Spider-Man: Brand New Day brings Peter Parker’s latest web-slinging adventure to an emotional close, but its cryptic ending and post-credits scene leave several key questions unanswered.
As the first Spider-Man film in five years, Brand New Day has the difficult task of following 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home — which ended with Peter sacrificing his identity so the world would forget who he was.
Tom Holland swings back into action as the arachnid superhero, reuniting with longtime costars Zendaya and Jacob Batalon. The biggest new addition is Stranger Things star Sadie Sink, whose role remained under wraps until the film’s release — and who will play a big role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) going forward.
The movie’s final moments — outlined in full below — have sparked debate over where Marvel could take Spider-Man next. Director Destin Daniel Cretton and Batalon have both since addressed the speculation.
Here’s what happens at the end of Spider-Man: Brand New Day and what it could mean for the superhero’s future.
Warning: Major spoilers follow forSpider-Man: Brand New Day.
What happens in ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’?
Spider-Man: Brand New Daypicks up afterNo Way Home, with Peter (Holland) continuing to protect New York after sacrificing his identity to save the multiverse.
While he remains Spider-Man, everyone he loves has forgotten him, including his ex-girlfriend, MJ (Zendaya), and his best friend, Ned Leeds (Batalon). He runs into both of them at a house party, where he pretends to be a neighbor. He introduces himself to Ned under an alias and watches as MJ moves on with a new boyfriend.
Peter investigates a series of attacks linked to X-Men mutant Jean Grey (Sadie Sink), who is searching for answers after her sister, Sara (Oli, died during secret government experiments
Believing Jean is behind the attacks, Peter sets out to stop her. But as he uncovers the truth about Sara’s death, he realizes Jeanis not the enemy he thought she was.
How does ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ end?
Peter’s search for answers leads him to Bill Metzger (Tramell Tillman), the government official who orchestrated the experiments on Jean and Sara.
Spider-Man persuades Jean to abandon her revenge by sharing a memory of his late Aunt May (Marisa Tomei). Seeing Peter’s own experience of loss helps Jean realize that revenge won’t bring her sister back.
Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal), the vigilante known as the Punisher, is convinced Jean is still a threat and fires a sniper shot at her.
Peter throws himself into the bullet’s path, leaving himself critically injured. Jean uses her powers to keep him alive until he reaches the hospital.
After recovering, Peter meets Ned again and introduces himself using his real name. The pair instinctively perform the secret handshake they once shared, prompting Ned to respond: “Peter?”
The scene has prompted debate among fans. Some interpreted Ned’s response as a sign that his memories were returning, while others argued he was simply acting on muscle memory and repeating Peter’s name after hearing the introduction.
The ending also shows MJ (Zendaya) holding the broken Black Dahlia necklace Peter gave her in 2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home.
Taken together, the two scenes suggest that Peter may eventually reconnect with the people he lost, although the film stops short of confirming that either Ned’s or MJ’s memories have returned.
Speaking about fan theories prompted by the ending, Cretton said he was “not trying to torture people with ambiguity.”
He told Deadline, “I feel like what’s very clear is the emotion you’re left with when we cut to black. To me, there’s a very clear feeling of joy — just enough — and then you cut to black.
“I have seen the theories, and I love the theories. I think they’re so cool, and I don’t want to stop that conversation by putting my opinion in the middle of it. Knowing there will be another movie, that conversation will continue in the writers’ room as we figure out — if we figure out — what we’re going to do next.”
Batalon also weighed in on the handshake scene, saying it “seems a little open-ended” and is “up to interpretation for everyone.”
He told the Hollywood Reporter, “What if it’s just muscle memory? What if he just remembers that handshake, but nothing else about Peter? What if he just repeats ‘Peter’ because that’s what Peter says his name is in that moment?… There could be a slight glint or little glimmer [of recognition], if you will.”
Does ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ have a post-credits scene?
Yes, Spider-Man: Brand New Day has one post-credits scene. There is no mid-credits scene.
The scene revisits the Spidey Tracker app that Ned created earlier in the film to let users report Spider-Man sightings.
The app suddenly detects another sighting. The map zooms out from New York to reveal the Earth, then continues past the moon into space. After briefly glitching, a second Spider-Man marker appears far beyond the planet.
The film then cuts to black with one final message: “Spider-Man will return.”
Exactly what the tracker has found is left unanswered. The movie never confirms whether the signal belongs to Peter or another Spider-Man, or whether it’s even coming from the same universe.
The scene has prompted speculation about a possible connection to Avengers: Doomsday or Avengers: Secret Wars, the next two Avengers films. However, Marvel hasn’t confirmed where Spider-Man will appear next.
The character is absent from the trailer for Doomsday, which was released earlier this month, despite appearing in both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
Batalon said he had no additional insight into what the sequence was setting up, joking, “You think me, of all people, knows top-brass-level information? Come on.”
Whatever the studio has planned, Holland has made clear he isn’t ready to hang up the suit just yet. The actor recently told the Hollywood Reporter he wants to play Peter “for as long as they’ll have me.”
But he has acknowledged Spider-Man won’t belong to him forever, revealing there is already “a whole plan” in place to eventually pass the role to a new actor. “It’s laid out. It’s gonna change for sure, but I have a really clear vision [of] the passing on of the baton, and I think it’s really exciting,” he told the Happy Sad Confused podcast.
Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige told Variety that “there are always plans” to make another movie with Holland, adding: “But right now, he’s going to rest after that global tour. He and Zendaya are going to take a good and restful victory lap, which they very much deserve.”
