Mac Gargan returns to a Spider-Man film for the first time in nearly a decade, and Marvel Studios may not be showing fans everything. Michael Mando returns to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Spider-Man: New Day as the fully formed Scorpion, complete with his iconic mechanical tail, marking his first appearance since 2017's Spider-Man: Homecoming. Some (rightly) fear the villain will only play a minor role in the film, but these fears may be overblown.
The second trailer for Spider-Man: New Day gets straight to the action. The video opens with Peter Parker (Tom Holland) and Mac Gargan trading blows, seemingly a continuation of the nighttime brawl shown in the first trailer.
Mac, fully dressed in his Scorpion costume, sets the tone with a line that feels straight out of the comics: «"Did you miss me, Spider-Man?"»
Scorpion appears to catch Spider-Man off guard, delivering a vicious blow with his mechanical tail, before the camera cuts to a close-up of its presumably venom-filled tip, hovering inches from Spider-Man's face. For a moment, it appears Mac has the advantage.
However, this doesn't last long. In the trailer, the dynamic quickly shifts: Peter grabs Mac by the tail, throws him to the ground, and then forcefully throws him head-first into an NYPD car.
The suddenness of this turn of events is explained by the context provided by the trailer. Spider-Man's eyes have turned completely black, a visual cue to the physical metamorphosis Peter undergoes throughout the film, and it seems this transformation explains why he dispatches Scorpion so quickly in the trailer.
It's worth noting that the first trailer, released in March, showed the same fight from a different angle. However, it didn't reveal who won.
For those who need a quick refresher, the feud began back in Spider-Man: Homecoming. During a memorable fight on the Staten Island ferry, Gargan suffered serious physical injuries at the hands of Spider-Man, including a noticeable scar on his face, and was ultimately arrested. He's clearly held a grudge against Peter ever since.
Oddly enough, despite a post-credits tie-in in Spider-Man: Homecoming, Mack never appeared in Spider-Man: Far From Home or No Way Home. Now, in a film full of villains, he's the only one with a personal history with Spider-Man, aside from Peter's (now vague) history with the Department of Damage Control (DODC).
Some fans quickly reacted online, expressing concern that Scorpion would only appear in this single scene in the entire film. There's another detail worth noting: Screen X's version of the second trailer removed Scorpion's scene entirely, replacing it with a scene of Spider-Man fighting ninjas from the organization "The Hand.".
The marketing campaign certainly suggests fans have legitimate concerns, but that's almost certainly not the full picture.
In set photos taken in October 2025, Michael Mando was wearing the same crisp white prison uniform that Mack wore in the post-credits scene of Spider-Man: Homecoming. Remarkably, Holland was also on set that day.
This should mean that the film includes a prison break scene that precedes the Scorpion fight shown in the trailer, and later explains how exactly Mack ends up in his full battle suit.
The idea of Mack breaking free, donning the suit, fighting Spider-Man once, losing, and then ending his entire storyline feels far-fetched for a character Marvel Studios has ignored for nearly a decade.
Could the prison escape scene be cut before the film's release? Technically, yes. But that would be an odd decision, and there's nothing to suggest it at this point, especially given the film's reported running time of 2 hours and 30 minutes.
Currently, the main storyline of Brand New Day appears to be Peter's DNA mutation and the Department of Defense's search for a mysterious mind-controlling threat terrorizing New York City. Mack appears to be operating outside of this storyline, driven by his past in Spider-Man: Homecoming.
Scorpion isn't exactly the most hidden villain in the trailers. Marvin Jones III's Tombstone hasn't appeared in any trailers yet, despite being confirmed, but he could be the missing link in how Mack gets his new suit.
How Scorpion Fits into Brand New Day
One theory about how Scorpion comes into conflict with Spider-Man involves Tombstone. As a street crime boss in the film, Tombstone may well have had every reason to want Spider-Man dead.
Considering Peter has been actively patrolling New York City for the past four years since the events of No Way Home, it makes sense that a criminal like Lonnie Lincoln would orchestrate Gargan's prison break and possibly provide him with the Scorpion armor to take down their common enemy.
Another theory is that Scorpion isn't the main antagonist, but a dangerous character who appears late in the film. The idea is that after his defeat in that early battle, Gargan waits and nurses his wounds in the shadows. Later in the film, a battered Peter (after battles with characters like the Hand and the Hulk) is ambushed and injected with the full dose of the tail's venom.
This could significantly weaken the hero, and Peter may have to rely on new allies like Jon Bernthal's Punisher to get to a certain New York City nurse.
There's also a small chance that Mack's suit is somehow connected to Adrian Toomes' (Michael Keaton) old operation, possibly now linked to Tombstone, as its design resembles the alien technology used in that film to create weapons for villains like the Vulture and Shocker.