Spider-Man: Brand New Day May Have Teased The MCU Debut Of Miles Morales

Contains spoilers for "Spider-Man: Brand New Day"

"Spider-Man: Brand New Day" wouldn't be a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie without references to heroes that the movie technically isn't about. There are several levels to that game, though. While Sadie Sink's Jean Grey serves as the primary antagonist and Jon Bernthal's Frank "The Punisher" Castle is a key supporting character, Florence Pugh's Yelena "Black Widow" Belova shows up in a more traditional cameo capacity. Meanwhile, multiple Spider-Man villains turn up in roles so small that their appearances in the trailers amount to their entire screen time in the movie proper.

However, there's one cameo that's so small that fans will likely debate whether it counts as a cameo at all: The potential first on-screen MCU appearance of Miles Morales from the Spider-Verse movies. 

At the end of "Brand New Day," Peter Parker (Tom Holland) exits the hospital while Frank is standing in an upstairs window and masquerading as Spider-Man. This fools the crowd standing outside, allowing Peter to slip out unnoticed — save for one person.

A child who's somewhat suspiciously credited as Web Kid (Elvis Carlos) clearly recognizes Peter as the real Spider-Man. Peter respects the kid's observational powers, and quietly confirms his identity. The two proceed to share a fun moment of web-slinging hand signs and Spider-Man chants that seems far too pointed to be accidental. It's not a "passing the torch" moment by any stretch of the imagination, but it definitely has similar enough elements to make you wonder. 

Speculation about Miles potentially joining the MCU in Tom Holland's fourth Spider-Man film has been around for years, and there's some reason to believe that Web Kid might be the MCU's nod at such ideas. On the other hand, the kid's age doesn't quite line up. Miles' uncle, Aaron Davis, aka Prowler, is already an established MCU presence, as Donald Glover has played him since "Spider-Man: Homecoming." In the 2017 movie, he makes a phone call to young Miles, and Web Kid looks far too young to have been using the phone all those years ago.

Still, there's always a chance that he was one of the victims of Thanos' (Josh Brolin) Snap and returned with the Blip five years later, which would muddy the age waters somewhat — but perhaps not quite enough to account for the four-year time skip of "Brand New Day" itself.

Then again, perhaps Web Kid isn't meant to be interpreted as Miles Morales himself — at least, not the version that Aaron called in "Homecoming." Maybe he's intended to be a simple nod from Marvel Studios to us, the viewers: "We know that you all want Miles, guys. We haven't forgotten." He might not even be the only one, either.

On Ned Leeds' (Jacob Batalon) Spidey evidence board, we see an interesting article about a Latino parkour prodigy whom Ned considers a potential Spider-Man suspect. Granted, closer investigation reveals that this guy's name is Carlos Rodriguez, which the viewer's not going to pick up in the theater — but complete with a couple of obscured photos on the board that somewhat resemble Miles' Spider-Verse design, the idea of the character is once again planted.