Spider-Man: Brand New Day Post-Credit Scene Explained

Spider-Man: Brand New Day‘s seemingly underwhelming post-credit scene may actually be quietly setting up Peter Parker’s biggest MCU adventure yet.

IMAGE: Tom Holland in Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

As the title of this article naturally suggests, the article below contains SPOILERS for the new Spider-Man movie, which released in theatres on July 30. So read on only if you have already watched Spider-Man: Brand New Day and were confused about what you saw in the end.

Or if you simply don’t care about spoiling the movie beforehand. Either way, fair warning!

If you look at the social media reactions from those who have watched Spider-Man: Brand New Day, most of them are full of praise for the film. But many have one common gripe. They ask you not to wait through the end credits for the post-credit scene, saying it isn’t worth your time.

The Post-Credit Scene Criticism

IMAGE: Tom Holland in Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

Following the tradition of almost every Marvel Cinematic Universe movie since 2008’s Iron Man, every film has at least one end-credit scene. Except Avengers: Endgame, which simply ended with the sound of, presumably, Tony Stark hammering together his first Iron Man suit in the cave.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day has only one post-credit scene, which appears right at the very end of the slow-scrolling credits.

To some extent, I understand why fans are unhappy with it. The franchise has conditioned audiences to expect either a major Marvel cameo or a tease for a future film.

Like Thor and Loki seeing Thanos’ ship arrive in Thor: Ragnarok, Nick Fury paging Captain Marvel before getting snapped in Avengers: Infinity War, or the New Avengers witnessing the arrival of the Fantastic Four’s ship in Thunderbolts.

The last MCU movie before Spider-Man: Brand New Day was The Fantastic Four: First Steps, and that ended with a tease of Doctor Doom.

So naturally, fans were expecting something equally big here and were disappointed when they didn’t get it.

While Spider-Man: Brand New Day‘s post-credit scene is only an animated sequence, I disagree with those calling it inconsequential or not worth the wait, unlike the Captain America PSA video at the end of Spider-Man: Homecoming.

The scene definitely hints at a much larger picture, and perhaps one of the upcoming Avengers movies, without explicitly showing anything. Before we get into what it could signify, let’s first talk about the plot of the movie.

A New Chapter for Peter Parker

IMAGE: Zendaya, Tom Holland and Jacob Batalon in Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day feels like the beginning of a new chapter for Peter Parker (Tom Holland), with Jon Watts’ Homecoming trilogy ending with Spider-Man: No Way Home.

The new film is directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, who previously directed Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings and Wonder Man for Marvel, two of the franchise’s stronger offerings during Phases Four to Six.

Brand New Day picks up where the previous film left off. Peter Parker is now a loner in a city that has forgotten the existence of the young man who allegedly killed Mysterio, while continuing to hail Spider-Man as New York’s protector. All thanks to Doctor Strange’s spell.

His best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon) and girlfriend MJ (Zendaya) no longer remember him, and as we saw at the end of No Way Home, Peter chooses not to tell them the truth in order to protect them from future threats. They leave for MIT in Boston, while Peter remains in New York to fight crime as the friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man.

Somehow, he even manages to earn enough money without a proper college education to buy computers and advanced technology, including his own AI assistant, allowing him to build sophisticated suits much like Tony Stark used to. Like mentor, like mentee.

We see him battling and imprisoning criminals like Scorpion, Tombstone and The Hand. He is now friends with NYPD detective Jean DeWolff (Liza Colón-Zayas) and Bill Metzger (Tramell Tillman), the new head of Damage Control, the same department that relentlessly harassed Peter and his loved ones in No Way Home.

Although he is no longer part of the Avengers, Spider-Man is aware of the ‘New Avengers‘ and even stays in contact with Yelena (Florence Pugh) for information.

There is also Frank Castle, aka The Punisher (Jon Bernthal), whose violent methods of eliminating criminals constantly clash with Spider-Man’s belief in putting them behind bars, even though both ultimately share the same goal.

Emergence of New Threats and Powers

IMAGE: Sadie Sink in Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

Meanwhile, a mysterious new threat has emerged in New York. The person can possess anyone, speak through them and force them to do their bidding.

The mysterious entity is later revealed to be Jean Grey (Sadie Sink), whose mission somehow involves Damage Control, and she is determined to keep Spider-Man out of her way. Yes, she also figures out who Peter Parker is and what MJ means to him.

Peter, meanwhile, is dealing with his own mutant problems. His arachnid genes are going into overdrive because of his constant depression and isolation. He can now produce organic webbing from his wrists, much like Peter 2 (Tobey Maguire), while his spider-sense has become even more heightened. He also grows increasingly erratic and aggressive.

How Peter overcomes these physiological changes, his emotional isolation and the new villain in town forms the rest of the story.

While I won’t go into too much detail about the climax, all I can say is that the film definitely seems to be laying the foundation for the MCU’s new X-Men era. It also feels like the beginning of a fresh Spider-Man trilogy. At least five people in New York now know Peter Parker’s identity. More importantly, Peter is no longer friendless, and he finally gets a happy ending.

The Post-Credit Scene

IMAGE: Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

Let’s talk about that post-credit scene which seems to have annoyed everyone.

Earlier in the film, it is established that Ned has created an app to track Spider-Man through real-time sightings called the ‘Spidey Tracker’. We even see The Punisher using the same app. Considering the Punisher has been using it, I assume the app has been given public access, so doesn’t that mean that criminals and supervillain may find it easier to track Spider-Man and make their escape before he arrives?

Anyway, the post-credit scene returns to the full-screen interface of this app, where Spider-Man’s icon is shown being in New York. Suddenly, the icon travels out of the city, beyond Earth itself.

The camera then shifts to a completely different part of the galaxy.

After a brief glitch, Spider-Man’s icon is now floating in the middle of nowhere in space.

The scene then cuts to the words: ‘Spider-Man Will Return’.

Where?

We don’t know, but it isn’t too difficult to guess.

Unravelling the Post-Credit Scene’s Meaning

IMAGE: Robert Downey Jr in Avengers: Doomsday.

We already know that the next film in the pipeline is Avengers: Doomsday, which will revolve around multiversal incursions. It is releasing in theatres on December 18.

We also know that its main antagonist, Doctor Doom (Robert Downey Jr), comes from another Earth, Earth-828 to be precise.

Tom Holland has not officially been announced as part of the Avengers: Doomsday cast. Then again, neither was Chris Evans initially, and he has since been revealed as one of the principal cast members, reprising the role of Steve Rogers.

So it is safe to assume Marvel is still hiding plenty of casting surprises for Avengers: Doomsday.

Even though Holland’s Peter Parker isn’t on the official list, there is a strong possibility that he is in the film. There is also a popular rumour suggesting that Peter Parker from Earth-616 will somehow be transported to Earth-828, Doctor Doom’s reality. That could explain why Spider-Man’s icon appears to travel through space.

Another popular theory is that Spider-Man has actually been transported to Battleworld, the reality Doctor Doom is expected to create by the end of Avengers: Doomsday, and could be possibly be the main location for Avengers: Secret Wars.

But going by the comics, once Battleworld is created, the current Earth ceases to exist. If that happens, there shouldn’t be any tracker left functioning, so it can’t be Battleworld where Spider-Man has been transported.

However, there is one glaring loophole in that post-credit scene. Ned’s app tracks Spider-Man through real-time sightings. But who exactly is sending those live updates from that point in space back to the app? How is the internet even working across different realities?

So, logically, the scene doesn’t make much sense. It is simply Marvel’s quirky way of telling us where we are likely to see Spider-Man next, first in Avengers: Doomsday and then, of course, in Avengers: Secret Wars.

Photographs curated by Satish Bodas/Rediff