Why I’m Glad The MCU Is Giving Tombstone The Spotlight In The New Spider-Man Movie

Many Spider-Man villains have been brought to live-action since the Web-Slinger’s film series began in 2002, and we’ll get to add two more to the list come this summer on the 2026 movies schedule. In addition to Michael Mando’s Mac Gargan, who we met in Spider-Man: Homecoming, finally becoming The Scorpion, Marvin Jones III, a.k.a. Krondon, will also play Lonnie Lincoln, a.k.a. Tombstone, in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. I’m especially excited to see the upcoming Marvel movie point the spotlight on Tombstone, one of the underrated members of Spider-Man’s rogues gallery, for the following reasons.

I’m A Big Fan Of Jones’ Last Comic Book Villain Outing

From 2018 to 2021, Marvin Jones III played Tobias Whale, another Black supervillain with albinism, on the DC TV series Black Lightning, which can be streamed with a Netflix subscription. Jones’ portrayal of the electric superhero’s arch-nemesis was one of the reasons I stuck with the show for the entirety of its run. While the character was certainly no one you wanted to mess around with in a physical fight, thanks to the super strength he gained from an anti-aging serum, it was his brain that shone far beyond his brawn. Tobias was a ruthless mastermind who would threaten, manipulate, and/or kill anyone in order to achieve his selfish goals, and he did it all in style and witty one-liners.

Now, I should note that Spider-Man: Brand New Day will be Jones’ second time playing Tombstone, as he previously voiced the character in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. However, there Tombstone was merely a Kingpin henchman who didn’t get a whole lot to do. Brand New Day will be a much better platform for Marvin Jones III to play the character. If he can bring Lonnie Lincoln to life with the same flair he did playing Tobias Whale on Black Lightning, I’ll be pleased.

I’ve Been Waiting To See Spider-Man Tangle With A Crime Boss

From Green Goblin to Mysterio, we’ve seen the various cinematic Spider-Men battle a wide variety of foes, a handful of whom even returned in Spider-Man: No Way Home. But one thing we’ve never seen Spider-Man do on the big screen in live-action is fight one of his villains who’s more closely associated with organized crime. My first preference would have been to see Spidey trade blows with Kingpin, as he did in the animated Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Still, it sounds like there are too many rights complications to bring Vincent D’Onofrio’s Daredevil: Born Again incarnation into a live-action Spider-Man movie.

Tombstone is a great second choice, though. This guy has his hands in all kinds of corners of the underworld, and Spider-Man: Brand New Day could still conceivably tie Kingpin into the story by mentioning how Lonnie Lincoln used to be one of his hitmen, just like in the comics. And just like Kingpin, while he may prefer to lead his army of criminals do his dirty work, he’s not afraid to jump into the fray if necessary.

Tombstone Is Even More Frightening With Powers

When Tombstone was introduced in the comics, he was just a normal man in almost-perfect human shape. However, after being exposed to a mutagenic gas at OsCorp, his strength, durability, stamina and reflexes were enhanced to superhuman levels. He’s also filed his teeth so that they’re razor sharp. Be glad you never have to run into him down a dark alley.

I don’t know how much screen time Marvin Jones III’s Tombstone will get in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and I know that he’ll ultimately play second fiddle to Scorpion. Regardless, I hope this version of the character retains his superpowers. Sure, the movie could just get away with him firing a gun at Spidey, but I want to see him go mano a mano with the Wall-Crawler and land a punch or several that will actually hurt the superhero rather than just shrug off. This will also make him more useful to Scorpion if they’re allied together, assuming Tombstone doesn’t get gunned down by Jon Bernthal’s Punisher first.

This Will Be The More Traditional Tombstone For The MCU

Last year, Marvel fans with a Disney+ subscription were able to watch Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, an animated series set in an alternate MCU timeline where Peter Parker was mentored by Norman Osborn instead of Tony Stark. As Peter was upping his superhero game, we also saw his high school classmate Lonnie Lincoln, go from star football player on an academic path of excellence to being forced to join the 110th Street Gang. By the end of Season 1, not only had Lonnie become the leader of the gang and been invited into the Worldwide Engineering Brigade, but he’d also gained powers after being exposed to the Diox-3 gas.

As much as I like this version of Lonnie and look forward to seeing what happens to him in Season 2, I like that Spider-Man: Brand New Day is giving us a more traditional Tombstone. Aside from this Tombstone being older than Peter, he also naturally has albinism, whereas with Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, Lonnie’s skin is slowly turning chalk white because it’s slowly becoming more durable as an effect from the gas. It’s great that there’s room for both of these interpretations, but I’m especially glad that the movie Tombstone will be the more faithful version.

Along with Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, Tombstone has previously been depicted in Spider-Man: The Animated Series, The Spectacular Spider-Man, the 2018 Spider-Man video game and its 2023 sequel. Now more people than ever will get to meet him when Spider-Man: Brand New Day swings into theaters on July 31, and it’s about time. I’m psyched to see how Marvel Jones III portrays the character, and hopefully, we’ll get a peek at him whenever the first trailer is released.