Superhero fans are excited about Spider-Man: Brand New Day for plenty of reasons. The upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe film will mark the big-screen debut of Jon Bernthal's Punisher and also feature a destructive version of the Hulk, who has not been seen since the events of Avengers: Infinity War back in 2018. Furthermore, Scorpion and Tombstone will take over the spotlight in live-action for the very first time, and audiences are excited to see what type of action sequences have been crafted for the wall-crawler by director Destin Daniel Cretton.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is set to make history on many different fronts, but fans are excited about the prospect of seeing Peter at the lowest point in his life (because who doesn't love when the friendly neighborhood hero has bad luck and is depressed?). Due to the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home, Peter has now lost his girlfriend, his best friend, and Aunt May. As if that wasn't enough, he's living alone in a small apartment with no one to help him. But the biggest tragedy is that the entire world has forgotten Peter ever existed... or so we initially thought.
There will be one person who remembers Peter Parker is Spider-Man in Brand New Day
Let's do a bit of a rewind. After Mysterio unveiled that Peter is the man behind the Spider-Man mask, the wall-crawler sought the help of Doctor Strange to make the world forget this secret. Things quickly took a dark turn, and the barriers between worlds started to dissipate. Everyone across the multiverse who ever knew Peter was Spider-Man was instead pulled to the MCU, and the only way to make things right was for Strange to cast another spell to make everyone forget Peter ever existed. However, every rule has its exception, and the same applies here.
During an interview with IGN, Tom Holland shared that "nobody remembers that Spider-Man is Peter Parker apart from one person." So the million-dollar question is: Who will that one person be? Well, fans already had a possible answer months in advance.
During the events of the Immortal Hulk: Great Power (2020) comic book issue, the whole world had forgotten Spider-Man's secret identity... with the exception of the Hulk. Even Bruce Banner was in the dark about the man behind the mask, but his other half knew the truth. As such, it was heavily theorized that a similar scenario would happen on the big screen, and while that is certainly a possibility, there's yet another likely answer.
We know that Spider-Man: Brand New Day will feature an antagonist with mind-control powers. During the film's second trailer, that same entity possesses different people who all talk to Spider-Man and say to him, "Did you finally get rid of that monster inside you? I think I might go see how MJ's doing."
This is a very important detail because it seems the wall-crawler is being targeted on a personal level. Whoever the villain is knows that MJ is important to the hero, and this information would be more easily known if they knew that Peter Parker is the one who wears the red and blue suit.
Granted, Spider-Man and MJ have been seen together in New York multiple times, so the mind-controlling villain doesn't necessarily need to know Peter's secret identity to connect that the two know each other. However, it's important to remember that this mystery antagonist has been heavily reported to be Sadie Sink's Jean Grey.
Maybe the reason Jean remembers Peter Parker despite Strange's spell is due to the Phoenix Force. As such, she could use this information to mess with the friendly neighborhood hero on a personal level, which would explain why MJ will be a target in the first place.
Only time will tell who remembers that Peter Parker is Spider-Man, and why. For the time being, the best two bets are the Hulk and Jean Grey, but it wouldn't be unlike Marvel to throw yet another curveball and reveal that it will be a completely different character.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day will be released on Jul. 31, 2026.
Add us as a preferred source on Google