Keith David's Spider-Man: Brand New Day Role Explained - Is He The Jackal?
by Jeremy Mathai · /FilmWith great spoilers come great responsibility. This article discusses major plot details from "Spider-Man: Brand New Day."
When it comes to Spider-Man, there are a few truths we must universally acknowledge: He's quippy, he's smart, and he never, ever takes off that mask if he can help it. Needless to say, the same doesn't quite apply to the rest of his supporting characters. Sure, they're generally adept at wordplay and can sometimes even put Peter Parker's brain to shame, as Jacob Batalon's Ned Leeds and Zendaya's MJ prove on a few occasions in "Brand New Day." But, for the most part, nobody is as concerned with secret identities as our friendly neighborhood Spidey tends to be.
That's a big reason why the secrecy surrounding the latest Marvel Cinematic Universe film has raised so much interest — specifically revolving around the reveal of Sadie Sink's character (Jean Grey, which feels nice to finally say out loud), but also concerning a few others in the ensemble, too. Social media has been abuzz for months about the possibilities of who else might appear in the midst of the action. Charlie Cox's Matt Murdock/Daredevil, perhaps? Maybe even a repeat appearance by one (or both) of the other Spider-Mans (Spiders-Man?) in Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire?
While those ended up being nothing but rumors and hearsay, there's the mystery of Keith David's role, which was confirmed with the release of a previous trailer. We hear the unmistakable strains of his voice talking about spiders and mutations, which suggested a scientist of some sort. Fans quickly circled the wagons around The Jackal, an unusual villain from Spider-Man's rogues gallery ... but this proved to be barking up the wrong tree, as well. David instead voices a narrator in a video — nothing more, and nothing less.
Keith David is only in Spider-Man: Brand New Day for one scene -- and it's not as The Jackal
Maybe the real Spider-Man villains were the friends we made along the way ... or something like that. For a movie where everyone was expecting a Sinister Six-like team-up, "Brand New Day" actually keeps its baddies to a minimum. Jean Grey plays the role of antagonist for much of the runtime, but the actual villain of the story proves to be Tramell Tillman's Bill Metzger, the shady head of the Department of Damage Control. That leaves little room Michael Mando's returning Scorpion, the villainous gang known as The Hand, and others to make much of an impression. But that does no favors to arguably the biggest name of the bunch, Keith David, who ends up not playing a villain at all.
Yes, this cameo is nothing more than that. David ultimately plays a minor role as the narrator of a YouTube video or a documentary special that Peter (Tom Holland) plays in the background of an early scene. As his mutations begin to increase in alarming ways, he throws himself into research about spider life cycles. This leads to a fairly gross scene showing spiders molting and evolving, all with David's sultry tones describing the action.
No, it's not nearly as juicy a role as something more physical like The Jackal would've been, but even Marvel has limits over how many characters it can include in a single film. As far as dramatic heft goes, well, David adds all the weight you could ask for in a scene like this. If you want to experience it all over again (or, you know, any of the rest of the movie), "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" is now playing in theaters.