There's Actually A Good Reason Spider-Man Isn't In The New Avengers

Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for Spider-Man: Brand New Day

Without a doubt, Tom Holland’s Peter Parker is arguably one of the MCU most popular and recognizable heroes in the current era. However, his official Avengers status was just clarified in Spider-Man: Brand New Day in a way that may feel pretty confusing. However, there’s actually some pretty good reasons why Spider-Man isn’t an active New Avenger.

When you look at Spider-Man’s past career in the MCU, it’s easy to spot some pretty significant Avengers-level feats from the Wallcrawler. After all, Peter Parker has been in space, fought Thanos, and was dubbed an Avenger by Iron Man himself in Avengers: Infinity War before participating in Endgame’s Battle of Earth following The Blip. However, Spider-Man: Brand New Day does a good job affirming why Peter Parker has the more isolated and street-level status quo in the present-day MCU.

Although the future may look pretty different for Spider-Man, it’s interesting to look at the reasons why Peter Parker’s Webslinger is currently considered a “small potato” hero rather than a “big potato” New Avenger in the MCU.

Spider-Man Solo Was A Personal Choice After Spider-Man: Far From Home/No Way Home

Spider-Man’s previous solo movies post-Endgame actually inform a lot about his current non-Avenger status in the MCU.

In 2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home, Peter Parker was grappling with the loss of Tony Stark and the pressures he felt to become the next Iron Man. However, he was able to prove to himself by the movie’s end that he could focus on being Spider-Man. Then, 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home saw Peter making a major sacrifice to save the multiverse, allowing Doctor Strange to stabilize the universe by casting a spell to make everyone forget Peter Parker, including his loved ones.

As such, Spider-Man: Brand New Day opens with the aftermath of Peter throwing his entire life into being Spider-Man, leaving very little time to just be Peter Parker and remaining quite isolated from the rest of the world.

Keeping all that in mind, it was essentially Spider-Man’s deliberate choice to be more grounded, street-level, and own his own. With that perspective, Yelena’s “small potatoes” assessment makes perfect sense for the current-day Websligner, having chosen to focus more on bank robberies, organized crime, and supervillains who, while dangerous, aren’t world-ending threats.

While he’s more than earned the right to be a “big potato” hero in the MCU, that’s not who Spider-Man has chosen to be by the opening of Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Conversely, it also explains why Spider-Man can easily move between comparatively smaller dangers and much bigger threats like Sadie Sink’s Jean Grey (as well as her control over The Incredible Hulk).

After Brand New Day, Spider-Man Feels More Ready Than Ever To Join An MCU Team

New Avengers, Fantastic Four, and Avengers in Avengers Doomsday

All this to say, things may very well be changing for Peter Parker in the aftermath of Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Shown visiting Aunt Mau’s grave, Peter promises her that he’s going to stop living his life so isolated and alone. Case in point, the final scenes of the new MCU movie see Peter letting Detective Jean DeWolff handle a bank robbery without him, while also choosing to reconnect with Ned.

However, there are some bigger potential implications as well. Spider-Man could also start being more comfortable accepting help from and joining other heroes in the MCU. While it doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll become a card-carrying member of the New Avengers, he definitely now seems to be in a better place to start joining bigger teams of heroes. And wouldn’t you know it, both Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars are right around the corner.

While he might be more comfortable doing “small potato” heroics, Spider-Man has always been “big potato” capable. The difference now is that he seems to have finally reached a better place where he’ll likely be more willing to enter those “big potato” spaces from time to time. He may not be officially confirmed for Doomsday and Secret Wars just yet, but my fingers are most definitely crossed.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is now playing in theaters from Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures.