
• A first trailer for Doomsday is rumored for late May or mid-June, with the film hitting theaters December 18

Alan Cumming is back in the blue makeup — and he’s got some things to say. The Scottish actor, returning as Nightcrawler in Avengers: Doomsday after more than two decades away from the role, sat down with Deadline this week and dropped a few revelations that Marvel fans are going to be chewing on for a while. Chief among them: the cast list you’ve seen isn’t the full picture.

“Sometimes there were secret names in it because they didn’t want to let out that this certain character was coming back, so they called them somebody else in the script,” Cumming told Deadline. “It was so confusing.”

That’s a tantalizing detail for a film that already has one of the most stacked ensemble casts in superhero movie history. The confirmed lineup alone reads like a greatest-hits collection — Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom, Anthony Mackie as Captain America, Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards, Patrick Stewart as Professor X, Ian McKellen as Magneto, Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, and on and on. If Marvel was still hiding characters under fake names in the script, whatever’s coming could be genuinely unexpected.

Cumming painted the whole production as controlled chaos. “This film is like superhero soup,” he said. “There’s so many of them in it. I just can’t keep up. Also, they’re really hard scripts to read — superhero films — because it’s all action and then the names… everyone’s got two names.”

A Much Better Set Than Last Time

For Cumming, returning to Nightcrawler at all required getting past some genuinely bad memories. He originated the role in Bryan Singer’s X2 in 2003 — a film that, behind the scenes, was a rougher experience than most fans knew at the time. He declined to reprise the role for X-Men: The Last Stand, citing the grueling hours-long makeup process, but the set environment was clearly a factor too.

“There were things that happened on the [X2] set that were just shocking to me,” he said. “The working environment was very, very wrong and very just unacceptable. And we all have talked about it in various ways over the years.” Cumming didn’t name Singer directly, but the director’s well-documented on-set behavior during the X-Men era has been a matter of public record for years.

Doomsday, by contrast, sounds like it was a genuine pleasure. “Going back to it after all these years was great because I really liked the character,” Cumming said, adding that he was particularly taken with the Russo brothers. “I really liked the brothers who directed it, and everyone was so nice. And we shot it at Pinewood.”

The production wrapped principal photography in September 2025, but Cumming revealed he still has work left to do. “I’ve actually got to do another bit of filming on it” — a small detail that suggests the Russos are still fine-tuning the film’s massive ensemble even now.

As for how much Nightcrawler fans will actually get to see of him? Cumming was refreshingly honest: “I’m not in it very much, but I really had fun and it was a really lovely thing to go back to.” He added, with evident delight: “It’s kind of great being a superhero at 60. It’s not so bad.”

35 People on Set and a Moment No One Will Forget

Cumming isn’t the only returning X-Men cast member reflecting on the experience. Rebecca Romijn, who plays Mystique in Doomsday, spoke to Collider while promoting Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and described a specific day on set that clearly left a mark.

“That was a very surreal day. I’ll never forget it,” she said of a shoot that brought roughly 35 cast members together at once. “There were two days back-to-back where we were all just kind of looking at each other, going, ‘This is crazy.’ It was very surreal.” For Romijn, returning to a character she hadn’t played in 20 years — and doing it alongside both old X-Men castmates and the new generation of MCU heroes — made the whole thing feel almost unreal. “Very surreal and very exciting,” she said.

According to footage screened at CinemaCon last month (but not yet released publicly), Romijn’s Mystique gets at least one memorable scene — squaring off against Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova, apparently shapeshifting into her. It’s exactly the kind of wild cross-franchise collision that makes this movie feel like nothing Marvel has attempted before.

A rumor circulating among fans also suggests that most of the original X-Men didn’t survive the film’s incursion storyline — with Mystique, Nightcrawler, Cyclops, Professor X, Magneto, Beast, Gambit, Wolverine, Deadpool, and one unidentified character among the survivors. Take that with appropriate skepticism, but it does line up with Cumming’s admission that his screen time is limited.

The Russo brothers — back in the MCU for the first time since Avengers: Endgame — are directing from a screenplay by Michael Waldron and Stephen McFeely. A first trailer is reportedly coming before the end of May, or at the latest in mid-June. Avengers: Doomsday opens in theaters December 18.

The post Alan Cumming Reveals Secret Characters in Avengers: Doomsday appeared first on Cream.

• Tatiana Maslany says her She-Hulk future in the MCU is “open-ended” but has one key condition for returning
• Any new story would need to reflect what’s happening in the world today — that’s She-Hulk’s whole power, she says
• Maslany says series creator Jessica Gao would be essential to bringing the character back right
• She joked fans would be “so mad” to see her on their screens again, while rumors about her Marvel status have swirled for months
• No second season or confirmed Avengers appearance is currently on the books

Tatiana Maslany hasn’t suited up as Jennifer Walters since She-Hulk: Attorney at Law wrapped in 2022 — but she’s not closing the door on a return. She just has conditions.

Speaking to Screen Rant while promoting her new Apple TV+ series Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed, the Emmy-winning Orphan Black star laid out exactly what it would take to bring She-Hulk back to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And it’s less about contracts or cameos and more about creative purpose.

“That to me feels very open-ended,” Maslany said of her future as She-Hulk. “I do feel like Jessica Gao would be the person to ask about that because she just has such a grasp on the tone of that show and the story of that character. But I do think whatever it is would have to be talking about what’s happening now. So it would have to be something about the world now because that’s She-Hulk’s power, is seeing what’s happening and sort of calling it out.”

It’s a clear, principled answer — and honestly, it makes a lot of sense for the character. Jennifer Walters wasn’t just a superhero. She was a narrator, a fourth-wall-breaker, a woman using her platform to point at absurdity and name it. A version of that story set against today’s world? There’s no shortage of material.

Why Jessica Gao Is the Key

Maslany has been consistent about this: she doesn’t see herself as the person driving a She-Hulk comeback. That’s Gao’s territory. When she appeared on The Playlist’s Bingeworthy podcast, Maslany expanded on why the character’s singular format makes ensemble appearances tricky.

“I think it would take somebody like Jessica Gao to weave her into that world because she knows that character so deeply and loves her and gets her tone,” she said. “But there is something about She-Hulk being the star of her own show that makes sense. Because of the direct address, she is our narrator. So, I think it would be a real cool challenge to see her in some other context, but I do think the sort of joy of She-Hulk is in the singularness of it.”

That’s a real creative tension. She-Hulk works because Jen talks to us. Drop her into an Avengers ensemble and you lose the whole mechanism that made the show click. It’s not impossible — but it’s not simple either.

When pressed on whether a second season or a move to the big screen felt more likely, Maslany didn’t exactly drum up confidence in either option. “I don’t know. I think people would be so mad at me being on their screens again,” she laughed.

The Messy Months Behind the Jokes

That quip lands differently when you know the backstory. The past year has been a chaotic one for Maslany’s relationship with Marvel — or at least the public perception of it.

In 2024, she told interviewers that a second season of She-Hulk was unlikely, citing budget issues: “I think we blew our budget, and Disney was like, ‘No, thanks.'” Then came her appearance on the Comedy Bang! Bang! podcast, where she went full satirical: “Disney has approached me to play She-Hulk again. Guys, I said no… I was really mad at them for kicking me out of Deadpool & Wolverine. I was just mad… They really wanted me to be in Doomsday, Avengers-style, or whatever. I turned them down. I’m confirming it here.”

Given that this was a comedy podcast, most people took it as a bit — but the internet being the internet, it spread anyway. When Entertainment Tonight asked her to clarify in February, she was delightfully unhelpful: “You’ll never know. I don’t know. Do you know? I don’t know.”

She did get more serious when pushed. “Obviously, there are She-Hulk stories from the ’80s all the way to now, and they continue to be written, so there’s a lot in that character that’s very exciting,” she said. The comics, she pointed out, are still being made. The well isn’t dry.

Things got thornier late last year when Maslany publicly encouraged followers to cancel their Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN subscriptions amid the Jimmy Kimmel controversy. A scooper known as MTTSH subsequently claimed that “Marvel Studios wanted to use She-Hulk in a big way for Avengers: Secret Wars” but that Maslany “has no interest in working for Disney” — and that if she couldn’t be convinced, the options were recasting or removing the character entirely. Marvel has not commented on any of this.

Where Things Stand With the MCU

As of now, Maslany has no confirmed role in Avengers: Doomsday or Avengers: Secret Wars. Fan speculation flared last year when she cancelled a convention appearance around the time Doomsday was filming, but nothing has been confirmed. There’s always the possibility of a surprise — Marvel loves those — but it would be strange for the studio to tease it this openly if something were imminent.

A crossover with Charlie Cox’s Matt Murdock has also been floated, given that Daredevil appeared in She-Hulk before returning in Daredevil: Born Again. Cox himself has left the door open, saying of a potential reciprocal appearance: “It’s an opportunity. It’s a whole different kind of fun with that. And maybe at some point we’ll get to see the favor returned.” But he’s also acknowledged the tonal gap — the Matt Murdock of Born Again is a much more serious creature than the one who did a walk of shame in She-Hulk.

Meanwhile, Marvel is navigating its own priorities. Kevin Feige has been vocal about pulling back on output after the Multiverse Saga’s uneven reception, and the studio is reportedly planning a soft reset post-Secret Wars — carrying over the characters and storylines that resonated most. Whether Jennifer Walters makes that cut is genuinely uncertain.

What is certain: She-Hulk: Attorney at Law was more popular than its reputation suggests. Recent data revealed it was one of Disney+’s more-watched Marvel series with general audiences, even if it divided the hardcore fandom. Maslany was genuinely great in it. And a She-Hulk story built around the chaos of the present moment — the kind of pointed, funny, self-aware storytelling the character was made for — sounds like exactly the kind of show that could work.

The question is whether Marvel agrees. And whether Maslany and the studio can get on the same page long enough to make it happen.

The post Tatiana Maslany’s Condition for Returning as She-Hulk appeared first on Cream.

• Charlie Cox hinted Daredevil could cross over into Spider-Man: Brand New Day, saying it’s now “on the table”
• The Born Again Season 2 finale ends with Matt Murdock in prison — right as Brand New Day’s trailer shows Spider-Man fighting The Hand inside a prison
• Insider Alex Perez claims Daredevil is not in Brand New Day, and the prison breakout is for a different character
• Jon Bernthal’s Punisher is confirmed for the film, maintaining a strong Daredevil-to-Spider-Man thread
• Spider-Man: Brand New Day hits theaters July 31, directed by Destin Daniel Cretton

Charlie Cox isn’t saying yes. He’s not saying no. And honestly, that’s more than enough to send Marvel fans into a spiral.

With Spider-Man: Brand New Day arriving July 31 and the Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 finale still fresh, Cox opened up to The Wrap about the possibility of Matt Murdock showing up in Tom Holland’s fourth Spider-Man adventure — and his answer was carefully, tantalizingly vague.

“I mean, I went on Jimmy Kimmel last week, the second half of the interview is him trying to get out of me whether I’m in Spider-Man,” Cox said, laughing off the scrutiny. He acknowledged that back in the Netflix days, these kinds of crossovers were essentially off the table from a business standpoint. But things have changed. “Now that we are — having made these kind of mini-splashes with me in Spider-Man: No Way Home, Vincent in Hawkeye and Echo, it’s on the table, it’s on the cards. It’s possible, it’s available, and Jon [Bernthal] now going into Spider-Man: Brand New Day as well.”

He went further: “It’d be so cool to kind of have some kind of crossover with all of the Avengers, with Spider-Man as Daredevil, rather than as Matt Murdock — all of that kind of stuff.”

Fans heard every word of it.

The Born Again Finale Just Made Things Way More Interesting

The timing of Cox’s comments couldn’t be more loaded. The Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 finale dropped Matt Murdock into an orange jumpsuit and a prison cell after he publicly outed himself as Daredevil to take down Kingpin and save Karen. Wilson Fisk, meanwhile, is forced to step down as Mayor of New York and leave the country — with his Chief of Staff Sheila Rivera (Zabryna Guevara) stepping into the role, a character who also appears in the Brand New Day trailer handing Spider-Man the keys to the city.

The dominoes are clearly falling between these two corners of the MCU. And then there’s the trailer.

The first Spider-Man: Brand New Day trailer shows Peter Parker fighting ninjas from The Hand — inside a prison. The Hand, for those keeping score, are classic Daredevil villains who featured heavily in Born Again‘s second season. Put a freshly imprisoned Matt Murdock together with a prison full of Hand assassins and Spider-Man swinging in, and you’ve got a crossover moment practically writing itself.

“Many moons ago, I would’ve believed that Daredevil wasn’t actually in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. But no. He’s absolutely in it. There’s physically no world where they don’t overlap,” one fan wrote on X. “It’s literally The Hand in a prison.”

But an Insider Is Pumping the Brakes

Here’s where it gets complicated. The Cosmic Circus’ Alex Perez, who has a track record with Marvel scoops, posted on X urging fans to dial back their expectations. “I’m going to need everyone to place their expectations close to [zero] for anyone expecting Peter to break Matt out of prison in Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” Perez wrote. “This breakout’s for another character [and] Matt’s still in prison when Daredevil: Born Again Season 3 starts.”

He then added a sharper detail: Daredevil “is not even in that prison to begin with.”

That’s a pretty definitive claim — and it tracks with what Cox himself said earlier this year. On the Happy Sad Confused podcast, he confirmed he wasn’t in the film and doubled down: “Marvel have been clear with me for now, at least, that I’m focusing on the show, that’s our focus. That really is the truth.” He was also deep in production on Born Again Season 2 while Brand New Day was shooting, which is part of why Bernthal was absent from the Daredevil series this time around.

Of course, this being Marvel, “that really is the truth” and a surprise cameo are not mutually exclusive concepts.

The Punisher Is the Real Bridge — For Now

Whatever happens with Daredevil, the confirmed Daredevil-to-Spider-Man pipeline runs directly through Jon Bernthal’s Frank Castle. The Punisher is officially part of Brand New Day‘s cast, and the trailer shows Spider-Man addressing him as “Frank” — implying a familiarity between the two that the film will presumably explain. It raises an interesting question about what exactly Peter Parker was doing during Fisk’s anti-vigilante mayoral campaign, and whether Frank was part of that story off-screen.

The full cast for Brand New Day, directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and written by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers, also includes Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Tramell Tillman, Michael Mando, and Mark Ruffalo. The film picks up four years after No Way Home, with Peter now living alone in a New York that no longer remembers his name — and dealing with what the studio describes as “an unexpected physical change” and a dangerous new wave of crime.

As for Daredevil’s future beyond this film, Born Again Season 3 is already in production, with Cox currently on set. The season is tracking for a March 2027 release, and Cox teased that it draws from a beloved comic run. “There is an excellent Daredevil run in the comics that this season, at least at the beginning, pays homage to,” he said. “When I knew about that, I was very excited, because it’s a very, very cool storyline.”

Matt Murdock may not be breaking out of prison in Brand New Day. But something tells us the Man Without Fear isn’t staying in that cell forever.

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