Katina Alford

The FBI has confirmed to the Senate it is once again buying data which can be used to track the locations of US citizens. That may have surprised the people who thought the precedent in Carpenter v. United States prohibited it. But while that case examined if it was legal for law enforcement to obtain location data from mobile networks without a warrant, here the FBI and other agencies have found a way to skirt the Fourth Amendment entirely. Over the last few years, they have taken to just buying location data from the same companies which power the enormous online advertising ecosystem.
Where does this data come from?
When your phone is connected to the internet, it broadcasts about itself, and so do the apps and platforms you use. That information includes your IP address and device type, as well as your longitude and latitude if your device has GPS. This data, known as Bidstream, alongside any third party cookies tied to your device, enables the process of Real Time Bidding (RTB). RTB is the process where your attention is auctioned off to the highest bidder in the milliseconds after you’ve loaded a page. In order to make the auctions work, these platforms need to know as much about you as they can.
As I explained in depth back in 2021, data such as your location and IP address is broadcast over the ad networks. This information can also be aggregated, licensed or sold to data brokers who can pair this with any “deterministic data” available. For instance, if you sign up to a platform and tell them your name, email address and annual income, that data could be licensed to a data broker. Even banks looking for new revenue streams are planning to license anonymized customer data to these companies. Data brokers can easily combine the two streams of information to build out a fairly extensive picture of you as a person, and what advertisers will be the most interested in you. Unfortunately, it’s extremely difficult to opt out of this and, even if it were, it would be even more difficult to destroy the data already in circulation.
In 2018 French company Vectaury, which acted as an ad sales intermediary for mobile apps, was inspected by the French data protection regulator. Officials found the company had built a database containing the personal data of 67.6 million people without proper consent.
Data brokers don’t just harvest and hoard this data to make online ad sales, however, they will also license and sell its databases to others. Lawmakers believe that these brokers have sold this data to rival nations looking for ways to spy on US citizens.
How are law enforcement agencies getting it?
In January, 404Media revealed the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) bought access to tools supplied by cybersecurity company Penlink. Specifically, it purchased access to tools named Tangles and Webloc, which can be used to surveil large numbers of people at once. The latter tool reportedly has the power to identify smartphones in a given area and time, and can then follow them on their journey through the day and back to their home at night.
Given the secretive nature of its business, Penlink does not reveal much about how its tools operate. A since-removed marketing page says Webloc automatically analyzes “location based information” available in “endless digital channels from the web ecosystem.” And 404Media’s report says these tools access “commercially available smartphone location data,” supplied by third-party data brokers. Forbes reports the system can also pull together data from a variety of sources, including social media, to offer a real-time view of an event. The Texas Observer says Webloc can use this information to enable “warrantless device tracking.”
A number of other US law enforcement agencies have also purchased location data from data brokers, including the Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection, the Secret Service and the Internal Revenue Service. This isn’t just limited to government agencies, however, as anti-abortion groups did similar while targeting people visiting Planned Parenthood clinics.
How can this be legal?
The Fourth Amendment guarantees the right of the people to be protected from “unreasonable searches and seizures,” made without probable case. But, as Dori H. Rahbar wrote in the Columbia Law Review, “the Fourth Amendment does not regulate open market transactions.” Aaron X Sobel, writing in the Yale Law and Policy Review, described the practice as “end-running warrants,” and urged legislators to close this loophole. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), is also pushing for legislation under the Fourth Amendment is Not For Sale Act.
It’s not likely that such legislation will be passed for a long time, and a cynic would suggest it’s not possible under the current administration. But, even if it is, it won’t address the bigger issue of the ad tech industry and its partners vacuuming up as much information about us as it can. When these companies — many of which aren’t even known to the public — are able to store up enough information on us that, if they were so motivated, they could follow our path through the day, it’s a sign something is very rotten indeed. If we’re concerned about governments having this sort of access, then we should be equally nervous about anyone else having it as well.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/dont-be-surprised-that-the-fbi-is-buying-your-location-data-182047627.html?src=rss

Stranger Things fans will soon have permanent access to the Upside Down, as a full DVD set is now available to preorder. Stranger Things: The Complete Series comes in Blu-Ray and 4K UHD editions.
This collection includes all five seasons of the hit show, which totals 25 discs. It'll be available at brick-and-mortar and online retailers beginning on July 28. Prices range from $200 to $260, depending on the media type and edition.
Return to Hawkins this July with STRANGER THINGS: THE COMPLETE SERIES, available in Special and Deluxe Editions on Blu-ray and 4K UHD. Pre-order in the US via Arrow: https://t.co/wJbH9FJvo1Pre-order in the UK via Arrow: https://t.co/yXi3HBPA42 pic.twitter.com/ddYQVcB04J— Arrow Video (@ArrowFilmsVideo) March 19, 2026

To that end, there's a deluxe edition available for true diehards. This includes the complete series, of course, but also bonus content like bloopers, interviews with the cast and crew and various behind-the-scenes featurettes. It also comes with a bunch of doodads, like a self-adhesive Hellfire Club patch, five posters, 25 smaller art cards, a fold-out map of Hawkins and a branded twenty-sided die.
There's a collector's box and each season comes in reversible sleeves with new artwork. Finally, this edition ships with a large artbook that includes original design sketches, concept art, storyboards and more. This is a pretty cool and comprehensive package.
The price might seem high, but Stranger Things consists of 42 episodes and they get pretty lengthy in seasons four and five. In any event, owning physical media of stuff you like is never a bad idea, given that everything on streaming is subject to the whims of executives looking to avoid paying residuals or whatever.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/the-complete-stranger-things-dvd-set-includes-25-discs-and-costs-around-200-172222577.html?src=rss

Nothing takes a different tack with its phone series. For the second time in a row, its midrange entry-level A-series smartphones debuted ahead of its next flagship device. The company has even warned that we won’t be getting the Nothing Phone 4 until next year. Until then, the Phone 4a Pro is here to make an impact, with a more restrained design, a less obtrusive camera bump and specs that beat out last year’s Nothing Phone 3 — all for $499. In 2026, Nothing is truly aiming to dethrone the Pixel 10a.

Hardware

Mat Smith for Engadget

It’s a new look. That’s often the case with Nothing’s smartphones as the company typically reimagines or rejigs what you can see through the clear back panel. This year, however, Nothing is making bigger changes: this is its first metal (aluminum) unibody phone.
With a new periscope telephoto camera design, the jarringly thick camera bump of last year’s Phone 3a Pro is thankfully gone, resulting in a slice of smartphone that feels — and to some, looks — more premium and more refined than Nothing’s “flagship” Phone 3.
However, compared to the Nothing phones that came before, it also feels muted, and a little safe. The playfulness of Nothing has been hemmed in a little. You might prefer it, but I’m not sure I do.
Those identifiable Nothing design flourishes — red details, visible screens, lots and lots of circles — are now squeezed into a camera panel. This oblong area with curved corners houses a trio of cameras, a “Now Recording” red light and a tweaked Glyph Matrix, which we last saw on the Nothing Phone 3.
This new Glyph Matrix is bigger and brighter, but at a lower “resolution,” that’s made of 137 mini-LEDs. That’s fewer than the Nothing Phone 3’s 489-strong dot-matrix, but the LEDs here are 100 percent brighter. So bright, in fact, that I had to turn them down to their lowest brightness when I was using them.The 4a Pro, however, lacks the rear button on the Phone 3 that lets you cycle through Glyph functions. Does this mean the company has made it easy to switch between Glyph toys and notifications in the phone’s UI? Sadly not.
You can dip into the Glyph options through the main settings menu, but to change what the Glyph displays is hidden in a sub-tab. I also noticed that the offering of “toys” was limited, with fewer items than even the Nothing Phone 3 had at launch. Hopefully, this will expand once the phone officially launches.
The 4a Pro packs a bigger screen than the company’s flagship, with a 6.83-inch AMOLED screen running at 1.5K resolution. It also has a higher refresh rate than the 6.67-inch Phone 3. And on top of that, the Phone 4a Pro’s display has a peak brightness of 5,000 nits, making it Nothing’s brightest smartphone yet.
I’ve handled so many phones over the last four weeks that it’s often hard to discern the difference between brighter displays. Fortunately, I have the Nothing Phone 3 (and 3a Pro) to compare against the Phone 4a Pro. It’s noticeably brighter, and as we slowly get into sunnier weather, a smartphone that’s easier to read outdoors is always very welcome.
The Phone 4a Pro also has improved IP65 water and dust resistance, while Nothing says it's 42 percent more bend-resistant than the Phone 3a Pro as well. It’s also almost 0.5mm thinner, if you ignore the camera bump for those measurements. Factor that in and the Phone 4a Pro is almost 1.5mm thinner than its predecessor. This design change also makes Nothing’s newest phone feel far less top-heavy than the 3a Pro. Regardless of the aesthetic changes, this is unmistakably refined hardware.
Cameras

Mat Smith for Engadget

Besides the streamlined camera unit, with a new tetraprism periscopic lens that takes up less space, the Phone 4a Pro has improved imaging capabilities (almost) across the board. The new 50-megapixel periscope telephoto lens (which Nothing says also uses less power) has a 3.5x optical zoom, plus computational photography magic that can now crank it up to a (mostly unusable) 140x hybrid zoom.
The main 50MP sensor also features a bigger sensor for improved low-light performance. With an f/1.88 lens though, it doesn’t quite match the Phone 3’s main camera (f/1.68), both on paper and in practice. The array is rounded out with an 8MP ultrawide camera, which sounds like the weakest link, but I rarely use the ultrawide cameras on any phone aside from review testing. Oddly, the selfie camera is a technical downgrade in resolution, with a 32MP sensor on the 4a Pro, down from 50MP on the 3a Pro.

Mat Smith for Engadget

One new addition was co-developed by Google. Ultra XDR blends Android’s native HDR processing with Nothing’s own approach, capturing 13 RAW frames at different exposures and combining them to deliver greater dynamic range and detail. However, as proof of how new they are, your Ultra XDR images can’t be shared as easily. They do work with Google Photos and Instagram, at least. If it’s any consolation, Ultra XDR so far doesn’t seem hugely far away from typical HDR capture. I’ll keep testing the cameras and if I figure out where it really shines, I’ll update this review.

Mat Smith for Engadget

If one thing disappoints on the 4a Pro, it’s recording video. Switching between zoom levels will often completely derail exposure settings. Even if you record on a single camera at the same focal length, exposure levels seem extremely sensitive and struggle to stay locked. Footage is often muddy and low-light performance isn’t great, even if using the Ultra XDR video mode. You aren’t forced to endure this with the Pixel 10a, but then again, there’s no zoom on Google’s mid-range phone — just a lossless crop. In more forgiving lighting, video is adequate, but quality drops off beyond the 3.5x optical zoom. Still, the versatility and quality of the still images from both the main camera and the telephoto lens put it above every other smartphone at this price.
Performance and software
The Phone 4a Pro is now powered by a more capable processor: Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 7 Gen 4. Nothing claims that, in addition to its own on-device optimizations, it improved CPU performance by 27 percent, GPU performance by 30 percent and AI performance by 65 percent compared to the Phone 3a series.
There’s certainly a big difference in performance while gaming. While the 3a series struggled with more complex games, the 4a Pro kept up with Red Dead Redemption and Diablo Immortal. It’s not the most polished interpretation of Decard Cain and the lands of Sanctuary, but it's responsive and playable, even at 60 fps, with only a few frame drops.
The Phone 4a has a 5,080mAh battery, roughly equivalent to its predecessor. It supports up to 50W fast charging, a tad faster than the Pixel 10a, though it lacks wireless charging support, unlike Google’s midranger. It’s one of the few signs that this isn’t Nothing’s “true” flagship, even if it looks the part.
I was pleasantly surprised by the battery life, too. Typically, phones are getting increasingly bigger batteries, but as I mentioned, that’s not the case here.. However, the 4a Pro lasted 24 hours in our battery rundown test, five hours more than last year’s model.
The Phone 4a Pro has all the software features either present or teased in older Nothing Phones. Essential Search is a system-wide search that can find terms in messages, files and the rest of your phone. There’s also a new Breathing Break widget; we definitely need that in 2026.
Essential Memory is Nothing’s name for its background algorithms and analysis, scrutinizing your phone’s contents as well as whatever’s saved in Essential Space. Nothing has added cloud storage for Space, aimed at devoted upgraders, meaning everything you saved on older compatible Nothing phones can be transferred over. Sure, it’s a little niche, but it was an early frustration while testing the Phone 3 after the 3a series. If, for some reason, you have to reset your device, keeping everything in Space backed up elsewhere is a boon.

Mat Smith for Engadget

Also, while it’s technically a hardware tweak, Nothing has also moved the Essential Key to the left edge of the phone, making it far less likely to be triggered when you’re adjusting the volume and more in line with other phones and my own smartphone muscle memory.
One caveat from previous Nothing devices remains. The company says it will deliver three years of Android updates and an additional three years of security patches. Compare that to Samsung’s seven years of Android updates for this year’s S26 series (and Google’s Pixel 10a), and you can see how it falls short.
Wrap-up
The Phone 4a Pro punches well above its $499 price tag. Nothing has successfully refined its hardware into a more premium, all-metal unibody, losing the jarring camera bump of its predecessor in favor of a sleek design that houses a genuinely impressive camera. The improved camera versatility, coupled with its class-leading 24-hour battery life and a more capable processor, makes this a serious threat to the Pixel 10a.
However, some of Nothing's signature playfulness has been dialed back. The Glyph Matrix, while brighter, is lower-resolution and its “toys” are disappointingly limited at launch. The lack of wireless charging is another nod to its midrange status.
Nothing’s Phone 4a Pro is a device with a clear identity, delivering on the essentials for half the price of many rivals.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/nothing-phone-4a-pro-review-glyph-matrix-130042005.html?src=rss

UK’s Ofcom has fined 4chan a total of £520,000 ($690,000) over the website’s failure to comply with the rules of Online Safety Act 2023. The biggest chunk of the amount came from 4chan’s failure to ensure children cannot encounter pornographic content on its website by implementing an effective age check mechanism. For that violation, the website has received a penalty of £450,000 ($598,000) and an order to apply an age check system by April 2. It carries a daily rate penalty of £500 ($664) until the website is compliant or until June 1, whichever comes sooner. Ofcom also found that 4chan has failed to carry out sufficient illegal content risk assessment on its website and has fined it £50,000 ($66,400) for that violation. 4chan has until April 2 to conduct a risk assessment, or it has to pay an additional £200 ($266) per day. Finally, the regulator has determined that 4chan failed to include provisions in its terms of service that specify how it protects users from illegal content. That carries a fine of £20,000 ($26,600), with a daily rate penalty of £100 ($133) a day from its compliance deadline of April 2 to June 1. The regulator started investigating 4chan, famous for its anonymous and unmoderated messaging boards, in June 2025 to determine if it was failing to meet its obligations under the law. In October, Ofcom announced its decision for some of the investigations it opened. It slapped 4chan with a £20,000 ($26,700) fine for ignoring its requests for a copy of the website’s illegal harms risk assessment and to provide information about its qualifying worldwide revenue. The regulator has confirmed to Engadget that 4chan has yet to pay that previous fine, which also earned cumulative daily punishment fees for 60 days. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/uk-fines-4chan-nearly-700000-for-failing-its-online-safety-act-obligations-115106264.html?src=rss

During a Senate hearing, FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed that his agency has bought information that could be used to track individuals' movement and location. "We do purchase commercially available information that’s consistent with the Constitution and the laws under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, and it has led to some valuable intelligence for us," he said. Law enforcement is required to obtain a warrant in order to get location data from cell service providers following the Carpenter v United States ruling from 2018. But why bother with all that hassle when they can just buy the information from the open market?"Doing that without a warrant is an outrageous end run around the Fourth Amendment, it’s particularly dangerous given the use of artificial intelligence to comb through massive amounts of private information," Sen. Ron Wyden, (D-Ore.) said during the Intelligence Committee hearing. Wyden is one of several lawmakers pushing for an overhaul of when and how the government can obtain citizens' personal information. It's an overhaul that's badly needed. Patel already has a history of dubious use of government resources, such as ordering SWAT protections for his girlfriend and somehow horning in on men's hockey victory celebrations at the recent winter Olympics, so one would hope he's not also stretching the limits of the few privacy protections that do exist. Then outside the FBI, we have the Department of Homeland Security being sued for illegally tracking immigration raid protestors and the Pentagon's labeling of Anthropic as a supply-chain risk after the AI company refused to let its products be used for mass surveillance of Americans.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/the-fbi-confirms-its-buying-americans-location-data-230835196.html?src=rss

The Information reported that an AI agent within Meta took unauthorized action that led to an employee creating a security breach at the social company last week. According to the publication, an employee used an in-house agentic AI to analyze a query from a second employee on an internal forum. The AI agent posted a response to the second employee with advice even though the first person did not direct it to do so. The second employee took the agent's recommended action, sparking a domino effect that led to some engineers having access to Meta systems that they shouldn't have permission to see. A representative from the company confirmed the incident to The Information and said that "no user data was mishandled." Meta's internal report indicated that there were unspecified additional issues that led to the breach. A source said that there was no evidence that anyone took advantage of the sudden access or that the data was made public during the two hours when the security breach was active. However, that may be the result of dumb luck more than anything else. Many tech leaders and companies have touted the benefits of artificial intelligence, this is just the latest incident where human employees have lost control over an AI agent. Amazon Web Services experienced a 13-hour outage earlier this year that also (apparently coincidentally) involved its Kiro agentic AI coding tool. Moltbook, the social network for AI agents recently acquired by Meta, had a security flaw that exposed user information thanks to an oversight in the vibe-coded platform.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/a-meta-agentic-ai-sparked-a-security-incident-by-acting-without-permission-224013384.html?src=rss

The White House has been promising a set of national rules to guide artificial intelligence since late last year, and today Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) fired the first volley. The senator shared a discussion draft for codifying the executive order signed by President Donald Trump in December calling for an AI bill. Her stated goal is a policy that "protects children, creators, conservatives and communities from harm." Blackburn has called for tougher policies for AI safety, and one of the core messages in this discussion draft is that it "places a duty of care on AI developers in the design, development and operation of AI platforms to prevent and mitigate foreseeable harm to users." It also draws a line on the many copyright infringement questions raised by creative industries: "an AI model's unauthorized reproduction, copying, or processing of copyrighted works for the purpose of training, fine-tuning, developing, or creating AI does not constitute fair use under the Copyright Act." Some of the other notable provisions are:Requires covered online platforms, including social media platforms, to implement tools and safeguards to protect users under the age of 17 against online harms.Protects the voice and visual likenesses of individuals and creators from the proliferation of digital replicas without their consent.Sets new federal transparency guidelines for marking, authenticating and detecting AI-generated content.Requires certain companies and federal agencies to issue reports on AI-related job effects, including layoffs and job displacement to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) on a quarterly basis.It includes ending Section 230, marking the latest attempt to retire a law that has been questioned as a possible loophole for AI companies to escape liability when their tools cause harm. While AI critics might see positive signs here, remember that this is just the initial version of the framework. Lawmakers will likely spend a lot of time negotiating over the eventual result, which may be notably de-fanged from its current state. It could wind up with a lot more requirements echoing this Republican complaint: "Combats the consistent pattern of bias against conservative figures demonstrated by AI systems by requiring third-party audits to prevent discrimination based on political affiliation." Despite the claims of suppression and censorship, we’ve consistently seen this conservative argument to be false — or at the very least misleading. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/senator-blackburn-introduces-the-first-draft-of-a-federal-ai-bill-202509852.html?src=rss

A recent change in how the US Postal Service handles shipping partners appears to have forced Amazon to make alternative plans. The company reportedly plans to cut the number of packages it ships through USPS by at least two-thirds later this year. It says the decision came after USPS ended negotiations “at the eleventh hour” in favor of a new bidding process.On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Amazon plans to reduce the shipments it hands off to USPS. Last year, the company accounted for nearly 15 percent of the Postal Service’s package deliveries. Cutting that by nearly two-thirds diminishes one of the USPS’s most reliable sources of revenue. In fiscal 2025, the agency reported a net loss of $9 billion.Amazon’s current contract with USPS ends on September 30. In a public response to the WSJ story, the company said it notified USPS in October 2025 that it would need to complete a new deal by December. “You can't add capacity for hundreds of millions of packages overnight — it requires major capital investment, long-term infrastructure planning, hiring, and logistics coordination,” Amazon wrote.According to Amazon, USPS then pulled the plug on negotiations at the last second. “We negotiated with [USPS] in good faith for more than a year to reach a deal that would bring them billions in revenue and believed we were heading toward an agreement,” Amazon wrote in a statement. “Our goal was to increase our volumes with USPS, not reduce them — until USPS abruptly walked away at the eleventh hour in December.”Postmaster General David Steiner (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File)ASSOCIATED PRESSThat’s when Postmaster General David Steiner implemented a new bidding process for last-mile deliveries, replacing a long-established one where USPS negotiated with shipping partners individually. He described the move as “a fair bidding process that enables the marketplace to find the best mix of local shipping attributes for the best volume-driven pricing.” Steiner was appointed to the post in May 2025, following the departure of former head Louis DeJoy.Amazon said it submitted a bid in February using the new system but hasn’t heard back. “This creates significant uncertainty for our long-term network planning,” the company said. “Despite this, we participated in good faith and submitted a bid in February 2026. We've received no response.”USPS plans to announce the bidding results in Q2 2026. Contracts are expected to be finalized by Q3. Despite apparently moving forward with the contingency plan, Amazon said it’s still “ready to continue this partnership.”As for Postmaster Steiner, he spent Tuesday asking Congress to loosen USPS regulations and let him raise prices. Warning that the agency will “run out of cash” in about a year, he told a House subcommittee that he wants to raise the agency’s current $15 billion debt cap. He also asked for the ability to increase postage prices and reform its retiree pension obligations.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/amazon-will-reportedly-cut-its-usps-shipments-by-at-least-two-thirds-200915702.html?src=rss

Update, 4:05PM ET: A few hours after this story was published, Google reached out to retract the news. The company provided Engadget with the following statement:"Search Live has not rolled out globally to all users. It remains available in the US and India, with testing currently underway in additional markets. We apologize for the earlier miscommunication."Given that the company says it is testing in more markets, it seems entirely possible that the global Search Live release will happen sooner than later. But, for now, it’s on hold.The original, unedited article follows below:After rolling out Search Live to all US Google app users last September, Google is now bringing the feature to every place where it offers its AI Mode chatbot. Search Live, if you need a reminder, allows you to point your phone's camera at an object or scene and ask questions about what you see in front of you. Google debuted the tool at I/O 2025 before it began rolling it out to users. With today's expansion, Search Live is available in more than 200 countries and territories. What's more, Google has updated the feature to run off its Gemini 3.1 Flash model, an upgrade the company says should translate to more natural conversations, in addition to a faster and more reliable experience. The new model is also natively multilingual. You can access Search Live from the Google app on Android and iOS. Tap the "Live" button below the search bar to get started. You can also access Search Live through Google Lens. As in the Google app, look for the "Live" icon, here located near the bottom of the screen, to start chatting. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/google-is-testing-search-live-in-more-markets-150000316.html?src=rss

We just got our first trailer for Spider-Man: Brand New Day, the next big Marvel film. This is the fourth installment led by Tom Holland and follows the multiversal shenanigans of Spider-Man: No Way Home.
I'm about to get into some spoilers, for those still working through the MCU catalog. No Way Home ended with the entire world forgetting about the existence of Peter Parker, so this new movie will deal with the fallout from that. His whole support system is gone, though it looks like he still checks in on besties MJ and Ned from time to time.

Peter Parker may be lonely, but he's not alone in the film. He's teaming up with the Punisher, who is still played by Jon Bernthal after returning to the role in Daredevil: Born Again. In the comics, Spider-Man and the Punisher are long-time work buddies and occasional sparring partners. As a matter of fact, Frank Castle made his introduction in a Spider-Man comic that was published in 1974.
Bruce Banner also shows up in the trailer, potentially as Parker's professor. Mark Ruffalo is returning to the role, but we don't have any confirmation that he'll turn into the Hulk. It's worth pointing out that this is the regular human Banner, and not the hybrid version that's been popping up in recent MCU projects.
The trailer even highlights an iconic Spider-Man villain. Michael Mando is playing Scorpion, which is a pretty deep MCU cut. The character was teased all the way back in Spider-Man: Homecoming. The footage also shows Spidey battling ninjas that look suspiciously like the Hand, who were last seen in The Defenders on Netflix. This lends credence to rumors that Daredevil could be appearing in the film.

We don't have all that long to wait. Spider-Man: Brand New Day premieres in theaters on July 31. This is the final MCU film before the long-awaited Avengers: Doomsday, which hits cinemas in December.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/the-spider-man-brand-new-day-trailer-is-filled-with-mcu-cameos-170215452.html?src=rss