It’s taken us nearly a decade to get here, but Marvel has finally revealed a first official look at Michael Mando’s iconic comics villain Scorpion – AKA Mac Gargan – in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Gargan’s transformation into Scorpion was set up way back in 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming, but he then skipped both MCU Spider-Man sequels as Peter battled other villains. Finally, his time has come, and Marvel fans get a chance to see the villain introduced way back in 1965 in live-action for the first time.
The first look was revealed in a new clip released as part of Sony and Marvel’s day-long drip-feed marketing campaign leading up to the release of the full Brand New Day trailer. It’s been a strange campaign, but there’s no denying the attention it’s commanded, and it’s probably up there with the Avengers: Doomsday chairs for successful stunt marketing. The brief look at Scorpion shows him unmasked and fighting Spider-Man on the streets of New York, in what is impressively advanced armor. Whether it’s another Stark Tech-derived suit remains to be confirmed, but it at least has that aesthetic. Here’s the clip:
The MCU Has Taken A Decade To Give Us Scorpion
Gargan’s transformation into Scorpion was set up way back in 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming, when Mando was introduced as one of Vulture’s customers. He ended up in prison and vowed revenge on Spidey, only to then completely disappear, presumably choosing to quietly complete his sentence before getting the major tech upgrade he’d asked Michael Keaton’s Toomes for. His part in Brand New Day came as something of a surprise, given the number of characters involved, but that old vow of vengeance is a good way to tie Spidey’s story now back to his pre-No Way Home days.
The costume looks aesthetically adjacent to Green Goblin’s metal suit from the Raimi movies, with the same sort of military armor vibe. The tail is far bigger than the previously leaked concept art made it look, too, and though this is only a brief look, it at least avoids any of the Rhino goofiness we got in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, even with a similar approach to explaining away the animal element of the villain’s original design.
Hopefully, Gargan isn’t only used as part of an opening montage that takes us through Spider-Man’s crime-fighting escapades to establish what he’s been up to recently. We’ve seen that before in the MCU (Baron Strucker most notably) and it would be a disservice to Gargan as a character and Mando as a – so far – completely underused actor. Still, some difficult decisions are going to have to be made to balance all of the story elements, so it’s not out of the realm of possibility.
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