Fans think Eman Esfandi’s Spider-Man 4 role is most hated Marvel character of all time

Ahsoka star Eman Esfandi has reportedly made the jump from a galaxy far, far away to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. But fans are skeptical about his role, theorizing that he’s playing the most hated Marvel character of all time…

Spider-Man: Brand New Day will mark Tom Holland’s fourth solo movie as the iconic web-slinger, and picks up after the events of 2022’s No Way Home. The multiversal adventure ended with the entire world forgetting that Peter Parker is Spider-Man, including his girlfriend MJ (Zendaya) and his best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon).

While Marvel is keeping the sequel’s plot under wraps, fans know that Jon Bernthal will reprise his role as the Punisher in the film, while Stranger Things star Sadie Sink has joined the cast with much speculation that she’s playing characters like Jean Grey, Gwen Stacy, or even Firestar. It’s also confirmed that Mark Ruffalo will return as Bruce Banner/The Hulk and Michael Mando is coming back as Scorpion.

Clearly, Peter Parker is going to have a lot to handle when Brand New Day arrives in theaters. But he might have to deal with an emotional blow as well if the rumors about Eman Esfandi’s role turn out to be true.

Fans think Eman Esfandi is playing Paul Rabin in Spider-Man: Brand New Day

Fans are convinced Eman Esfandi is playing Paul Rabin from Zeb Wells’ 2022 run on The Amazing Spider-Man. On January 3, notable scooper DanielRPK reported that Esfandi had joined Spider-Man: Brand New Day as MJ’s new boyfriend, and fans immediately speculated that the MCU is bringing a version of Paul to the big screen.

Paul Rabin was introduced as Mary Jane’s new boyfriend during a storyline in which she was trapped on an alternate Earth after Spider-Man fought with Wayep, the Mayan God of Mischief. She was stranded there for four years thanks to time dilation, and fell in love with Paul as she believed that she couldn’t make it home. To make matters worse for Peter, the couple had also adopted two kids together.

Considering that Brand New Day is intended to be more of a grounded movie, it’s likely that the MCU will simply skip the whole alternate universe storyline altogether. Instead, it seems as if the film may have cherrypicked the idea of MJ being with a new person and how that affects Peter when he’s completely out of her life.

Marvel fans on Reddit instantly reacted with disgust to the idea of it being Paul, with one person writing: “Hope its Paul just to hear Peter groan at the name of some Paul in disgust like we fans did for last few years.”

Someone else joked, “Dread it. Run from it. Paul arrives all the same,” while another added, “We’re getting MCU Paul before the Blade movie.”

Another user pointed out that even if Esfandi is playing Paul in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, it’s likely more of a reference than a complete adaptation from the comics.

“Its not like Paul himself was THE problem with that story, and already in the scenario they’ve set up in No Way Home he would be entering in a very different position than in the comics since Peter made the choice himself to stay out of Ned and MJ’s life so they can keep living undisturbed,” they explained. “Just naming him Paul as more of a reference than anything I think would be extremely funny on their part.”