Spoiler alert! Major spoilers ahead for Spider-Man: Brand New Day, so proceed with caution if you haven’t made it to the theater yet!
As with any upcoming Marvel movie, the lead-up to Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s release on the 2026 movie calendar was full of rumors, theories and big questions. Now we finally have some answers about what happened to Tom Holland’s Peter Parker after Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) cast a spell to make everyone forget he’d ever existed. Brand New Day balanced the emotional story of Peter’s isolation with his battles against a new threat (props if you avoided the Sadie Sink spoilers), and the ending hinted at a possible crack in Strange’s spell.
Doctor Strange’s Spell Remained Intact For Most Of Spider-Man: Brand New Day
Spider-Man: No Way Home ended with Doctor Strange being forced to erase Peter Parker from everyone’s memory after a previous spell went haywire and ripped open the multiverse. Spider-Man: Brand New Day didn’t backtrack on that plot point at all, and it was heartbreaking to see Peter keeping tabs on MJ (Zendaya) and Ned (Jacob Batalon) from afar. It wasn’t until the final scene of the movie that we were given hope that Peter wouldn’t have to continue living in such isolation.
Did Ned’s Memories Of Peter Return In The End?
While MJ ended up finding the note that Peter decided not to give her at the end of No Way Home, she still didn’t remember Peter, telling him she didn’t love him because she didn’t share the same memories as the girl he wrote the letter to.
In the end, that didn’t discourage Peter from making further efforts, though. After he helped Jean Grey come to terms with her sister's death — and she, in turn, kept him alive after The Punisher accidentally shot him — Peter chose to introduce himself to Ned when he ran into him again. Ned didn’t recognize his old friend until Peter started leading him in their secret handshake from high school. Ned's muscle memory ultimately kicked in, and his face lit up with recognition, as he shouted, “Peter!”
This would indicate that either Peter and Ned’s bond is so strong that no spell was powerful enough to make one forget the other completely, or it could mean that Doctor Strange’s spell weakens over time or was damaged by something that happened in Brand New Day.
If Doctor Strange’s Spell Can Be Broken, Who Else Will Remember Peter?
We only get one fleeting moment of Ned with his Peter Parker memories presumably returned, so we can only theorize what that means for when and where we’ll see Spider-Man next.
If it was the friends' close bond that broke Doctor Strange’s spell, does that mean MJ’s memories of Peter Parker can also be salvaged? What about the villains Spider-Man has fought? What about Happy or even Doctor Strange himself?
Did the spell got weaker over time, or was it damaged or altered when Jean Grey was keeping Spider-Man alive? Had enough time passed that if Peter had run into MJ that day in the bodega instead of Ned, he might have been able to awaken her memories?
Those are questions that may not be answered for a while (unless Tom Holland drops a new spoiler in the meantime), but I’m certain there will be no shortage of theories as we await Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. Until then you can try to gain some new clues about the spell by rewatching Spider-Man: No Way Home with your Disney+ subscription or catching another viewing of Brand New Day in theaters now.
