Peter Parker is not having a good time. Five years ago, the No Way Home ending erased him from the memories of his loved ones, leaving him completely isolated. Fast forward to Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and Spidey is still all on his lonesome, burned out, and operating from a run-down apartment.
It's so bad, in fact, that Peter's own body betrays him: his arachnid DNA begins to overwhelm him, transforming his powers in ways he can't control. His helpful AI assistant EV warns him that his illness is a consequence of unresolved trauma, but still Peter doesn't stop. Instead, he decides to build a device that will restrict his powers.
Through it all, though, he makes attempts to reconnect to his best pal Ned and his once-girlfriend MJ, though they have no idea who he is. It's obvious that having his support system around again would be a huge help, but Doctor Strange's spell still holds – and that's actually a very good thing for the MCU. Spoilers follow for Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
Memory lane
Going into Brand New Day, I expected the spell to be reversed at some point in the film. Surely Peter wouldn't have to keep going on alone? Except, even after MJ finds the letter Peter wrote about their shared past, she doesn't get her memories of her onetime love back. She even tells Peter that she doesn't know him or love him, in an especially brutal moment for the webslinger. It's not until the very final moments of the film that Ned possibly seems to remember Peter, though there's a tiny bit of doubt: muscle memory might have carried him through the handshake, and MJ already told him Spider-Man's real name is Peter.
But the film is so much stronger for allowing Peter to remain forgotten. For one thing, it hugely strengthens Peter's character arc. Instead of a quick fix to his isolation, he has to make the choice to reach out to others. If the spell were reversed and his friends magically remembered him, Peter wouldn't have to learn how important it is to have someone to lean on.
Plus, it allows for the film to have a lot of fun with Peter's secret identity. Now that the world has forgotten him, Peter Parker can go back to being anonymous, which means he keeps his mask on in the bathhouse with Yelena Belova, and he refuses to take it off in front of MJ and the Punisher. It's good old-fashioned superhero hijinks, and something I'd been missing after Mysterio exposed Peter's identity back in Spider-Man: Far From Home.
Most importantly, though, it introduces something the MCU has been sorely lacking: real consequences.
Nothing lasts forever
It's difficult to get emotionally invested in the MCU when nothing seems to last. Loki died heroically in Avengers: Infinity War, then (an alternate version of him) returned in his own solo show. Vision also died tragically in Infinity War and reappeared as a figment of Wanda's fake reality in WandaVision – and is now returning again in VisionQuest, since White Vision escaped with the synthezoid's memories. Steve Rogers laid down his shield and went back in time to live out the life he'd missed out on, but is coming back for Avengers: Doomsday. And, most egregiously of all, Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man made a huge sacrifice in Avengers: Endgame… and now Downey Jr. is returning to the MCU as Doctor Doom. Does nothing matter anymore? When anything can be reversed, the stakes are non-existent.
In contrast, Peter struggles for the entire movie with the reality of Doctor Strange's spell. Sacrifice finally means something, and the stakes are finally real. It makes the ending of No Way Home even stronger, too: Peter really was willing to give up everything to save everyone, as any good superhero should be.
It would be a shame if Ned apparently remembering his old best friend also stretches to MJ – her and Peter's situation echoes Peter Quill and Gamora in Guardians of the Galaxy 3, another rare example of consequences actually sticking. Gamora doesn't magically remember Quill or decide to rekindle their relationship (even though, again, Gamora was killed off in Infinity War and returns anyway), and the same goes for MJ and Peter Parker.
Gamora admitting "I bet we were fun" to Quill was one of that film's most moving moments, just as MJ telling Peter she doesn't love him was one of Brand New Day's most crushing. Having the courage to leave these unhappy plot twists without an easy solution only deepens both films' emotional weight and reinforces that the choices these heroes make actually matter. And, it opens the door for Peter and MJ to rediscover their love organically, as we see them connecting and growing closer when Spidey hides MJ on Punisher's boat.
Future projects may yet reverse Doctor Strange's spell, but, for now, it's seriously refreshing to see an MCU project that is unafraid to explore lasting consequences – even if it does make Peter Parker's life harder.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is out in theaters now. For more, read our Spider-Man: Brand New Day review and check out our guide on how to watch the Marvel movies in order.
