Spider-Man: Brand New Day: The Actress Who Played The Hand's Female Leader, Snow, Has Been Revealed

Spider-Man: Brand New Day: The Actress Who Played The Hand's Female Leader, Snow, Has Been Revealed

Spider-Man: Brand New Day brings The Hand back to the MCU following their defeat in Netflix's The Defenders, and new behind-the-scenes photos finally reveal who played the group's female leader.

By JoshWilding - Aug 04, 2026 10:08 AM EST

Spider-Man: Brand New Day saw Tom Holland's wall-crawler face off with all manner of villains from the comics, though none were more deadly than The Hand. 

In a climactic final battle, Spidey battles the entire ninja clan in a Department of Damage Control prison. The group is led by a mysterious female warrior, whose identity was a huge talking point before the movie's release. 

Speculation ranged from her being Spider-Queen to Mariko Yashida, daughter of the Silver Samurai. Ultimately, she's revealed as a newly created character, Snow, and we finally know who was beneath that striking mask. 

Stuntwoman and actress Fan Xiaoshuang plays Snow, the leader of this faction of The Hand that, in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, is reporting to the DODC's Bill Metzger. She has a long list of stunt credits to her name, including Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, The Marvels, Karate Kid: Legends, and Now You See Me: Now You Don't.

In a couple of newly shared Instagram posts, Xiaoshuang reveals heaps of behind-the-scenes photos from her time working on the MCU movie, expressing gratitude to filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton and action director Zhang Peng for choosing her to play Snow. 

The Hand was front and centre in the blockbuster, but during a recent interview with Nerdtropolis, Cretton revealed that Spider-Man: Brand New Day once featured an even greater number of villains.

"Yeah, there were a lot," he shared, revealing that there was a "whole other scene that ended up being cut from the movie" in which they were "going to throw a whole bunch of villains into this giant fight."

"We were looking at a lot of classics, and it was really fun, though. We got to design a lot of them," Cretton added, suggesting we could still see them in the next Spider-Man movie. 

Check out Xiaoshuang's Instagram posts below. 

In Spider-Man: Brand New Day, it's a Brand New Day for Peter Parker. Fighting crime full-time as Spider-Man in a world that doesn’t remember him—and the pressure of seeing his old friends move on without him—sparks a change in Peter he may not have the power to control.

But that transformation might also be the only thing that can stop a shocking new threat to the city and those he loves - a powerful villain no one can even see. The world may have forgotten Peter Parker, but he hasn’t forgotten them.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day's cast includes Tom Holland, Zendaya, Sadie, Jacob Batalon, Jon Bernthal, Tramell Tillman, Michael Mando, and Mark Ruffalo. 

The movie is directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and written by Chris McKenna & Erik Sommers. The film is produced by Kevin Feige, Amy Pascal, Avi Arad and Rachel O'Connor. Executive producers include Louis D'Esposito and David Cain. 

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is now playing in theaters.

About The Author:
JoshWilding
Member Since 3/13/2009
A lifelong comic book fan who grew up on Spider-Man: The Animated Series in the '90s, Josh Wilding has been contributing to ComicBookMovie.com since 2009.

While he's also written for websites like Batman-News, HeyUGuys, and WhatCulture, Josh is CBM's Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic and the site's #1 contributor with nearly two decades of experience covering film and TV news (including interviews with Tom Holland, Chris Pratt, Gary Oldman, Halle Berry, Jon Bernthal, Tom Welling, and hundreds more).

Based in the UK with his wife, Josh is also an avid WWE and Formula 1 fan and writes about those passions on CBM's sister sites, TheRingReport.com and FullThrottleHQ.com. Favourite superhero? Spider-Man. Favourite pro wrestler? CM Punk. Favourite F1 driver? Max Verstappen.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day Director Explains The Movie's Ending And Why Sadie Sink Was Cast As [Spoiler]
Related:

Spider-Man: Brand New Day Director Explains The Movie's Ending And Why Sadie Sink Was Cast As [Spoiler]

Spider-Man: Brand New Day: Kevin Feige Talks Spider-Man 5, Sadie Sink's Future As [Spoiler], Superhero Fatigue
Recommended For You:

Spider-Man: Brand New Day: Kevin Feige Talks Spider-Man 5, Sadie Sink's Future As [Spoiler], Superhero Fatigue

DISCLAIMER: As a user generated site and platform, Comic Book Movie is protected under the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act) and "Safe Harbor" provisions.

This post was submitted by a user who has agreed to our Terms of Service and Community Guidelines. Comic Book Movie will disable users who knowingly commit plagiarism, piracy, trademark or copyright infringement. Please CONTACT US for expeditious removal of copyrighted/trademarked content. CLICK HERE to learn more about our copyright and trademark policies.

Note that Comic Book Movie, and/or the user who contributed this post, may earn commissions or revenue through clicks or purchases made through any third-party links contained within the content above.

bobevanz
bobevanz - 8/4/2026, 10:40 AM
Post snap mutants will destroy the MCU if they fully commit
User Comment Image
Fogs
Fogs - 8/4/2026, 11:33 AM
@bobevanz - You're bitter than usual. Here, have a hug.
Fares
Fares - 8/4/2026, 10:50 AM
I have mixed feelings about the Hand in Brand New Day.

On one hand, ninjas are cool, and their scenes were only as cool as they were because they were ninjas, no other typical New York bad guy faction could've delivered that.

On the other, they didn't really need to be the Hand, the enforcers of the bad guy didn't have to be Ninjas, it just felt like Destin wanted to include them to have some Martial Arts in the film. It's compounded by the fact that the trailer made them seem like a more integral part of the story.
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 8/4/2026, 11:01 AM
@Fares - that’s fair but as they were , they were cool especially in the final prison fight scene.

What did you think of the film overall?.
ItsAllOurBlood
ItsAllOurBlood - 8/4/2026, 11:28 AM
@Fares - A Marvel trailer misdirected you? So you have mixed feelings about ...most MCU movies?
Fares
Fares - 8/4/2026, 11:46 AM
@TheVisionary25 - I only watched it last night so feelings might change with time, but I think it's the second best Tom Holland Spidey film.

It's the second only because the magic of No Way Home is near impossible to replicate and I didn't want them to even try, I don't think I even want Tobey or Andrew to have any more multiversal appearances in the future (though if they want to continue their stories in their respective universes somehow I'd be on board).

That said BND does certain things better than NWH, particular how the film looks visually, which matters to me more than most people I feel. I also wanted a street level New York adventure and that's what I got and I could hardly be more pleased with it.

It reminded me of the older Spidey films, and as much as I claim to be a proponent of daring to try out different things, new approaches, Spidey seems to be the exception for me, at least so far.

I wanted Ned and MJ to have less of a presence after NWH, fearing they would quickly undo the consequences of it, but even if that wasn't the case I think they handled it pretty well (though not sure what to make of Ned's final scene). When Jean took over MJ, before knowing that she did, I was like "oh no, please don't tell me that they're gonna do this", and I'm glad that they fooled me like that.

Speaking of Jean, I was shocked by how brutal she was, not sure how I feel about it and skeptical of how they're gonna handle it in the future, given their poor track record in handling the consequences of Wanda's actions in Westview, but if they handle it well, I respect the choice, she was a great antagonist, and I liked how it concluded. A Jean that's younger than Spider-Man, that feels unorthodox, potentially the same will go for the rest of her peers in the X-Men, but we'll see.

The only other gripe I have is the last scene with Punisher in the hospital. I liked how he was handled for most of the movie, but I didn't really need him to be doing all that when he was pretending to be Spidey. A simpler, less enthusiastic wave from him would've felt more in-character.

But that scene of Peter walking out of the hospital and people showing him love made me feel emotional, like "damn it, I love you too Spider-Man, always have, always will".

I already rambled too much, sorry, but gotta mention Hulk. Loved his appearance. Maybe it's just me but he felt a little nerfed, but it's no biggie, glad to see Savage Hulk back, and I think they explained how and why he's back well enough, but I like to see it elaborated on even further in the future.
Fares
Fares - 8/4/2026, 11:48 AM
@ItsAllOurBlood - No,just this one, at least only this one comes to mind right now. There's the type of misdirects that can enhance my experience and there's the type that can worsen it.
OneMoreTime
OneMoreTime - 8/4/2026, 10:55 AM
Spider-Man: Brand New Day

User Comment Image
OrgasmicPotatoe
OrgasmicPotatoe - 8/4/2026, 10:56 AM
...it was Zendaya, wasn't it ?
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 8/4/2026, 11:09 AM
The eye makeup on her aswell as the mask definitely gave her a striking look…

Also I guess it makes sense that these young Hand members don’t have leaders anymore given the last time we saw them was in Defenders where their leadership was killed and where taken over by Elektra whose fate is unknown as of yet (though we know she’s in BA S3 next year) hence Metzger using them for his own goals.

Anyway , hopefully we see The Hand again sooner then later!!.

User Comment Image
OneMoreTime
OneMoreTime - 8/4/2026, 11:14 AM
User Comment Image
TheLobster
TheLobster - 8/4/2026, 11:49 AM
Idk if it was the lighting or what but she looked like she would be older on screen

Please log in to post comments.

Don't have an account?
Please Register.

View Recorder