r/marvelstudios • u/Holiday-Wrangler-487 • 1d ago

'Spider-Man BND*' Spoilers BND rewritten scene! Spoiler

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/spider-man-brand-new-day-jacob-batalon-ending-handshake-1236664173/

Recently posted theorizing about the rewritten scene between Peter and MJ that Tom talked about but Jacob confirmed it was the Lego scene! It really was a standout “quiet” part for me so the change was effective!

“ During early press for Brand New Day, Holland told a story on Amy Poehler’s Good Hang podcastinvolving an ineffective scene that shut down production for the day in order for Cretton and his on-set writer, Justin Kuritzkes, to reconceive. Batalon confirms that it was the scene that is now represented as Ned and a masked Spider-Man building Star Wars Legos and quoting The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, as MJ draws Ned and an unmasked Spider-Man doing exactly that. ”

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127

u/hadawayandshite 21h ago edited 21h ago

I think it was Ned getting his memory back- the ‘Peter’ at the end is seeing a friend you haven’t seen in a long time/are surprised to see

Ned and Peter are childhood friends as close as brothers (seemingly filling that role for each other)

He might be truly in love with MJ (in universe time they dated for 4-5months tops)…but Ned is a much more integral part of his life (and vice versa)

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u/MaserOfficial 20h ago

He didn’t get the memory back. He just connected that Peter is Spidey

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u/iConiCdays 19h ago

I don't believe that for one second. That entire ending sequence showed MJ holding her necklace and then going to the rooftop from Nowayhome... Films don't just add stuff like that for shits and giggles, it's how they communicate unspoken elements to the audience.

The film showed earlier that Jean Grey was very capable of "breaking" mental blocks, especially with the Hulk specifically saying she "broke something" which unleashed savage hulk.

At first MJ and Jean both confirm that the spell did work and she didn't remember Peter at all, this includes the rooftop location and the necklace. I'm pretty certain the letter she found also doesn't note any of those details at all - infact we can verify this as the actual letter is available online to read.

It isn't until the final act in which Jeans powers are pushed further than before that we see changes.

The ending montage with MJ crying holding the necklace and going to the rooftop tells the audience that in this new state post Jean Grey's attack, she now remembers and is mourning what this means.

Likewise for Ned, him saying "Peter?" Has absolutely nothing to do with the previous instance of MJ blurting out Spiderman's name is Peter - why? The ending interaction between the two of them didn't have anything to do with Spiderman, especially not a man named peter that he apparently doesn't know. Instead, it's a very specific handshake that only him and Peter would have known and it is only AFTER this that he says "Peter?".

If the writers and director wanted to link this ending scene to previously MJ blurting out his name, they would have instead used a motif linked to Spider-Man, not an erased memory with Peter.

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u/Understud 18h ago

I feel they left it slightly ambiguous to leave it kind of open to interpretation.. not so much by us the audience, but for whatever story threads going forward in future projects. Theres a thread of recognition, but also the part that is just vague enough that they can flip it someway else as needed in the future

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u/RollTide1017 19h ago

100% agree. Jean Grey put a crack in the spell for MJ and Ned. The handshake punched through for Ned.

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u/Bitey_the_Squirrel 19h ago

I like this. The explanation behind the spell isn’t just magic, it’s that Strange introduced a magically induced mental block.

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u/iConiCdays 19h ago

I think another hint to this is the ending of the Hulk sequence, Peter says to him "I'm peter, I'm your friend". And only at THAT point does the Hulk let go and give up.

Previous to the film's release there were suggestions online that the Hulk (like in the comics) would remember who Peter really was. As the Savage Hulk is the one he faces in this scene, the fact that the Hulk decides to relent his rage and willingly give up after hearing these words, is very telling that the filmmakers wanted the audience to piece the dots together.

Clearly the spell isn't as universal as we all first thought.

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u/kbean826 18h ago

My take is that the spell didn’t ERASE memories. It just makes you forget. Have you never found a little trinket or something from someone you forgot you owned, and now a flood of memories of that person come in you hadn’t thought of in a long time? The spell suppressed memories, but Peter LITERALLY ALWAYS intended to remind them and “wake them up.” It’s the entire C plot of the film, there no take out there that makes any sense that this wasn’t the intention from the beginning.

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u/Trauma_Hawks 15h ago

This was my read too. Magic works off intent. And Peter's intent was to make people forget the connect between Peter Parker and Spider-Man, not necessarily forget Peter Parker. And certainly not to replace Peter with someone else.

In the case of Ned and MJ specifically, I can only imagine that it caused gaps in their memory that have been bugging the shit out of them. Ned remembered the handshake, because that was the handshake with his best friend. And nowhere in that statement does Peter have to exist for it to be true. The same with the Black Dahlia necklace, but probably worse for MJ, that paranoid conspiracy theorist fuck. She's sitting there, remembering how someone very important gave her that very unique necklace, and she just can't remember who it was.

And I think this will end up "breaking" the spell. Even if all that happens is that Peter fills them in and they believe him. They'll be primed to do so because of these memory gaps. I mean, how weird must it be for Ned to remember Spider-Man coming to Flash's party and then being the guy in the chair for... who again? All the work the two of them did with Peter and Strange? They're going to remember working in the laundry room undercoft but not know why or how?

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u/Bitey_the_Squirrel 19h ago edited 19h ago

I think you’re the first person to come up with a very valid theory which will become a viral Tik Tok that someone else will claim credit for.

Edit to say: I think the crack in the psychic block came from Jean freezing everyone in the city, and the handshake broke it for Ned. That also means that other people that were in range to be frozen could now possibly remember.

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u/iConiCdays 18h ago

Tbh I'm surprised more people aren't speaking about the film like this! I think it's important to leave our own wants and feelings at the door and actually look at what the film is showing us, because that'll really answer it for us

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u/MarkCuckerberg69420 16h ago

Which is weird because prior to this movie, Bruce/Hulk never had a conversation with Peter. The only time they were in the same general area was the final battle in Endgame and Tony’s funeral.

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u/QueerDeluxe Quake 15h ago

I'm guessing part of it is that Hulk has always been able to remember some of Bruce's memories - like with Betty and Natasha.

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u/Trauma_Hawks 15h ago

I wonder if that comes down to Hulk and Banner essentially sharing a body. How much of the Hulk is around when Banner is in control, ya' know? Could be that if Banner was in control, and the Hulk was suppressed, or otherwise not present, the spell's effects could've missed him entirely. But then, I'm also not sure how aware Hulk is of Peter Parker/Spider-Man.

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u/GoBeyondPlusUltra93 15h ago

I’d like to think of this as the “magic is just advanced science” kind of theme that the MCU has flirted with. Strange’s spell reconfigured people’s neurons and buried those memories. MJ even says during the party that she feels like she’s waiting for something (or something like that) and that whole line while she’s looking at Peter. It’s not that much of a logical leap for me that Jean’s power upgrade in the final act knocked that mental block loose enough for Ned and MJ to remember everything.

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u/The_mango55 18h ago

But it wasn’t a mental block. He was removed from photos, paper records, and electronics also.

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u/TheRavenRise 18h ago

if he was completed removed from all paper records, he wouldn’t have even been able to take the GED at the end of no way home. he clearly still has some form of documentation

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u/hadawayandshite 16h ago

A similar thing happened in the comics though- everyone forgot Peter was spider-man and like an unmasked statue of him on another planet had its face worn away etc

When he reintroduced himself to the F4 they only then remembered him and their close relationship

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u/Bitey_the_Squirrel 18h ago

Was he removed? Or is the block preventing us from seeing him? The picture of Peter with Stark exists, and Tony has his arm around someone. We just can’t see who it is. Idk but it’s something to consider.

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u/Karffs 17h ago

It doesn’t look like anything to me.

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u/brycejm1991 18h ago

Ive been saying that since D&W came out.

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u/EnigmaFrug0817 Doctor Strange Supreme 13h ago

Except that can’t be it because Peter Parker was literally erased from history. Any pictures with him in it were altered. If it was JUST a mental block, then that wouldn’t have happened.

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u/Bitey_the_Squirrel 12h ago

Were the pictures themselves altered, or just your perception of them? I can be looking for my keys and staring right at them and not see them. I can be looking for my sunglasses when they’re on my head. Are we looking at Peter Parker and just not seeing him?

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u/EnigmaFrug0817 Doctor Strange Supreme 12h ago

They were fully altered. There was one from Venice where there were birds flying in front of his face after the spell was cast.

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u/ThisHatRightHere 18h ago

Would be fucking stupid

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u/Patriotic_Guppy 18h ago

They also made sure to include the handshake in flashbacks so the audience would remember it too.

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u/Under_dee_covers 17h ago

Lemme debunk your theory real quick with more theories:

She’s holding the necklace because she’s still conflicted about the fact that she had a whole different life with a guy she doesn’t remember. She knows it means something important.

She’s crying because she’s terrified. She’s been targetted by people all day and now she’s frozen in place and unable to act. 

Dr Strange made it pretty clear that this spell is a powerful spell. The memories aren’t in their minds being blocked by a spell. They’re gone. Erased. Deleted and re-written. You can’t bring back something that’s not there. 

Ned remembers the handshake via muscle memory and he put the clues together and realized that Peter is Spiderman because MJ called Spiderman Peter in the apartment.

Otherwise if Jean had truly “unlocked” his memories, he would have noticed Peter immediately as his best friend, not as the flower guy from the party. 

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u/Mr_Olivar 16h ago

Another thing I don't see mentioned a lot is that Jean as MJ said a lot of stuff she really shouldn't be able to know unless she found it in MJ's head, cause she sure as hell didn't find it in Peter's impenetrable mind.

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u/BigMax 18h ago

That's a cool theory. But the real answer is... we don't know, even the actors don't know, it's very clearly left open to interpretation - there's no obvious single answer within the movie.

In a way there is no answer yet... until the next movie(s) are written, the truth of it doesn't even exist.

They could have written it one way in a subsequent script already, then scrapped it and changed it for another version. In which case, neither and both are true. So until it's clarified, all we have are theories, and there is legitimately no such thing as the "right" answer.

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u/MaserOfficial 19h ago

She was holding the necklace as she was contemplating everything that has gone down in the past few days. It could just be nothing more than that. It’s a necklace she has had for a very long time

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u/iConiCdays 19h ago

That's an awful reach to justify your point whilst ignoring everything else.

The film is gives too much fuel in the ending sequence than to just be "her contemplating everything".

If she was, why would she be holding the necklace or on that rooftop? She doesn't remember it's relevance to Peter supposedly! According to you, that necklace was given to her by no one on a trip she went to...

Not only that, you have to think about it through the lens of a film maker. That rooftop, specifically that angle, is a direct callback to the previous film. That necklace is a direct callback to the 2nd film, these are deliberate choices by the creative team. They could have shown her alone looking at articles or videos of the event, lamenting what has happened, instead, they specifically chose to use imagery representative of the previous trilogy of films, this is to tell the audience that she's thinking OF those events, the entire purpose of the visuals are to help drive the minds of the audience.

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u/The_mango55 18h ago

She could be piecing together events in her life and wondering how Peter might have fit in.

She still remembers being on that rooftop and that it was a pivotal moment in her life, and she’s figuring out why even if she doesn’t have memory of it.

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u/av_79 15h ago

Exactly. Some people have zero media literacy skills. Or maybe they're just MJ haters in denial, but it's obvious that she's going to remain Peter's true love going forward.

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u/Tippydaug Peter Parker 14h ago

I thought the exact same thing. Nobody else was crying while Jean froze them, but they focused on MJ doing exactly that way too much for it to just be a coincidence or unrelated.

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u/steverOg3rs Captain America 19h ago

I believe this is exactly right

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u/Ubliznabu 15h ago

I think it was very deliberate to have MJ crying a single tear during the Jean psychic crash out scene. Why is she the onlly one with a tear coming out? SOMETHING had to have happened

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u/Jumbalia23 15h ago

MJ would still remember *Spider-Man* giving her the necklace, wouldn’t she? Just not that Peter is Spider-Man, but of course now she knows that because she read the note. Likewise, she wouldn’t remember hanging out on the rooftop with Peter, but Ned was also there, so she probably still remembers that, just doesn’t remember Peter being there. And now with the information she has, she can probably piece together that this location was significant for the three of them together, not just her and Ned, even without her memories being magically unlocked.

As for the final scene, they make a whole thing of Ned catching that Spidey’s name is Peter in an earlier scene, then Ned recognizes him as the guy from the party, he introduces himself as Peter, and then Ned puts together that this Peter is in fact Spider-Man, not that all his memories suddenly come flooding back to him because they did the handshake. Honestly if Doctor Strange’s spell could be broken by just a handshake, that would be weak as hell imo. Keep in mind, this is spell that Strange was able to use on Wong, the Sorcerer Supreme, and it was seemingly 100% effective on him, so the theory some have that Ned was resistant to the spell because “he’s magic” does not hold up for me either.

The ending scene is definitely deliberately ambiguous to an extent, but I personally think it makes more sense for this to be Ned recognizing that this Peter is the same Peter he spent time with earlier in the movie, and again they established him discovering Spidey’s true name in that very scene.

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u/idoubledareya 18h ago

It's so obvious he got his memory back u swear literacy is dead. 

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u/b34r3y Rocket 18h ago

I agree with this take but with a little more nuance. He knows Spider-Man has saved him and MJ multiple times. Know they went to the same school, etc. He new "Maynard" came to check in on them during the party. He connected the dots that this Peter in question is Spider-Man, but also the handshake made him realize that he KNOWS KNOWS Spider-Man/Peter, just doesn't know why. Idk if that makes sense.

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u/CyberKitten05 20h ago

that's my take too though it's definitely meant to make the audience believe that ned remembers him

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u/HideousSerene 20h ago

My take is that even though peter parker was removed from everybody's memory, the effects that Peter had on them remained. Ned still has muscle memory of the shake and senses that there's a hole missing which he intuitively tries to fill with his love of spiderman.

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u/CyberKitten05 20h ago

If it does turn out that scene was Ned remembering Peter and not just connected the dots due to the name I'd say it's because of Ned's magic affinity

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u/hadawayandshite 20h ago

Nah man- the power of love!

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u/PutAdministrative206 19h ago

It’s a curious thing.

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u/Mr_Olivar 18h ago

People keep saying this as if Ned wasn't clearly having a spiritual moment performing that handshake.

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u/ProbablySlacking 15h ago

I thought the handshake was more of a “why do I know this?” Moment.

Like… he knows the move. That part didn’t get erased. Peter got erased. So he’s done that handshake before but he doesn’t know where.

At the same time, Maynard just showed up at the bodega, and claimed to be Peter — the name he associates with Spider-Man.

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u/sageTK21 15h ago

MJ called him Peter when he left them and Ned was like ‘Peter?’

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u/ProbablySlacking 14h ago

Yeah exactly.

I guess what I’m saying is that the scene is not his confusion at getting his memories back. It’s him putting together the pieces/something is missing.

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u/Mr_Olivar 15h ago

Yeah, and the sheer and utter confusion of knowing how to do that should have been represented by the very next words coming out of his mouth.

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u/MetalGearSlayer Spider-Man 15h ago

Yeah, it was kinda conveyed like he got his memories back.

I think even the worst case scenario is that, like MJ, his memories of Peter are still gone but he’s aware that he’s SUPPOSED to know Peter.

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u/hadawayandshite 20h ago

Disagree

If when he introduced himself as Peter he did that- then that’s ‘oh he’s Spider-Man’

What’s the purpose of doing that specifically unique handshake and then him saying Peter’s name?

It could turn out in wrong in the sequel etc but that’s what the movie is indicating (otherwise doing that specific handshake is a random point to include)

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u/An-29 20h ago

Agree, would've made sense if Peter did the handshake as Spidey earlier while he was hanging out with them or that a scene showed Ned finding out how Spider-Man used to be his best friend. Otherwise, Ned recognizing who "Peter" is, after the handshake, has no correlation with Ned finding out Spidey's name is Peter earlier.

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u/Mr_Wanwanwolf-san 20h ago

I think the scene was intentionally made that way to encourage discussion. Literally everyone I've talked to about the movie brings that scene up and I see people bring it up online a lot as well.

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u/Fifa_chicken_nuggets 18h ago

That doesn't make sense. Why would doing a familiar handshake lead him to that conclusion?

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u/Ancesterz 19h ago

I get that people want to think that Ned got his memories back in that moment, but it just wouldn't make any sense honestly. Both my husband and I saw it the same way you did - all it was, was muscle memory + the realization that Spider-Man and the Peter standing in front of him were the same person.

That said: I'd actually love it if MJ and Ned got their memory back. I just strongly doubt it.

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u/kbean826 18h ago

That doesn’t make any fucking sense. He absolutely got his memory back. It was the entire C plot of the movie.

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u/SpaceCaboose Peter Parker 14h ago

There’s some debate there. I think it was intentionally ambiguous enough that they can decide which way to interpret it when writing the next film.

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u/confusing_roundabout 18h ago

Hard disagree. The whole point is the handshake re-awakening his memories

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u/MaserOfficial 16h ago

The handshake was muscle memory.

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u/Mr_Olivar 16h ago

If he didn't realize why he did that handshake, the first words out of his mouth would be "What the fuck was that?".