In Spider-Man: Brand New Day, it’s been four years since Peter Parker (Tom Holland) made the ultimate sacrifice – to save the world, Peter had to erase himself from everyone’s memory, including those he loved the most, MJ (Zendaya) and Ned (Jacob Batalon).
While Peter remained in New York fighting crime full-time as Spider-Man, Ned and MJ attended the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), enjoying what they call the best years of their lives, and have now graduated and moved back to New York. Peter is doing his best to not look at their social media posts, at least not obsessively, but he just can’t help himself, especially as he anticipates their return to the city. “Peter has been telling himself that he’s let MJ and Ned go,” producer Amy Pascal says, “but he never has, and he’s checking on them all the time.”
The key directive for the filmmakers, Zendaya, and Batalon, was to push MJ and Ned forward in time. This story acknowledges that several years have passed, and that passage is reflected in the opening montage, which moves MJ and Ned through their college years and into early adulthood. This presents MJ and Ned as recognizably the same people audiences love but who are also clearly changed by experience. They are no longer teenagers navigating high school; MJ and Ned are young adults shaped by independence, responsibility, and growth.
Zendaya as MJ, and Tom Holland as the titular superhero in Spider-Man: Brand New Day
Photo credit: Columbia Pictures
“This is a new chapter in MJ’s and Ned’s lives,” says Zendaya. “When they move back to New York, they must figure out how to become adults. That idea resonated with me because I remember when I was trying to figure out who I wanted to be in the world. It’s a pivotal time for MJ and Ned, as it is for most people.”
Batalon, returning as Ned, says it’s hard for Peter to accept that Ned and MJ “are entering adulthood without him. They’ve been inseparable all through school. Peter is undergoing a major transformation and MJ and Ned are oblivious; they’re living their lives with no recollection of the guy who had been with them every step of the way. Peter is fighting back the emotions of seeing Ned and MJ, and he’s trying to decide how to move forward, alone. Most of all, Peter doesn’t want to re-engage with his friends because that’s part of his evolution as Spider-Man. Still, he must keep them safe, even if it’s from afar.”
“Peter is miserable about no longer being able to connect with them,” says Holland. And so he buries himself in his work as Spider-Man.
It was always a dream of Peter’s to live in an apartment with his two best friends and figure out how to be adults together. “But now he’s on the outside, looking in, and it’s torturous for Peter,” says director Destin Daniel Cretton. “He’s clearly yearning to be part of this but knows how dangerous it would be if he tried to trigger their memories,” because no one can be safe knowing who Spider-Man really is, especially MJ and Ned.
This memory loss was a huge element the filmmakers had to address in crafting the story. “It was a big discussion,” Cretton says. “What happens if your memory is erased about someone you love deeply? That can happen in real life, of course, when a loved one suffers from dementia or Alzheimer’s. But there are also so many instances of people with these kinds of memory loss who do experience something – it can be sparked by a piece of music or an unspecified feeling – that tells us that some kind of connection is still there. All this made the story’s more fantastical ideas feel relatable.”
Zendaya points to the possibility of a sense of connection between the characters, despite the memory erasures. “My suspicion is that MJ and Ned have a feeling that something in their lives is missing,” she shares. “I don’t think MJ knows exactly what’s missing, but she senses that things are not quite right.”
The challenging transitions Peter, MJ and Ned are trying to make from students to adults are also relatable for movie audiences. “Relationships change when you leave high school or college and your school group,” says producer Kevin Feige. “For Peter Parker, it was a seismic change because everyone, including his closest friends, have forgotten him. It’s a journey for Peter that’s rich in emotion and pathos.”
Also starring Sadie Sink, Jon Bernthal, Michael Mando, Tramell Tillman and Mark Ruffalo, Spider-Man: Brand New Day dawns in Philippine cinemas on July 29. Tickets available now!
