Did Spider-Man: Brand New Day Just Secretly Introduce Another Major Webslinging Hero?

After five years of waiting, Marvel fans finally got the next chapter of Tom Holland as the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man with the release of Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Ahead of the film’s debut, the movie had already positioned itself to be an MCU movie with a HUGE cast and a slew of major characters. Not only do some classic Spider-Man villains finally get to appear on the big screen for the first time, but characters like Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk, Jon Bernthal’s Punisher, and more also appear. Plus, Sadie Sink’s big surprise character officially made her debut in the MCU.

A major topic of conversation around the film and Tom Holland’s future as the character is what the potential for a character like Miles Morales joining him on the big screen could look like. Holland has been adamant that there’s a plan in place for this, with Kevin Feige noting that Morales won’t join the MCU until the animated Spider-Verse movies are completed. But another major Marvel character may have secretly snuck in to the movie as well, and it wouldn’t be the first time that the MCU Spider-Man had alluded to a hero in this way. So the question has to be asked: Did Marvel just bring Silk to the MCU?

Spider-Man: Brand New Day May Have Introduced Silk

Marvel fans are no stranger to major allusions being made in the MCU Spider-Man movies, such as Donald Glover’s Aaron Davis making reference to his unnamed nephew in Spider-Man: Homecoming. In Spider-Man: Brand New Day, a nearly identical tease occurs, and it’s not the first time. As Peter Parker enters Bruce Banner’s physics class at Empire State University, where the kids are more interested in Avengers stories than learning, one student gets called out by name by Banner: “Cindy.”

That name should ring major bells for Marvel comic readers, but also diehard MCU fans who have been paying major attention to the MCU Spider-Man movies. The “Cindy” in question is played by actress Tiffany Espensen, who has played this recurring role in multiple MCU movies. Since her debut in Spider-Man: Homecoming, fans have theorized that her character is another major hero in Marvel lore, Cindy Moon.

Created by Dan Slott and Humberto Ramos, Cindy Moon is actually the Marvel superhero Silk, retconned in 2014’s Amazing Spider-Man #1 as having also been bitten by the radioactive spider that gave Peter Parker his powers. It’s worth noting that the MCU Spider-Man has never revealed the full picture of how this version got his abilities, but we can surmise it was somewhat similar, leaving room for Cindy (now in her third MCU movie) to perhaps be doing some webslinging of her own.

Is the MCU Planning for More Webslingers?

Between Cindy’s recurring part in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the insistence by Feige and Holland that there’s a plan in place for bringing Miles Morales into the MCU, it sure seems like Marvel is planning for more webslingers on the big screen. There’s a big question with this, though: When?

The animated Spider-Man movies have not only proven that you can have a cast all with the exact same power set and no one will bat an eye, with Spider-Man: No Way Home making it crystal clear that audiences like seeing multiple Spider-Men all in the same scene together. To that end, maybe these continued teases of Cindy Moon in the MCU are being built toward something.

The reveal of Cindy Moon in her first issue was, of course, a major change to Marvel lore, but one that also revealed a story had been happening in the margins of Peter Parker’s own adventures. By the time Peter learns of Cindy in the comics, she’s had powers for over a decade, just like him, something the movies could mirror. To that end, it’s possible that this Cindy Moon has powers of her own, but simply hasn’t engaged with them in the same way as Peter.

Maybe Marvel is teeing up a storyline that can introduce not just one webslinger alongside Holland’s hero, but two. A film where Peter Parker not only has two potential proteges in Miles Morales and Cindy Moon would not only make the MCU’s version of this story be able to differentiate itself from the animated movies, but also show three different perspectives about having the same powers on the big screen. Time will tell where the MCU and its plans for Spider-Man are headed next, but you can’t keep putting other webslingers in your movie before fans start to wonder when they get to suit up.