Amazon Prime VideoThere’s a lot of freedom with a multiverse. As proven by multiple franchises, introducing parallel worlds is a great way to excuse different remakes, like the appearance of the Fox X-Men in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or to show multiple versions of the same character, as Peacemaker did in Season 2. In Sony’s Spider-Verse, these two techniques are both being used in different ways, resulting in a key villain appearing in Spider-Noir, a series premiering in May, and Spider-Man: Brand New Day, a movie premiering in July.Spider-Noir, the live-action series starring Nicolas Cage as hard-boiled private eye Ben Reilly, recently released a first look at its villains: Silvermane (Brendan Gleeson), Sandman (Jack Huston), Tombstone (Abraham Popoola), and Megawatt (Andrew Lewis Caldwell).
Some of these are incredibly deep cuts: Megawatt only appeared in a single Spider-Man comic, Spider-Man Unlimited Vol. 1 #2, published in 1993. But while that character is brand-new to adaptations, another one is very familiar. Tombstone has become a key henchman in the Spider-Verse animated movies, and the voice actor, Marvin Jones III, will reprise the role in live action in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, the next MCU Spider-Man movie.
But in Spider-Noir, Tombstone will look a little different, played by British actor Abraham Popoola. Of course, this isn’t a canon issue, because Spider-Noir is set in a completely separate universe as the MCU, but it is a curious appearance only a few months before another live-action debut. The biggest issue is probably the fact that while Tombstone is usually depicted with albinism and Jones himself does have albinism, Popoola does not.
According to Spider-Noir co-showrunner Oren Uziel, this decision came down to practicalities. Spider-Noir is taking the interesting route of releasing two different versions concurrently, one is “Authentic Black and White” and another in “True-Hue Full Color.” With two different aesthetics to worry about, character decisions like this become clear. “Black and white is interesting,” Uziel told IGN.
“And certain things show up differently and present certain challenges. And I think [we] ruled that out before we even got too far down the road with talking about that.”Spider-Noir’s version of Tombstone looks different from the one in the comics, Into the Spider-Verse, and Brand New Day. | Amazon Prime VideoIt’s definitely a different take on this character, but that’s the advantage of a series like this. Characters don’t have to look like they stepped out of a comic book; in fact, having them look like they stepped out of a 1930s noir film is far preferable.
This may mean an adaptation that isn’t exactly faithful, but the whole point is to show a different perspective. It’s unlikely that this version of Tombstone will change the way Brand New Day’s Tombstone is viewed, but repeating the two villains could mean that we’ll see him play a bigger role in Brand New Day than we expected, with his Spider-Noir counterpart serving as a reminder of his role. If Electro — a much more well-known electricity-using villain — is being replaced with Megawatt, then surely there’s a reason Tombstone is being kept the same. Spider-Noir premieres May 27 on Amazon Prime Video.