At CinemaCon in Las Vegas this week, Marvel fans finally got some major Spider-Man news that they’ve been waiting for: the title of the fourth installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Spider-Man franchise. It was announced that the upcoming film, set to hit theaters in 2026, will be titled Spider-Man: Brand New Day. But while the film’s title has fans thrown for its deviation from the “Home” pattern the previous three film titles had, it also serves as confirmation of the direction Peter Parker’s story is headed – and that Spider-Man: No Way Home really is the MCU’s take on Marvel’s most hated Spider-Man storyline of all time, One More Day.
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While calling any Spider-Man story the most hated is a pretty big claim, One More Day is on that has certainly earned it. The story, which among other things, saw Peter make a deal with Marvel’s very own devil Mephisto in order to save the life of his beloved Aunt May. That deal? Peter’s marriage to Mary Jane had to not only be undone but erased entirely, taking the characters back to little more than strangers and resetting Spider-Man to an old status quo. It was a move that was intended by Marvel editorial to keep the character “relatable” as a young, unmarried hero, but it’s something that has never sat well with fans and continues to be a sore point to this day.
For MCU fans, the One More Day storyline was already eerily familiar with No Way Home. In the film, after Peter’s identity is revealed to the world and starts causing negative consequences for the people in his life, he seeks out Doctor Strange to cast a spell to make everyone forget he’s Spider-Man. However, after Peter makes multiple modifications, the spell is corrupted. Strange contains the spell, but it ultimately causes great threat to the multiverse and in the end, to save worlds (literally), Peter has Strange cast the spell, making everyone forget him – including MJ.
[RELATED: Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s Cast and Characters Explained]
While there are some obvious story differences, No Way Home and One More Day share the same skeleton plot and, by extension, do the same thing: they restore Peter to a previous status quo where he is disconnected from the connections and relationships that are integral to the character. The biggest difference here is that in No Way Home, Peter is aware of what he’s lost, making things all the more tragic.
The Brand New Day Comic Could Offer Clues to What’s Next for Spider-Man in the MCU
If No Way Home really is the MCU’s version of One More Day, this could mean that the Brand New Day comics may have a larger influence on the upcoming MCU film. In Brand New Day, Spider-Man hadn’t been seen for one hundred days due to the Superhuman Registration Act and when Peter discovers that the Daily Bugle is in financial trouble, comes back as the hero on the hope that pictures of Spider-Man could save the publication. The story also establishes that Peter and Mary Jane had a failed relationship and are no longer close, that she’s now dating someone else, and introduced a whole new supporting cast for Spider-Man — villains and allies alike.
While the MCU version of Brand New Day will be different – for starters, the situation regarding the Daily Bugle is much different in the MCU and Peter and MJ were teenagers who were clearly never married, not to mention the Superhero Registration act wasn’t exactly a thing – it is possible that the MCU will use elements of the Brand New Day comic. We might see some of the Brand New Day characters appear, such as Carlie Cooper or finally see the MCU’s take on Harry Osborn. This could be the mechanism by which the MCU brings in some of the characters previously seen in Sony’s Spider-Man adjacent films, offering an avenue to keep Spider-Man busy with his own threats even as the larger MCU deals with things like Doomsday. Almost anything is possible at this point.
What is clear, however, is that the MCU is taking a page from the comics and taking Spider-Man in a new direction. Only time will tell if the story being laid out on the screen is better received than the one on the page.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is set to open in theaters July 31, 2026
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