Due to the secretive nature of projects in franchises like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, fans like to pass the time between installments by theorizing what could happen in the next movie. Studios are notoriously tight-lipped when it comes to revealing official details about upcoming tentpoles, leaving viewers to brainstorm potential story arcs on their own by checking out the rumor mill and looking back at the source material. This can be a fun pastime, but fan theories don’t necessarily make the strongest foundation for an actual movie. The filmmakers, naturally, have their own ideas for how the narrative should progress, and some of them don’t pay much attention to discussions online. Spider-Man: Brand New Day star Tom Holland is taking a different approach, however.
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In an interview with LADbible, Holland revealed that he lurks on chat forums to see what Spider-Man fans want out of a film and uses those conversations as a basis for his meetings with the studio. “I have been actively sifting through the internet and trying to best understand what it is that the fans want from a Spider-Man movie, and that’s been my driving force in these pitch meetings,” he said. “I think the producers, at times were like, absolutely sick of me, but I think it’s really important, because we make these movies for [the fans].”
Should Marvel Fan Theories Inform Spider-Man: Brand New Day‘s Plot?
As the MCU progresses towards the (hopefully) epic conclusion of the Multiverse Saga, the franchise is in a fascinating place. Despite Deadpool & Wolverine grossing over $1 billion a summer ago, the MCU isn’t the box office titan it once was; The Fantastic Four: First Steps was the only one of Marvel’s three 2025 releases to cross $500 million worldwide, and multiple Multiverse Saga projects have underwhelmed commercially. These developments have forced Marvel to rethink its film strategy moving forward, ideally putting future films in a better position to succeed.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is obviously a very important title for Marvel Studios. Not only is it the sequel to one of the MCU’s biggest hits ever (2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home), it also features a stacked ensemble cast that features familiar faces such as Jon Bernthal’s Punisher, Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk, and Michael Mando’s Scorpion. New additions to the MCU include Stranger Things star Sadie Sink, who’s been rumored to play everyone from Jean Grey to Mayday Parker. There’s a lot riding on Brand New Day and it’s important for the film to work well.
With all that in mind, it’s somewhat understandable why Holland would scour fan forums to see what they want out of the next Spider-Man film. The fans are what made the MCU the monumental success it is, so it’s important to keep them engaged. One way to do that, conceivably, would be to make fans’ dreams a reality on the big screen, leading to enthusiastic responses as viewers see their theories fully realized. However, that’s a dangerous game to play. There’s a plethora of Marvel fans around the world, and all of them have their own ideas for what should happen on screen. Running with one theory as a key plot point could anger or alienate a portion of the audience that wants something different to happen. Trying to implement too many theories at once in an effort to please everyone could end up pleasing no one.
It’s important to keep in mind Holland isn’t confirming the Spider-Man: Brand New Day script was influenced entirely by fan theories. He’s merely suggesting fan theories in pitch meetings, and there’s no guarantee Kevin Feige or any of the higher-ups signed off on any of them. Marvel has its own plan for how stories should unfold, keeping in mind the interconnected nature of the overall franchise. If a fan theory clashes with an arc Feige and Co. have conceived, it likely won’t come to fruition. It’s a delicate balance the filmmakers have to strike. Everyone involved with Brand New Day know the fans are an important part of the movie’s potential success, but they also have to do what’s best for the film and the Multiverse Saga itself. Sometimes, those two visions don’t align.
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