Spider-Man: Brand New Day may have given us the most irrelevant LEGO Marvel movie minifigure ever, after a villain appeared for just a single frame.
The latest Spider-Man movie released last week and has already smashed domestic box office opening weekend records. To celebrate the release, the LEGO Group launched three LEGO Marvel sets: 76346 Spider-Man Hero Figure, 76349 Spider-Man Prison Transport Chase and 76350 Spider-Man vs. Hulk Epic Clash.
When the sets were revealed earlier this year, they featured an array of villains from the Spider-Man comics who we expected to see in the movie. The sets appeared to recreate battles between the web-slinger and these villains across multiple scenes.
At the time, the inclusion of a random hot dog vendor in 76350 Spider-Man vs. Hulk Epic Clash was arguably the strangest choice. However, after seeing the movie and the amount of mind-hopping that takes place throughout the story, a civilian character no longer feels quite as out of place.
The same cannot be said for some of the villains included in the sets. In the finished movie, almost every villain only appears in a single scene, with Scorpion being the exception. Tombstone, Tarantula and Boomerang all appear briefly during the time-jumping opening montage, with some receiving only a single frame or shot.
That means Tarantula – a character who appears in just one frame of the movie, which had already been shown in trailers – received a minifigure in two separate LEGO sets. It surely has to be one of the strongest examples of minimal screen time receiving maximum LEGO treatment for a movie-based set.
Of course, movie-based LEGO sets often include side characters who have limited screen time. For example, the Imperial Remnant Warlord appears in 75454 Imperial Remnant AT-AT with INT-4 despite having a minor role. However, releasing two sets featuring a character who appears in a single shot, with neither set recreating that scene, feels particularly unusual.
The reasoning is understandable, though. The movie kept its main villain a secret, meaning the LEGO Group and Marvel avoided revealing too much by excluding them from the sets. However, the absence of the Punisher – especially given it’s his first more light-hearted role – feels like a missed opportunity.
Even if Tarantula’s inclusion feels slightly unnecessary, the minifigure itself is still an excellent addition. It is unlikely we will see another version of the Spider-Man villain any time soon, making one or both sets worthwhile purchases for collectors looking to own a particularly niche character.
All three Spider-Man: Brand New Day sets are available now from LEGO.com, with prices ranging from £44.99 / $49.99 / €49.99 to £89.99 / $99.99 / €99.99.
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