Brand New Day Looks Incredible, But One Detail Could Ruin the Whole Film

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is hitting its stride with Destin Daniel Cretton and Spider-Man: Brand New Day, a movie that finally feels more like a Spider-Man movie than an MCU movie. This distinction may allow Tom Holland’s Peter Parker to develop as a character in ways that the previous MCU Spider-Man movies have not, and yet one striking similarity it already bears with Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy and Marc Webb’s Amazing Spider-Man duology is quite troubling.

Zendaya’s Michelle Jones-Watson plays a massive role in almost all the MCU Spider-Man movies, and that seems to be the case in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, as well. This could be disastrous for the upcoming movie, however, if it means that, once again, a live-action Peter Parker will be annoyingly unable to abstain from his love interest—the one he swears he cannot be with, no less—for longer than a fraction of a second.

Spider-Man Has a Love Interest Problem

Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s Peters toy with the emotions of their respective love interests, Mary Jane Watson and Gwen Stacy, by becoming emotionally available and unavailable on a whim while never actually giving them the space they claim that they need. Now, Tom Holland’s Peter is tumbling down this all-too-familiar road.

In-universe, it will have apparently been four years since the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, meaning Peter has toiled without MJ for an incredibly long while, canonically. The problem is that these four years will be glossed over in a time jump and will likely not be experienced by audiences beyond a cinematic flashback montage.

If it feels like only a day or two has passed between Spider-Man: No Way Home and Spider-Man: Brand New Day when watching them back-to-back, it will only be more difficult to digest Peter and MJ already rekindling. One Spider-Man movie following Spider-Man: No Way Home that either featured MJ sparingly or not at all would have fortified how profound Peter’s choice was to have his loved ones forget who he was and not immediately go to MJ and Ned and tell them who he is.

Instead, he has been itching to spill the beans, and Peter being so close to MJ and Ned in Spider-Man: Brand New Day (choosing to go to an apartment party of MJ’s to yearn for her across a room while her new boyfriend is there) sullies the conviction with which he stifled tears, faked a smile, pocketed his handwritten letter, and surrendered his happiness in order for them to be safe.

MJ is Likely to Break Doctor Strange’s Spell

The apartment party scene at the end of the trailer reveals that MJ has a Pepe Silvia-esque wall with a collage of Spider-Man photos, implying that she has been investigating Spider-Man formally and is concerned with deducing his true identity. Whether inadvertently or not, Spider-Man: No Way Home’s ending may have already foreshadowed that MJ will learn who he is before long when she says she inferred who he was before, and that she could do it again.

Plus, with the key to New York City being such a focal point of the first trailer, the least surprising way that MJ could find out that Peter is Spider-Man is if she sees that giant golden key lying around in his apartment—assuming he doesn’t show it to her first as a way to convince her.

Hell, MJ is still wearing the Black Dahlia necklace Peter bought for her during their international school trip to Venice, Italy in Spider-Man: Far From Home. There is a lot going on in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and yet it will be quite surprising if MJ does not learn who Peter is by the end of it.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is scheduled to be released in theaters on July 31, 2026.