Tom Holland has once again suited up as Peter Parker in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, bringing Marvel Cinematic Universe fans back together - and, in many ways, to life. The webslinger makes his triumphant return to the MCU for the first time in four years, but if you asked Peter himself, it's safe to say that he isn't feeling particularly triumphant.
With his closest friends not remembering who he is (due to a spell cast by Doctor Strange in 2021's Spider-Man: No Way Home) and the world completely forgetting that he ever existed, Peter has seen better days - even if Spidey himself is in the peak of his crime-fighting career.
The question is: Does MJ remember who Peter is at the end of Spider-Man: Brand New Day? If you really want to know the answer, read on. But be warned: There are SPOILERS ahead.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day's ending leaves MJ and Peter in a very interesting place
The ending of Spider-Man: Brand New Day sees the wall-crawler successfully defeat the Department of Damage Control after its attempt to take down Sadie Sink's mysterious character. However, it has left his relationships with Ned Leeds and MJ in an unexpected place. One that has left fans asking a lot of questions.
While audiences were hoping that MJ would remember Peter before the end of the movie, it's more complicated than that She knows who he is, yes, but she doesn't have those memories. At least not that we know of. See, she did read Peter's letter that he had written to her while hiding out at The Punisher's lair, but she doesn't have the memories of that life. That life is gone, at least for now, and she can't remember it. It's as she said: She doesn't love that version of Peter because she simply can't remember him. But, that doesn't mean that she can't fall in love with this one.
Whenever MJ was watching Peter and Ned catch up like old freinds, she couldn't help but smile; she knew that there was love there and could feel it in the room. But the question is: Can memories return in the same way that muscle memory behaves? It's possible, and it appears that this might be what happened with Ned.
The closing moments of the movie see Peter reach out to Ned and introduce himself as "Peter". While it seems that Ned remembers who he is, he could simply be remembering that "Peter" is actually Spider-Man's real name (something that he found out earlier in the movie). And yet, that doesn't explain why he remembered his and Peter's signature handshake.
It also doesn't explain why, at the end of the movie, MJ was sitting on that same roof that she, Peter, and Ned all sat on in Spider-Man: No Way Home, or why she was holding onto the Black Dahlia necklace that Peter gave her in Spider-Man: Far From Home. And with that in mind, it's entirely possible that the memories are coming back to both of them.
Of course, Spider-Man: Brand New Day is seemingly the first installment of a brand new Spider-Man trilogy for Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios, so you know rightly that there is more story there to explore. And, with that, we should see the evolution of Peter and MJ's relationship, as well as his relationship with Ned, as they find their way back to each other.
When Spider-Man: Brand New Day started, Peter Parker had no one who cared about him. Now, his two best friends do; and even though they don't remember their previous friendship with him, there is love there. And that's growth - growth that will continue to blossom in the franchise's future installments.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is in theaters now.
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