Even though they tend to come out between the major event movies and exist in a relatively contained pocket of the MCU continuity, the Spider-Man movies tend to have pretty big worldbuilding implications when it comes to their endings. And while Brand New Day definitely doesn’t set the world alight in this regard, especially with its rather mysterious and ambiguous post-credits scene, it definitely implies big things for the short-term future of the MCU, at least as far as Peter Parker is concerned.
While functioning largely as an introduction to Jean Grey as the first in what will presumably be a wave of X-Men, there’s also clearly some setup for Avengers: Doomsday here, luckily of a more organic variety than the nostalgia-bait we’ve seen in the trailer. So there’s plenty to be paying attention to and speculating about here, even if the story of the movie itself is relatively self-contained and wraps up rather nicely.
Bill Metzger Is Still on the Run
After the bait-and-switch revealed that Jean Grey was simply looking for her missing sister, who had been kidnapped and experimented on by the Department of Damage Control, the organization’s director, Bill Metzger, was immediately promoted to the role of Big Bad. And given that he managed to get away at the end of the movie in all the confusion around Peter being shot, he’s still loose, and still presumably up to no good.
Given what we’ve seen already, I largely expect Damage Control to be a big recurring antagonist organisation, especially where the X-Men are concerned. The kidnapping of and experimentation on gifted individuals is very much a thing in X-stories, and given Metzger already has some form, I suspect that’ll be the basis on which he reoccurs.
The Hulk Is Locked Up
While Bruce Banner didn’t have a huge part to play in Brand New Day, his inclusion was still pretty important. For one thing, he gave Peter the idea behind the inhibitor chip that he used to control his own rampaging arachnid DNA and mute Jean’s powers. He also provided a nice excuse for a destructive action set-piece. Unfortunately, that set-piece landed him in what is being framed as psychiatric care, which may well mean he won’t show up in Doomsday.
More interesting, though, is the fact that eventually, Hulk definitely recognised Peter. Given that Doctor Strange’s spell was supposed to erase everyone’s memory of Peter and Spider-Man, this is a big moment, and ties in nicely with another one we’ll discuss later. It’s obvious that Strange’s spell isn’t permanent, and there are ways in which it can be broken. Perhaps the distinction between Banner and Hulk works as an explanation for one of the potential loopholes.
Is Jean Grey On Her Way to Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters?
Given that this version of Jean Grey is both gifted and a youngster, and that she’s knocking around New York, the logical assumption is that the bus Jean is on at the end of Brand New Day is taking her to Westchester County, where Xavier’s school traditionally is.
Westchester is out of New York proper, which would make sense geographically, as Jean was seen heading out of the city. It’d also be a logical decision for her. She has realised through duress that her powers are much more significant than even she realised, and she needs to find a way to control them. Since there aren’t too many options for doing that, especially given how Damage Control operates, her heading to Xavier makes a lot of sense.
Of course, Professor X hasn’t been officially introduced in this universe, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t there. “It’s a multiverse variant” can’t suffice as an excuse for everything. Maybe the X-Men have just been keeping things pretty low-key until this point.
How Does Ned Remember Peter?
At the end of Brand New Day, Peter realises that he can’t be a superhero alone. Previously, he had tried to keep himself completely separated from MJ and Ned on the pretext of keeping them safe, but at least in the case of MJ, he wasn’t able to do that either way. By closing off that part of himself and living in isolation, Peter made his life even harder.
Despite a crushing earlier scene when MJ found the letter Peter wrote for her and still didn’t remember him, implying Doctor Strange’s spell was immutable, at the very end of the movie Peter once again spots Ned while he’s picking up flowers for May. This time, though, he decides to go over and introduce himself. They shake hands, and when Peter triggers their high-school secret handshake, Ned remembers the moves, and more importantly remembers Peter himself.
There could be a ton of explanations for this. It could be that Doctor Strange didn’t account for muscle memory. It could be that now Peter has gotten used to his increased arachnid DNA, he’s in a slightly different place in his personal arc, and his self-acceptance has changed the boundaries of the spell. It could also be that Jean has had a hand in helping people to remember Peter, in much the same way as she was able to keep him alive after the Punisher shot him.
For now, MJ still doesn’t remember Peter, but if both the Hulk and Ned can, then there’s every chance they’ll still get their happily ever after.
What Does the Post-Credits Scene in Spider-Man: Brand New Day Mean?
In the post-credits scene, Ned’s extremely powerful spider-tracking app picks up Spider-Man’s location… way out in space.
Since we know that Peter is in New York, this obviously isn’t referring to the Prime Earth Peter Parker. Instead, it’s much more likely to be a tease for a multiverse Spider-Man, perhaps one who might show up in Doomsday. Popular theories include one last go-around for Tobey Maguire in the role, but perhaps the more sensible theory is a Secret Wars tie-in that introduces Miles Morales as another universe’s Spider-Man.
Since Tom Holland is aging out of the role, he’s going to need a replacement at some point, and Miles is the most obvious, logical option. Perhaps what we’re seeing in the post-credits scene is the first tease for his arrival.
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