The new trailer for Marvel Zombies shows that Spider-Man 4, also known as Spider-Man: Brand New Day, can embrace a darker tone without losing any fans.
A shot in the new trailer for Marvel Zombies, where Spider-Man rips the heads off a bunch of undead zombies, has the internet talking. It’s a cool moment, without a doubt, and has MCU devotees excited to check out the show, but there are also all kinds of implications. Spider-Man can just do that. It’s fine because they’re zombies and all, but he’s really that powerful. And, as we all know, with great power comes great responsibility.
It’ll be fun to see how Marvel Zombies explores that side of Spider-Man, but what about the rest of the MCU? Should Spider-Man: Brand New Day embrace that same kind of tone? Peter Parker probably won’t be ripping the head off Jon Bernthal’s Punisher/Frank Castle or anything, admittedly. But it’s a fun sandbox to play in, and there’s a lot to explore there.
Tom Holland is poised for a dark arc in Spider-Man 4
While official plot details for Spider-Man 4 remain under wraps at this time, the ending of Spider-Man: No Way Home does set Peter Parker’s next MCU entry up to have a darker tone. His friends have no idea who he is, Aunt May has died, and he’s alone in the world. All the power that he possesses could potentially go unchecked.
On top of that, let’s not forget about all the Venom rumors that are going around. The most popular theories suggest that Brand New Day will begin to lay the groundwork for Spidey to get his iconic black suit in either Avengers: Doomsday or Avengers: Secret Wars. Thus, Marvel has the opportunity to really play into Spider-Man’s darkness in some upcoming projects.
Marvel Zombies shows that a more mature Spider-Man can work
The Marvel Zombies Spider-Man clip that’s quickly gone viral is exciting because it’s proving to be something that fans want to see from Peter Parker. Granted, Marvel Zombies is not set in the same universe as the rest of the MCU, and Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man’s Hudson Thames is voicing the character in the show rather than Tom Holland. But play in this space for a minute.
Marvel Studios has talked about Brand New Day possibly being the start of a new trilogy of Spider-Man movies. A trilogy that, again, will presumably involve the black Venom suit. A story arc where Peter ages and has to battle with some of the things that naturally arise as he gets older and matures? Maybe it ends with him making an Avengers: Endgame/Tony Stark-like sacrifice while passing the Spider-Man mantle off to Miles Morales? Sounds pretty cool, doesn’t it?
Of course, we’ll understand better how Marvel Zombies handles the Spider-Man character when the show arrives later this month. If it does give us a more mature Spider-Man, though, then that’s not something the MCU should be afraid to embrace, either.
