What’s happening with Peter Parker in the new Spider-Man?
As Marvel and comic book fans have often noted, it ain’t Peter Parker if he isn’t alone and suffering. The trailer for the upcoming “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” just dropped, and we’re getting just that, and more.
The two-and-a-half-minute sneak peek opened us to a New York following “No Way Home.” The world has forgotten about Peter Parker yet they continue to adore Spider-Man. He’s been given the key to the city for his efforts and squares off against an ever-growing rogues’ gallery—including a villain who the film synopsis describes as “one of the most powerful threats he has ever faced.”
Meanwhile, his closest friends, MJ and Ned, have both moved on to their new lives at MIT. He watches them from afar but feels powerless to do anything about it. To make matters worse, amid all this, he undergoes a physical evolution that risks both his life and his capacity as a hero. But if there’s one thing we’ve learned from watching Peter Parker all these years, it’s all in a day’s work for our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.
A physical evolution, or a… mutation?!
During the trailer, an exhausted Peter wonders what’s going on with him as he suddenly collapses inside his apartment. He wakes up covered in webs and is seemingly outdoors. He loses control of his powers and is about to fall from a considerable height, until he is able to shoot a web in just the nick of time—mind you, he did not have his web shoot on. Are we getting a Spider-Man with organic webbing just like Tobey Maguire?
Peter eventually reaches out to Bruce Banner (who also doesn’t remember him) to understand what is happening to him. He is told that his DNA is mutating, and we see him struggling with basic maneuvers we’ve seen him effortlessly do in previous movies.
For those familiar, everything about this screams Man-Spider—a mutated form of Spider-Man with eight limbs, the ability to spit acid, and is completely feral. It is described as the final stage of Peter’s mutation, which began the moment he got his powers.
However, at least for this movie, it is unlikely that they would fully commit to the Man-Spider bit, as that could lean more toward body horror. So, uncontrollable powers, darkened eyes, and organic webbing are all we’ll likely get until Peter gets his awakened powers under control and becomes even stronger than he already is.
Though with speculation circulating that Sadie Sink could be playing as the MCU’s version of Jean Grey, can we consider Spider-Man a mutant now?
New York post-Kingpin
The trailer reveals Spider-Man being handed the keys to New York. Eagle-eyed fans were quick to notice that the one handing the keys was Sheila Rivera, the political assistant seen in “Daredevil: Born Again.”
With the events of this film following the events of the Disney+ series, by this time, Wilson Fisk, aka Kingpin, has been ousted by Daredevil and is likely in prison.
While some fans have lamented how the trailer just spoiled the show’s upcoming second season, which is set to premiere this month—as one commenter pointed out, who really expected Kingpin to stay on top after the show?
Spider-Man’s rogues’ gallery
Similar to “The Amazing Spider-Man 2,” “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” will have Peter square off against several villains in one film. Among those that were introduced were Scorpion, Tarantula, Boomerang, the Punisher, and The Hand—a group of mystical ninjas who were the antagonists in the Marvel Netflix shows.
But in all likelihood, these are just minor villains to a much bigger threat: the unseen danger the trailer describes. We’ve only seen flashes of this major villain and their apparent ability to freely swap between bodies. Fans have speculated that it could be Sink’s unnamed character, but who knows if she’ll be friend or foe?
