Warning: Spoilers for Spider-Man: Brand New Day
Spider-Man: Brand New Day marks another major turning point for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, delivering an emotional story for Peter Parker while expanding the franchise in some surprising ways. The film introduces important new characters, deepens existing relationships, and plants the seeds for stories that will almost certainly continue in future Marvel projects. As satisfying as Brand New Day’s ending may be, though, the movie intentionally leaves plenty of details open to interpretation, inviting audiences to speculate about what comes next.
Marvel Studios has built a solid reputation for rewarding attentive viewers, and Brand New Day continues that tradition. Throughout the film, subtle dialogue, lingering shots, and carefully placed teases hint at a much larger picture without offering definitive answers. Rather than tying every storyline together in a neat bow, the movie embraces mystery, ensuring that fans will be dissecting its biggest moments long after leaving the theater. Whether those mysteries are resolved in future Spider-Man installments or crossover events remains to be seen.
With the MCU entering an exciting new era with Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, the unanswered threads left behind by Brand New Day feel more significant than ever. Some could reshape Peter Parker’s future, while others may have far-reaching consequences for the wider Marvel universe. Until Marvel reveals exactly where these storylines are heading, fans are left piecing together the clues and debating what each tease could mean.
Does Oscorp Actually Exist On Earth-616?
Image via Disney+
Early on in the film, Ned asks MJ about a job she recently interviewed for after graduating from MIT. MJ notes that she turned down the job, which she describes as being at a “soulless corporation.”
The mention of a “soulless corporation” in a Spider-Man movie inevitably poses the question of whether the corporation in question is Oscorp, the multibillion-dollar corporation founded by Norman Osborn. Oscorp played a prominent role in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man but has not appeared in the MCU. Norman Osborn in Spider-Man: No Way Home, after traveling from his universe to the MCU’s Earth-616, states, “Someone’s living in my house. Oscorp doesn’t exist.”
It has been a number of years since Osborn entered Earth-616, meaning Oscorp may have come about in the years that have transpired. The film does not provide confirmation, however, that the corporation MJ received a job offer from is indeed Oscorp.
How Do Yelena And Peter Know One Another?
In the first act of Brand New Day, Peter Parker visits Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova in a Russian bathhouse in New York City. It is clear based on the nature of their interaction that the friendly neighborhood web-slinger and leader of The New Avengers know one another and have seemingly had at least one interaction prior to the events of the film.
It is unclear, however, how Yelena and Peter already know one another. Peter has inevitably heard of Yelena given the prominence of the New Avengers in New York City, and Yelena has surely heard of Spider-Man given the way in which he’s cleaned the streets of crime in recent years, but their interaction in the film suggests that they have a less superficial relationship.
Perhaps Spider-Man helped Yelena with one of those “big potato” problems she and the New Avengers are accustomed to tackling. Or perhaps Yelena interfaced with Spider-Man at some point about his role at keeping localized threats in the city at bay. Brand New Day does not offer clarity on this subject.
Why Don’t The New Avengers Help Spider-Man Against Jean Grey?
Yelena makes it clear that Spider-Man tackles “small potatoes” and that she and the New Avengers deal with “big potatoes,” but surely the threat Jean Grey poses to the people of New York City constitutes “big potatoes.”
Despite this, Yelena and The New Avengers take a backseat as Spider-Man leads the charge against Jean Grey and only recruits another street-level vigilante in The Punisher to aid him. After Jean launches so many attacks on Damage Control facilities and inhabits the minds of thousands of New Yorkers in the film’s climax, one would think that The New Avengers would step in to help Spidey out, especially given Yelena is already aware of the web-slinger’s pursuit of Jean.
It is possible that the New Avengers were preoccupied with other problems, such as the space crisis teased in the post-credits scene of Thunderbolts*. It is also possible that they simply underestimated the threat of Jean Grey and, by the time the gravity of the threat she posed became evident in the film’s final act, Spider-Man already resolved the conflict.
Is Jean Grey Going To Xavier’s School At The End Of The Movie?
One of the final moments of the film shows Sadie Sink’s Jean Grey as she sits on a bus, seemingly traveling upstate. Fans of X-Men comics will know that Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters (a.k.a. The X-Mansion) is located in Salem Center, a fictional town in upstate New York.
The X-Men do not exist as public figures on Earth-616, but this does not mean that the likes of Charles Xavier, Scott Summers, and others aren’t operating in the background. Perhaps, the mutants on Earth-616 stay in the shadows, despite earthly or intergalactic conflicts that arise. If this is the case, Jean may be traveling to a version of Xavier’s school that is even more off the grid than it is in previous film adaptations of the X-Men.
Are There Other X-Men On Earth-616?
The existence of Jean Grey on Earth-616 begs the question: is she the only member of the X-Men who exists in this universe? The likes of Wolverine and Charles Xavier have appeared in previous MCU movies, but they exist in universes different from Earth-616.
To date, there are very few confirmed mutants on Earth-616 and, until Jean Grey, none of them are typically associated with the X-Men as they are portrayed in the comics.
Brand New Day doesn’t address whether Cyclops, Rogue, Iceman, Storm, Beast, or any number of other members of the X-Men exist somewhere on Earth-616, although one can’t help but think that, given Jean Grey’s presence, surely variants of these mutants are out there somewhere.
What Happened to Metzger?
After Peter convinces Jean to spare Metzger, the ill-intentioned member of Damage Control goes missing and is not seen again. As such, Metzger’s fate is left open-ended. The most logical guess is that he has become a fugitive on the run if Damage Control’s illegal experiments on Jean and Sara Grey were seemingly exposed to the world.
How Is The Hulk’s Mind Broken By Jean Grey?
After Jean Grey inhabits Bruce Banner’s mind and uses him as a weapon against Spider-Man and The Hulk, an anguished Bruce comments that something Jean did to him has broken his mind. But what this comment truly means remains unclear.
Clearly Jean’s entry into Bruce’s mind led to him being unleashed as a more rageful version of The Hulk, but this has happened numerous times through the MCU before, even if Bruce at this point in the timeline has become accustomed to having The Hulk under control. So what is it about this particular instance led to Bruce feeling as if his mind is broken?
Potentially, this is just a throwaway line that is included to indicate how distressing Jean’s mind-control was for Bruce. It’s also possible that the line holds deeper meaning and sets the stage for an evolution in The Hulk. If indeed his mind was broken, surely this will have implications for how the character is portrayed in future stories?
What Happened On Staten Island With Spider-Man And The Punisher?
The MCU once had Budapest. Now it has Staten Island. Spider-Man and The Punisher bicker about an incident that occurred on Staten Island prior to the events of the film, although there are few details provided to suggest what actually went down.
As Spider-Man and The Punisher argue and talk over one another so much, the audience is only privy to bits and pieces of information about the conflict on Staten Island. It appears that Spider-Man saved The Punisher from some kind of threat but disappointingly little else is known about what appears to be the characters’ first meeting in the MCU.
Why Is The Spidey-Tracker Showing Spider-Man Is Off World In The Post-Credits Scene?
The intriguing post-credits scene shows an image of Ned Leeds’ Spidey-Tracker app, which depicts a symbol of Spider-Man slowly traveling east. The symbol begins in New York City, where everyone expects Spidey to be detected, yet starts to drift outside the city, outside the country, and eventually beyond planet Earth.
The post-credits scene is purposefully shrouded in mystery and poses all kinds of questions regarding the future of Spider-Man. Does this mean that, some time after the events of Brand New Day, Spider-Man is brought off-world for a mission? Does it mean that Spider-Man has traveled to another universe entirely? Or could this not even reflect Tom Holland’s Spider-Man at all, but, rather, Tobey Maguire or Andrew Garfield’s variants of Spider-Man in an entirely different universes?
Will Spider-Man Be In Avengers: Doomsday?
The film concludes with on-screen text reading: “Spider-Man Will Return.” However, unlike on-screen text concluding Thunderbolts* and The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which confirmed that those films’ heroes would return in Avengers: Doomsday, Destin Daniel Cretton’s film does not indicate in what future story fans will next get to see Holland’s Spidey.
Tom Holland has been conspicuously absent from casting announcements for Avengers: Doomsday to date and has repeatedly denied his involvement in the film during the promotional campaign for Brand New Day. Based on Holland’s stardom and the popularity of Spider-Man as a character, one would think that, if indeed he is in Doomsday, that such an announcement would have already arrived.
This does not mean, however, that Spider-Man will not appear in Avengers: Doomsday. The first trailer for the film confirmed that part of it takes place in New York City, which, of course, is the home of Spider-Man. And Yelena, despite her small and big potatoes comment, knows who Spider-Man is and feasibly could recruit him to face off against the X-Men or Doctor Doom.
Do Ned And MJ Remember Peter?
Arguably the biggest question looming large over Spider-Man: Brand New Day story is whether Peter Parker’s best friend and girlfriend will ultimately remember who he is. The spell performed by Doctor Strange at the end of No Way Home ensured that everyone who knew Peter Parker, including Ned and MJ, forgot his existence. But Brand New Day teases that this memory wipe may not be permanent.
Throughout the film, Ned and MJ seem as if they are missing something in their lives, a point that Zendaya and Jacob Batalon have spoken about in interviews leading up to the release of the film. MJ looks at Peter at times as if she recognizes him and even comments how quickly Spider-Man and Ned seem like best friends.
The end of the film depicts MJ sitting on the rooftop of their former high school holding the black broach that Peter gave her in Spider-Man: Far From Home. Elsewhere, Ned somehow remembers the secret handshake he and Peter shared. The final word of the film, “Peter” is uttered by Ned and delivered by Batalon in a way that seems to indicate some form of familiarity.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day neither confirms nor denies whether MJ and Ned ultimately remember Peter Parker, although there are certainly enough hints to suggest that memories of Peter are hidden somewhere in the recesses of their minds and aren’t too far away from being unlocked.