At the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home, Peter Parker is forced to make a brutally difficult decision. In order to restore stability to the multiverse, he asks Doctor Strange to cast a spell that will make everyone — including his closest friends — forget about him. In the film’s final moments, Peter prepares to reintroduce himself to Ned Leeds and MJ, but stops when he realizes his two former companions are enjoying a peaceful existence without him, celebrating their admission into MIT. Even though Peter no longer has a relationship with Ned or MJ, it looks like Spider-Man: Brand New Day is going to follow up on this thread by catching audiences up with Peter’s old friends.
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On X, the account Culture Crave shared a new behind-the-scenes image from the Brand New Day set that serves as a No Way Home reunion. Tom Holland, sporting his new Spider-Man suit, is posing with Zendaya and Jacob Batalon, who portrayed MJ and Ned in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first three Spider-Man films. Notably, Batalon is wearing an MIT t-shirt, essentially confirming Ned is still enrolled at the school. Check out the picture in the space below:
MJ & Ned Should Only Have Small Roles in Spider-Man: Brand New Day
Considering how important MJ and Ned were to the MCU’s original Spider-Man trilogy, it makes sense for them to be featured in some capacity in Brand New Day. However, the filmmakers will need to be careful about how their roles are handled. The ending of No Way Home was an extremely emotional moment that underscored what exactly “great responsibility” means. It would be a shame if such a poignant conclusion was undercut by having Ned and MJ remember who Peter is and reconnect with him. Making the three friends again would defeat the whole point of Peter’s arc in No Way Home.
It would be better if MJ and Ned had minimal screen time, perhaps appearing early in the film to show that Peter is keeping an eye on his old friends from afar. He still cares deeply about Ned and MJ and wants to ensure they’re doing okay. Maybe he watches from a rooftop as Ned heads back to school after summer break. Moments like that can establish a foundation for Peter’s arc in Brand New Day, illustrating that he’s struggling to move on after the choice he made in No Way Home. After all he’s been through, Peter could be reluctant to become close with anyone else and instead decides to settle for one-sided relationships with his former classmates.
Sending Ned and MJ off to MIT is also a sound in-universe explanation for their absence from a majority of Brand New Day, going a step beyond Peter simply keeping his distance from them. The school is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, meaning Ned and MJ should be far away from the action; Brand New Day is taking Spider-Man back to his roots by telling a street-level story set in New York City. Ned and MJ can’t have big roles because they’re out of the state.
The dynamic between Peter, Ned, and MJ was very much the emotional core of the previous Spider-Man movies — especially No Way Home. For some viewers, it will be strange to see a film where Ned and MJ aren’t key parts of the story. Fortunately, director Destin Daniel Cretton has filled out the Brand New Day cast with a variety of exciting faces. Marvel veterans Mark Ruffalo, Jon Bernthal, and Michael Mando are all returning, and everyone’s interested to learn who Sadie Sink is playing. With all that going on, there’s a chance fans might not even miss Ned and MJ by the time Brand New Day‘s plot is in full swing, kicking off a new era for your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.
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