Anne Hathaway's Scrapped Spider-Man: Brand New Day Villain Explained

Wait, Anne Hathaway was supposed to play a villain in "Spider-Man: Brand New Day?" Watch the video above to learn more — or keep reading.

"Spider-Man: Brand New Day," which brings Tom Holland back as your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man alongside as Zendaya (as Michelle Jones-Watson) and Mark Ruffalo (reprising his role as Bruce Banner and The Hulk from the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe), features "Severance" standout and Emmy-winner Tramell Tillman as this film's villain Bill Metzger ... who, at first, appears to just be a regular employee at the fictional Department of Damage Control. According to two pop culture podcasters, the original story for "Brand New Day" involved Hathaway playing an obscure Spider-Man villain called the Leper Queen.

For casual Marvel fans, the Leper Queen first showed up in "Decimation House of M: The Day After" in 2005; four years later, in "X: Force Vol. 3," the character dies. The Leper Queen's whole deal is that she, like fellow minor villain Bill Metzger, absolutely hates mutants due to the fact that her daughter was born with pyrotechnic powers and accidentally torched the family home, dying in the process. This accident also left Leper Queen incredibly disfigured, which definitely would have been interesting for the famously beautiful Hathaway to play (after all, she already managed it in 2020's "The Witches," a role Hathaway apparently regrets).

According to those podcasters, John Rocha and Jeff Sneider — who shared this theory on "The Hot Mic" — Hathaway turned the role down because it was too small. Honestly? That makes sense, and we definitely can understand why Hathaway declined ... and let someone like Tillman, whose star is still very much on the rise, get the spotlight. Plus, Hathaway has had a busy 2026 so far, and she shows no signs of slowing down. 

Frankly, "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" might have needed Anne Hathaway more than she needed the project ... and still, the superhero movie broke multiple box office records when the dust settled from its opening weekend, so everything clearly turned out just fine. As for Hathaway, after a short break, she's appeared in several enormous projects in 2026. Even though her independent David Lowery drama with Michaela Coel, "Mother Mary," didn't necessarily make a splash at the box office, it continued to prove that Hathaway is one of the most versatile performers of her generation. She followed that with the May release of "The Devil Wears Prada 2," which ended up blowing everyone away at the box office. Then, Hathaway appeared in a little movie called "The Odyssey." Ever heard of it? In Christopher Nolan's blockbuster adaptation of the ancient Greek poem attributed to Homer, Hathaway delivers a stunning, nuanced performance as Penelope, the long-suffering wife of the missing war hero Odysseus (Matt Damon), and Hathaway makes a big impression despite decently limited screen time.

Before 2026 wraps up, Hathaway is still set to appear in the sci-fi drama "The End of Oak Street" and the highly anticipated Colleen Hoover adaptation "Verity" alongside Josh Hartnett and Dakota Johnson, both of which could also be smash hits at the box office. This is all to say that, while it certainly would have been fun to see Hathaway ham it up in "Spider-Man: Brand New Day," if she did turn the project down due to a lack of screen time, that makes sense. The Oscar-winning actress has plenty going on as it is.

Both "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" and "The Odyssey" are in theaters now.