Tom Holland has teased a potentially huge part of the Spider-Man: Brand New Day story — that one person mysteriously still remembers Peter Parker’s secret identity.
Brand New Day picks up years after Holland’s last superhero movie, which ended with Doctor Strange casting a spell to make the world forget who Spider-Man really was.
Now, in a new interview with our colleagues at IGN Benelux, the reliable spoiler machine that is Tom Holland detailed how that spell had worked, and revealed that one person had curiously been immune to its effects.
“It was a creative challenge that presented some logistical issues, like — what does she remember?” Holland said when asked about the spell’s effects on his friends, and ex-girlfriend MJ in particular. “The idea we landed on was that they remember Spider-Man, they remember their interactions with him, they just don’t remember who he is.
“One of my favorite details is [that] Ned is trying to work out who [Spider-Man] is because he wants to thank him,” Holland continued. “And I think that’s just so cute, and so Ned, and Jacob does it so well. It presented some creative doors for us to go through.”
So, MJ and Ned will remember being friends with Spider-Man, but not their interactions when Peter was just… Peter. It’s logic that works to some degree, though whether MJ will also remember being romantically involved with Spidey on a rooftop remains to be seen.
One person who seemingly won’t have to worry about all that is the mysterious individual that Holland says still knows Peter is Spidey. But who could this be?
“No one remembers that Spider-Man is Peter Parker, apart from… one person,” Holland teased, before stopping short of dropping another big spoiler.
Fans have two main candidates here. Firstly, Hulk — who we know is in the film. While we’ve seen that his alter ego Bruce Banner forgot who Peter was, fans say Hulk’s suppression (Banner has a device to keep him from turning green) may mean Hulk’s consciousness wasn’t technically present when the spell was cast. Could this mean that Hulk will recognize Peter as someone from work? It’s possible.
A seemingly more likely scenario, though, is that the person is the psychically-superpowered character causing chaos in New York City — who fans strongly believe is X-Men main character Jean Grey played by Sadie Sink. Who better to have resisted the brain-changing impact of Strange’s spell than the most psychically powerful mutant? We’ll find out when Spider-Man: Brand New Day finally releases in theaters on July 31.
Last week, Holland was asked about his involvement in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars — and while trying to avoid spoilers, he still went on to suggest he will be involved at some point.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
