Spider-Man: Brand New Day is finally here, and we're entering a brand new era for the MCU. It's always fun to see one of favorite comic book characters get the live-action treatment... but what about lesser known characters that may actually be a lot more important than we could've ever realized?
Tramell Tillman, perhaps best known as the morally grey Mr. Milchick from Apple TV's Severance, plays Bill Metzger, head of Damage Control, in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. In the trailers, he just seems like a nice government official man concerned with stopping the mysterious threat is facing the city... but is there more to the story? If you've already seen Spider-Man: Brand New Day, then you know the answer.
Scroll down to find out more about the mysterious Bill Metzger, his comic book origins, and just how he might end up fitting into the MCU. But be warned: there are major spoilers for Spider-Man: Brand New Day ahead.
Who is Bill Metzger in Spider-Man: Brand New Day?
In Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Bill Metzger is introduced as the head of Damage Control. In the MCU, Damage Control is a federal executive agency (in conjunction with Stark Industries) that specializes in protecting the United States of America from "supernatural" threats. They also seize "dangerous artifacts," i.e., Shocker's mechanical arm technology, as shown in the beginning of the film. Before we know that the "invisible" threat is Jean Grey, Bill brings Peter into his office and tells him that he seems to be the only one who is both immune to her powers and can sense her coming. Peter is more than happy to help, as Jean is putting the citizens of New York City in danger while on her (completely understandable) albeit ruthless mission.
Towards the end of the movie, we learn that Bill ordered the kidnapping of Jean Grey's sister Sara, in order to experiment on her in hopes of harnessing her mutant powers to use as a weapon of sorts. He does the same thing to Jean, though she proves to be much more powerful than he or his cronies could've ever fathomed. It's there in the last 30 or so minutes of the film that we learn that Bill is the true villain, and that his hatred for superpowered children runs deeper than Jean and Sara. Bill ordered his cronies to use Shocker's tech to make weaponry that dissolves Spidey's artificial webbing – which makes you wonder how many other anti-hero tech they have hiding away somewhere. At the end of the movie, Bill gets away, and is reported missing by DeWolff.
Both Damage Control and Bill Metzger are a bit different in the Marvel comics. In Marvel Age Annual #4, which was released in 1988, Damage Control is introduced as a construction company partially owned by Tony Stark that specializes in repairing the property damage caused by conflicts between superheroes and supervillains, i.e., cleaning up debris after The Battle of New York.
William Metzger is introduced in Children of the Atom #1 circa 1999 as an already-established Anti-Mutant activist who heads the Anti-Mutant Militia and publishes a propaganda paper known as The Militia Press. Throughout his comic book arc, Bill experiments on and tortures a young mutant with mental projection powers named Arthur (nicknamed Artie), who is ultimately killed while Magneto attempts to stop the experiment. Magneto kills Bill by hurling him into space in Children of the Atom #6.
Something important to keep in mind: at the time of her introduction in the MCU, Jean Grey is still just a young girl with mutant powers. The X-Men have not officially been formed yet, nor have the rest of the core team members been introduced. It's likely that Bill will become the X-Men's first big threat as they train at Xavier's school and become the MCU's newest superhero team. It's also likely that Bill has power, money, and tech that we don't even know about – and that Damage Control is just the beginning. I'll put money on seeing him in the MCU's first live-action X-Men movie, which is now in pre-production.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is out in UK cinemas now, and hits theatres in the US on July 31. For more, see where Brand New Day places in our list of the best Spider-Man movies, and keep up with new Marvel movies and TV shows heading your way.
