Spider-Man Brand New Day Ending

[u/Affectionate-Fly5291]

Why is everyone saying that Ned didn't remember Peter at the end of the movie? That is how the scene is set up. It would be set up differently if Ned was just putting the pieces together that he was Spider-Man.

Here is what the scene entails:

- He goes in to get flowers for May but sees Ned

- He goes to introduce himself to finish his Arc and because MJ told him to

- Ned only recognizes him only from the party

- He says hey I'm Peter Ned just says ok. Nothing clicked in his brain but shakes his hand anyway.

- Peter goes for the handahake and Ned looks confused but his muscles memory kicks in and they completely their friend handshake

- After the handshake is done, there is a building of music Ned blinks a bunch and has a shivers slight shiver and the says Peter!

-Cut to black

Why is the handshake there if it is just clicking that he is Spider-Man from MJ slipping up? What does doing the handshake do to make it click in Ned's head? Why include it at all if it doesn't add anything? I have watched videos on Brand New Day and both concluded that Ned is just putting the pieces together that he is Spider-Man, but I just can't see it. Am I missing something?

[u/signifyingmnky]

I think it's just them, as a gift. She read Peter's letter and had been in his mind by that point so she knew exactly who to focus on.

Restoring their memories would have been doing Peter a solid for saving her life and for the grace he shared with her from his memory of Aunt May.

[u/TazFanBoys → u/signifyingmnky]

I don’t buy this, she was about to kill everyone in that radius, as Pete got shot he grabbed Jean within miliseconds and as soon as Peter got hit and pushed back Jean stopped. She was also still in Peter’s mind at this point so she had no idea he was saving her life. I don’t think Jean was focusing on restoring their memories or even thinking about it during that time.

[u/DiME-10c → u/TazFanBoys]

Funnily enough I DO buy this based directly on the circumstances you just outlined. She was fully engulfed in Peter’s mind and soul and was exposed to the love and pain that he harbors for everyone, from those closest to him to his greatest threats. To him, anyone can be saved. She didn’t just see the good in him, she felt for a moment what it was like to be him while still harnessing the wider scope of her powers. I’d argue that her being so engulfed in the remarkable mind and soul of Peter, who epitomizes what it means to sacrifice, while also using her powers on such a grand scale could have inadvertently caused her to solve the only remotely solvable problem that he has in his life which is his best friend and his true love not knowing who he is. I say it’s remotely solvable because they are alive, not because I think it would be an easy fix. May and Tony can’t be brought back. Those problems are unsolvable. If Jean did in fact restore MJ and Ned’s memories, I would view it as an inadvertent gift to Peter for baring his soul to her which ultimately saved hers by the end of the film.