Note: Spoilers ahead for “Spider-Man: Brand New Day”
“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” is now in theaters, taking fans into a world that no longer remembers Peter Parker. And, by the end of the film, we’re left with a whole bunch of new questions.
“Brand New Day” picks up shortly after the events of “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” wherein Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) had to cast a spell that would make it so no one would remember Peter Parker at all, and thus, couldn’t remember that Peter Parker is Spider-Man.
For our Peter (Tom Holland), this means giving up his best friend and his girlfriend. “Brand New Day” speeds through four years of living without them, but watching them live it up at MIT from afar. During that time, Peter focuses on life as Spider-Man.
How exactly he does that without having an actual job that can pay his rent and bills? No idea. But there are bigger questions that this movie leaves us with by the time the credits roll.
Let’s get into it.
Why was Bruce Banner suddenly blocking The Hulk again?
Mark Ruffalo returns as Bruce Banner in “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” and is noticeably making an effort to stay Bruce Banner. These days, he’s wearing an inhibitor that represses his Hulk genes from expressing entirely, and the tech becomes a key piece of Peter’s story.
The thing is, why has Bruce even created such an invention? When last we saw him, Banner had figured out how to live peacefully as Smart Hulk, unleashing both his Hulk side and his normal human side at once. Bruce and The Other Guy had squashed their internal beef, but now suddenly, The Hulk is as scary and dangerous as when he was first introduced.
Granted, some of that is a result of a certain mutant taking control of his head. But even when she does that, we’re outright reminded of the fact that Bruce can be both himself and The Hulk at once. So what happened here?
Is that tie severed permanently?
With the question of why Bruce is suppressing Hulk comes the question of whether their previous tie is now severed completely. Smart Hulk drew a lot of opinions, but are we now meant to believe that we’ll never see him again? That we only get Hulk or Banner, not both?
How did Peter meet Frank Castle?
Throughout “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” Peter and Frank (Jon Bernthal) argue about an incident that occurred on Staten Island, and whether Peter really saved Frank or not. Our question is, is that when they first met? And if it’s not, how exactly does Peter know The Punisher?
Sure, it’s easy to assume that they met on the job, being street-level heroes in New York. But why should we have to assume that? More importantly, why should we as viewers have to do the mental gymnastics of figuring out how they would’ve become friends? For as close as they are, their background is mostly implied, rather than explained.
How did Peter meet Yelena?
Then there’s the question of the other MCU character appearance: Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh).
In “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” Peter goes to Yelena for help in trying to figure out who’s attacking the Department of Damage Control. She immediately brushes him off, explaining that The New Avengers aren’t really focused on small-potatoes incidents. It’s a fun dynamic to see, especially as it allows Pugh to have fun with the character’s humor once more.
But again — how did they meet? Obviously Peter knows about The New Avengers, and that she’s running them, and yet again, the clear implication is that they met on the job. But given that Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) was Peter’s previous tie to the Avengers, you would think he’d have some questions about this organization, and maybe even some initial wariness of Yelena herself.
It’s possible he did, but once again, any establishing of their working relationship happened offscreen prior to this movie. Assumptions are fine, and we can roll with them, but the story would’ve arguably been better served if we actually saw these meeting.
What exactly did that post-credits scene mean?
After much discussion here at TheWrap, we simply don’t have a 100% clear answer on what exactly that post-credits scene meant. We took a swing at it, but really, we’re just doing some educated speculating.
Presumably, it sets up Spider-Man to return in “Avengers: Doomsday” somehow. But is the Spidey tracker picking up a second Spider-Man? Is there possibly one on that ship we saw at the end of “Thunderbolts*,” riding into this universe alongside the Fantastic Four? Is it maybe the return of Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man, as fans have been speculating?
There are several possible answers, and we need to know what the right one is.
How many mutants are there?
Technically, Jean Grey (Sadie Sink) is not the first mutant to appear in the MCU. That honor went to Iman Vellani’s Kamala Khan in Ms. Marvel, we just haven’t heard about that element of the story since the series wrapped up on Disney+.
As far as what we’ve seen onscreen, Jean Grey is now the second mutant in the universe. And that makes us wonder, how many are there at this point? Do the X-Men exist in this universe yet? Does Charles Xavier? We only previously met him in another universe, during “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.” We know Charles is in “Avengers: Doomsday,” but presumably, it’s the one from the Fox universe, considering those are the X-Men we appear to be getting.
When “Brand New Day” ends, we see Jean taking a bus somewhere, but it’s not specified where — could she be headed to Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters?
Does Ned actually remember Peter? And how?
In the final seconds of “Brand New Day,” Peter works up the courage to go over to his former best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon) and tell him the truth. He does so by shaking Ned’s hand, only to initiate their best bros handshake.
Ned doesn’t miss a beat, completing the handshake from what looks like muscle memory. When they finish, he looks up and goes, “Peter?!” So, it would appear that Ned has his memory back. The credits roll immediately after that little cliffhanger.
So we’re left to wonder, does Ned fully remember his past with Peter? And if he does, how exactly did that happen for him, but not MJ (Zendaya)?
It could just be that muscle memory unlocked his actual psychological memories. But let’s not forget, “Spider-Man: No Way Home” also established that Ned has magic (yeah, remember that?). Is it possible that having that magic in him — which is also not addressed once in “Brand New Day,” though we can probably chalk that up to him not remembering that either — meant he could break through Doctor Strange’s spell with the right trigger?
In theory, we should eventually get answers to all these questions. Or at least, we hope we will.
“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” is now in theaters everywhere.
