Peter Parker and MJ’s ending in Spider-Man: No Way Home remains one of the more emotionally rude things the MCU has done to me personally. After everything those two went through, Peter choosing to let MJ and Ned forget him felt heroic, sure, but also like watching someone gently shut a door on my little Spider-heart. Apparently, Zendaya is right there with us as she opens up about being in her “feels” about Peter and MJ’s split in the upcoming Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
Speaking with Empire for its July issue about her 2026 movie calendar release, the actress opened up about where Peter and MJ stand after Doctor Strange’s spell erased Peter Parker from everyone’s memory. And yes, she knows exactly how painful that split feels for fans who just wanted these two kids to catch one single break. She explained:
As someone who cares about the characters and cares about these films, it’s like, ‘Oh my God, it’s so heartbreaking.’ You just feel so bad because you want them to be happy, and you know ultimately they would be happier together.
That is the part that hurts, right? It is not that Peter and MJ stopped caring about each other. It is not that they had some messy breakup over college, distance or the kinds of things that normal young relationships go through. Their relationship was torn apart by a spell Peter agreed to, believing it would keep the people he loved safe. That is peak Peter Parker tragedy.
No Way Home ended with Tom Holland’s Peter visiting MJ at the coffee shop where she worked, only to realize she and Ned were better off without him re-entering their lives. It was a quiet, painful little scene after a movie full of MCU multiverse chaos, leaving Peter fully alone as Spider-Man.
What makes Brand New Day especially interesting is that MJ’s side of the relationship has been reset, at least from her perspective. She does not share the same emotional history as Peter, which creates a strange acting challenge for Zendaya. She continued:
It’s easy in a way, because I don’t have to play that I know this person. I don’t have to play all the history that they have together because seemingly, to her, they don’t.
That is fascinating and also deeply upsetting. For MJ, Peter is not her boyfriend who sacrificed their future. He is, presumably, just some guy. But for Peter, she is still MJ. She is still the person who knew him, loved him and was there for the most impossible parts of his life.
Reportedly, MJ has another romantic interest in Brand New Day, played by Ahsoka actor Eman Esfandi. Which, emotionally speaking, feels like somebody kicked Peter Parker in the ribs while he was already down.
That said, it also sounds like MJ and Spider-Man will still cross paths in the upcoming superhero movie. It seems the pair will somehow pair up, while Spidey does his neighborhood Spidey heroics, which could give the movie a very different dynamic from the earlier trilogy. MJ may not know Peter, but she knows Spider-Man exists. That opens the door to all kinds of painful dramatic irony, with Peter trying to protect someone who does not remember why he would do so.
The best thing about Zendaya’s comments is that she clearly cares about the emotional continuity, even when the character technically does not remember it. That gives me hope Brand New Day will not treat Peter and MJ’s separation like a simple plot reset. It sounds like the heartbreak is the point.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day swings into theaters July 29. Check your local listings for showtimes closer to release. Or if you want to revisit the Home trilogy of Spider-Man flicks, all the Spider-Man movies for that matter, they are streaming with a Disney+ subscription.
