Keith David has an incredibly distinctive voice, whether he’s tearing it up as Spawn, leading an all-out gang war in Saints Row, or backing Commander Shepard in their conquest against the Reapers — it’s no wonder that people immediately recognized it was him narrating the Spider-Man: Brand New Day trailer. The question is, who is he playing?
First, let’s look at what he says: “Spiders have three lifecycles. When between cycles, it can leave the spider vulnerable to threats. And for those spiders who make it through, it amounts to a kind of… rebirth.”
My immediate thought, and something I saw on X soon after, was that he could be playing Ezekiel Sims, who was introduced during the Spider Totem arc in the early ’00s. Given that the trailer appears to be lifting from this storyline already, what with Peter Parker entering a cocoon, and with rumors that Sadie Sink could be playing Shathra (though it looks more likely to be Jean Grey), it would make sense to introduce a mentor figure who can guide Peter Parker through the mythological side of his powers.
Ezekiel underwent a ritual to acquire the powers of the Spider-Totem, similar to Spider-Man’s.
However, Ezekiel just appeared in the Madame Web movie as part of the now-dead Sony Universe of Marvel Characters (i.e. SUMC), so it’s hard to imagine recasting and repurposing someone from such a controversial film so soon.
Another theory put forward is that Keith David could be playing The Lizard — after all, it would fit nicely with the Jekyll & Hyde theme of Brand New Day, what with Spider-Man becoming more spider than man, and Bruce Banner, a character inspired by that very same story, making an appearance. With that being said, the Lizard just appeared in No Way Home, though it’s possible that Keith David could be playing Curt Connors, a professor at the ESU alongside Banner, pre-Lizard, similar to how the character appeared in the original Sam Raimi films.
Jackal Has A History With Punisher, Scorpion, And Tarantula
Then there’s the Miles Warren theory, AKA the Jackal, another professor at ESU who studied genetics under the High Evolutionary (yes, the Guardians of the Galaxy 3 villain), which might explain Keith David’s speech about spider lifecycles. But what’s especially interesting is that the Jackal manipulated the Punisher into attacking Spider-Man, sprung Tarantula from prison, and later sent Scorpion to kill the wallcrawler, all of whom are in this movie. One fan even spotted a keg with the label “green jackal,” a fictional beer that might be alluding to our favourite clone-happy biochemist.
Some, however, argue that Keith David could be dubbing over Tombstone, but considering they brought back Korndon — who voiced him in the Spider-Verse film — that seems unlikely.
A few have also floated the idea that he could be playing Robbie Robertson, J. Jonah Jameson’s right-hand man in the Daily Bugle, and while it would be great to see that side of Spider-Man’s life fleshed out more in the MCU, I’m not sure that there’s anything to support this theory just yet, and the speech he gives in his narration feels far more befitting of an ESU professor, a la Curt Connors and Miles Warren, than a journalist.
Jackal certainly seems the most compelling of these theories, given that Ezekiel has already appeared in Madame Web, and the Lizard in No Way Home; not to mention that he would serve as the perfect connective tissue between some of the film’s villains. Though it’s unclear where the Hand fits in, or Jean Grey (if that really is who Sadie Sink is playing). There are a lot of moving parts, to say the least, and that’s before you throw Keith David into the mix — let’s just hope things land better than Spider-Man 3, eh?
- Release Date
-
July 31, 2026
- Director
-
Destin Daniel Cretton
- Writers
-
Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Steve Ditko, Stan Lee
-
Tom Holland
Spider-Man / Peter Parker
-
-
-
Mark Ruffalo
Bruce Banner / Hulk
