New York City is about to get a new crime boss.
Deadline is reporting that the upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe movie Spider-Man: Brand New Day has cast Marvin Jones III as the Marvel Comics villain Tombstone. Destin Daniel Cretton will direct the film from a screenplay by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers, with Amy Pascal and Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige producing.
Jones will join returning Spider-Man actors Tom Holland as Spider-Man/Peter Parker, Zendaya as Michelle "MJ" Jones-Watson, Jacob Batalon as Ned Leeds, and Michael Mando as The Scorpion/Mac Gargan. In addition, the movie will feature Jon Bernthal reprising his role of The Punisher/Frank Castle, Mark Ruffalo reprising his role as The Hulk/Bruce Banner, Sadie Sink, Liza Colón-Zayas, and Tramell Tillman.
Jones, 49, is an albinistic actor and rapper who previously voiced Tombstone in the 2018 animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and will return for the sequel Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse. In addition, he portrayed DC Comics villain Tobias Whale on the CW TV series Black Lightning and has appeared in episodes of The Equalizer (2024), Halo, and Harry's Law.
Created in 1988 by Gerry Conway and Alex Saviuk, Tombstone first appeared in Web of Spider-Man (vol.1) #36 as Alonzo "Lonnie" Lincoln, a troubled youth who was bullied by his peers because he was the neighborhood's only African-American albino. Taller and stronger than the other children, the young Lincoln started his life of crime in school, extorting protection money from his classmates. The school newspaper, edited by Joseph "Robbie" Robertson, was going to run a story exposing these illegal activities, but pulled it when Lincoln used scare tactics to intimidate Robertson. Lincoln allowed his personal demons to direct the course of his life and dropped out to join the ranks of organized crime.
As a hitman and enforcer, he used his albinism to his advantage. He filed his teeth and nails to points, giving him the appearance of a vampire. This frequently caught his opponents off-guard, making it easier to kill them. He also lifted weights and engaged in many street fights to hone his fighting skills. One night, Robertson, now working for a local paper, went to meet a source only to see the source being killed by Lincoln. He threatened to kill Robertson if the story was brought out. Robertson kept the secret for over 20 years, allowing Lincoln to continue his rise through the criminal underworld.
Now known as "Tombstone" for the many lives he had taken, he returned to New York City as the Kingpin's top hitman. Tombstone eventually returned to Robertson's neighborhood, where the reporter finally worked up the nerve to challenge him. He revealed the decades-old murder to the police, resulting in Tombstone's arrest, but not before Tombstone confronted and seriously injured Robertson, nearly permanently damaging his spine. Tombstone then encountered Spider-Man in Atlanta, but Tombstone was defeated and sent to the Philadelphia State Penitentiary.
During the recent "Gang War" storyline, Tombstone was shot by Shotgun while attending the wedding of his daughter, Janice Lincoln, and Randy Robertson. This triggered the eponymous war as New York City's crime lords battled for his territory. Tombstone formed a truce with Spider-Man and She-Hulk to deal with the gang war. After freeing Shotgun from Madame Masque's control, Tombstone had his gang and the Sinister Syndicate retreat during the final fight between Spider-Man's allies and the Maggia. Back at their base, Tombstone proclaimed to White Rabbit that they were the only gang that now reigned all over New York City, and to convince the other gangsters that he wasn't to be messed with, he planned to publicly kill Spider-Man.
To get to Spider-Man, Tombstone planned to first kill Parker in order to lure the hero out. He pulled up beside Peter and Randy, ordering the former to get inside his limo. Tombstone announced his plan to Peter and went to attack him, only for Parker to dodge most of his strikes. Their skirmish was eventually interrupted by the arrival of She-Hulk and Mayor Luke Cage, having been called by Randy under Peter's instructions. Peter quickly changed into Spider-Man and together with the other two vigilantes knocked Tombstone out to allow the police to arrest him. As Tombstone was accused for attempted murder, he pled not guilty as his trial, but then his daughter arrived to testify against him.
Jones will be the first actor to portray Tombstone in live-action, although the character has also appeared in the animated projects Spider-Man: The Animated Series (voiced by Dorian Harewood), The Spectacular Spider-Man (voiced by Keith David and Kevin Michael Richardson), and Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (voiced by Eugene Byrd).
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is currently scheduled to arrive in theaters on July 21, 2026.
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