Spider-Man: No Way Home is one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s biggest hits, earning widespread critical acclaim and $1.9 billion at the worldwide box office. Much of that success was due to the blasts of nostalgia at the film’s core, but No Way Home was an example of fan service done right. Even as Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man entered the picture, the focus remained on Tom Holland’s iteration with a poignant narrative about what “great responsibility” truly means. One of the standout moments of Holland’s MCU tenure is his Peter Parker making a selfless sacrifice at the end of No Way Home, telling Doctor Strange to cast a spell that will make everyone forget about him. Of course, that meant saying goodbye to his closest friends and loved ones.
Peter’s decision in No Way Home (particularly, his choice to not reconnect with Ned and MJ) is an incredibly powerful twist. As heartbreaking as it was, it was an important step of Peter’s journey as a hero. This is why some Marvel fans are concerned by the signs indicating this summer’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day will undo the No Way Home ending. That ending feels like something that should remain permanent, but after the latest batch of Brand New Day reveals, I’m convinced Marvel has to undo it — and there’s a right way to do it.
Peter Parker Completely Misunderstood Aunt May’s Point in Spider-Man: No Way Home
Recently, Marvel shared a few annotated pages of the Brand New Day script, giving fans some insight into the creative process. The film begins with Peter reading the letter he wrote (but never read) to MJ at the end of No Way Home. In the voiceover, Peter explains why he’ll never reintroduce himself to her by saying it’s his responsibility “to live alone with the truth.” Interestingly, this page includes a note from director Destin Daniel Cretton that says this is a “[misrepresentation] of what May said to him” in No Way Home. Famously, moments before her death, May said a variation of “with great power comes great responsibility” to her nephew, giving him a final lesson to carry through in life.
Obviously, May was referring to Peter’s responsibility to use his gifts and abilities to help others. She was so adamant about curing the villains in No Way Home because she knew Peter had the talent and resources to aid them. Even after the Green Goblin attacked, May didn’t waver in that belief. Somehow, Peter got his aunt’s message twisted, and his takeaway was that it was ultimately his responsibility to cut himself off from society because he is Spider-Man, and it’s his job to just keep people safe so they can enjoy their lives. He convinced himself that he shouldn’t have personal connections.
That mindset probably stems from whatever lingering guilt Peter feels about causing Doctor Strange’s original spell to go haywire. He was so worried about how that spell would affect Ned, MJ, and May that he indirectly caused a multiversal incident that led to his aunt’s death. If he isn’t close to anyone and no one knows he’s Spider-Man, then something like that can’t happen again. From his point of view, Peter believes he’s keeping his friends safe by isolating himself from them. The issue with this — which the Brand New Day script makes abundantly clear — is that it’s an extremely unhealthy way for a person to live.
In the nine months since the end of No Way Home, Peter has become a superhero hermit. Per the script annotations, he is “entirely alone” for the first time in his life, and his only friend is his new AI assistant E.V. When Peter experiences a “small, sharp headache” (a tease of his mutating DNA), he “shakes it off” and hopes it isn’t anything serious. Cretton’s script notes directly call Peter out for “signs of unhealthy living,” laying the groundwork for the character’s emotional arc in Brand New Day. By making Peter’s lonely existence the main crux of the first few pages of the script, the filmmakers are communicating that the story will partially be about Peter realizing the error of his ways and learning to open himself up to others again.
How Undoing the No Way Home Ending Can Work
It makes a lot of sense for the No Way Home ending to reverberate through Brand New Day. That was a massive development, so it’s a thread that should be continued. However, Holland’s Spider-Man can’t just be a perpetually depressed hermit for the rest of his MCU tenure. It’s a compelling angle for one movie to explore, but beyond that, the premise could wear thin — especially since other versions of Spider-Man have had support systems. In just the other films, Tobey Maguire’s Peter had Aunt May, Andrew Garfield’s was close with Gwen Stacy, and Miles in the Spider-Verse movies has a bevy of other variants he can lean on. A support system — even if it’s just one person — is an integral part of Spider-Man.
Giving Holland’s Peter a support system at this stage in the MCU necessitates undoing the No Way Home ending. The trick is finding the right approach to pull that off. Reestablishing the status quo of the Peter/Ned/MJ trio would feel hollow, undercutting the emotional impact of No Way Home‘s devastating conclusion. It would also fly in the face of the Brand New Day title itself. The idea is that this film is the first chapter of a new story for Peter Parker, so hitting the reset button could be interpreted as a cheap move. In order for this to truly be a “brand new day,” Peter needs to move forward — and that means moving on from Ned and MJ.
Considering his history with them, it’s understandable why Peter is so obsessed with reconnecting with Ned and MJ, but there are signs that’s a lost cause. MJ has a new boyfriend, indicating she has moved on with her life. Ned likely has made new friends in college. As much as Peter would love to go back to his old life, it’s borderline impossible for him to reform those bonds. Not even Spider-Man can make up years of shared experiences just in conversation. All the time Peter is spending trying to reinsert himself into Ned and MJ’s lives could be used to make new connections and new friends. And this is the smart way to technically undo the No Way Home ending.
If Brand New Day has new characters assume those support system roles (even if it’s just Peter confiding in Bruce Banner, who seems to take an interest in Peter’s mutating DNA), it would be a way for Marvel to have its cake and eat it too. The larger “Peter Parker No More” sentiment of the No Way Home ending would be cast aside, but the immediate impact of Peter severing his ties to Ned and MJ would remain. That would likely be a satisfying solution for most viewers and give Brand New Day a compelling thematic arc to tap into, mirroring high school students moving on to the “brand new day” of college. In No Way Home, the “responsible” thing for Peter to do in that moment was to sacrifice his relationships, but May wasn’t saying he should go through life with no friends. In Brand New Day, he’ll hopefully learn that.
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