Spider-Man: Brand New Day almost introduced a very different identity-swapping villain to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) than the one it ended up going with.
Yes, it’s true: Sadie Sink plays Jean Grey in the new Spidey movie. The fan-favorite X-Men telepath pops up in Peter Parker’s (Tom Holland) life as Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s mind-controlling villain, but according to words shared by screenwriters Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers on The Q&A with Jeff Goldsmith, the film came close to putting the spotlight on a different member of Spidey’s rogues gallery: Dmitri Smerdyakov, a.k.a. Chameleon.
From moving on from his mind-wiped friends to coming to grips with changes in his arachnid DNA, Spider-Man: Brand New Day deals with the concept of metamorphosis. It’s the backbone of the new MCU movie’s story, and it’s the first idea McKenna and Sommers homed in on. From there, the question was, ‘Who’s going to be the villain?’ Jean Grey was eventually what made the most sense, but Chameleon stuck around long enough to be in the running as the movie’s main bad guy, at least for a little while.
“We came up with metamorphosis, and everyone was very excited about that idea. Then, we were trying to come up with a villain,” McKenna said. “I think [Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige] himself admitted that we had mind control, but we hadn’t settled on what character that would be for the villain that had mind control. Early days, we were talking about Die Hard with a Vengeance. Like, ‘Can we just do a Spider-Man story that was set in ground-level New York, where you had a mysterious bomber, a villain who was basically toying with Spider-Man?’
“Erik and I, right after we had the metamorphosis story idea that people were on board for, we were trying to think of a villain that would fit that bill, and we were thinking, ‘Gosh, what’s a Spider-Man classic villain that no one has really done yet in the films?’ We were going, ‘Chameleon?’ But how do you do that?”
McKenna acknowledged that the MCU had already dived into shapeshifting Skrulls storylines a few times already, so Chameleon would need to be reworked without losing his identity as an impersonator. The Spider-Man: Brand New Day screenwriter added that, if he stuck, he may have been reworked to use mind-control powers.
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Instead, the Chameleon idea was tossed aside because he wound up showing up in Sony’s panned 2024 film starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Kraven the Hunter. Dmitri shows up as Kraven’s half-brother and is played by Fred Hechinger. Despite the opportunities to go in a different direction, it led to Chameleon being cut, though it’s unclear who ultimately pulled the plug.
“It was like, ugh, you can’t do Chameleon, but that got us on the path of mind control, and then mind control eventually led to us getting who was the perfect character for that role, who was Jean Grey,” McKenna added. “That was a journey.”
The X-Men superhero may have wound up being the unlikely villain of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, but it certainly seems to have worked out in Marvel’s favor. After breaking records in its opening weekend in theaters, the film’s latest update has seen it reach $2 billion globally to become the highest-grossing Spider-Man movie of all time.
Reviews from audiences and critics have been favorable, too. IGN gave it a 7/10, saying it ” effectively refocuses on the most reliable pillars of the webslinger: battling inner turmoil, swinging around NYC saving the day, and looking cool while doing so.”
For more, you can check out why McKenna and Sommers say Jean Grey “technically” didn’t kill anyone during the events of the movie. You can also read about the cut cameo from a fan-favorite Daredevil character.
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He’s best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).