Later this month, the next MCU Spider-Man movie, Brand New Day, is arriving in theaters. But following the ending of the last one, No Way Home, Peter Parker has been completely erased from the minds of (almost) everyone on Earth.
But does that also mean pictures of Peter are gone, too? Or anytime he was mentioned in print? Well, according to the director, the answers to those questions are, uh… well… uh… I don’t know.
🕷️ Quick Overview: Director Destin Daniel Cretton sat down with IndieWire and honestly admitted that he doesn’t fully understand the rules of Dr. Strange’s memory-erasing spell — and that’s why Brand New Day avoids showing any old photos of Peter Parker.
The Director Answers the Hard Questions
| Question | Director’s Answer |
|---|---|
| Did you discuss how the spell works? | “We did have way too many conversations about how it works. And I honestly don’t think it fully matters. But the movie does follow some strict rules.” |
| What are those strict rules? | He declined to share them — “I don’t want to get into it.” |
| Can Peter’s photo still be found in his high school yearbook? | “We believe… gosh, we went back and forth. But we believe no.” |
| Are photos of Peter gone, or just missing him? | “I don’t fully know how to answer that. That’s why you don’t see any photos in our movie.” |
| Did the spell change history or just memories? | “We definitely want to believe that we didn’t actually go back in time and delete somebody… It’s really just a memory erasure of everybody’s brains. But! What happens to print or names? I can’t even start.“ |
Why the Movie Avoids Photos
Cretton says he didn’t want his characters “thinking about stuff that has nothing to do with our movie.” But as for the director himself:
“I thought about it for a few days. But it has nothing to do with our movie. Well, that part doesn’t.”
🕷️ Final Word: I appreciate that Cretton didn’t try to just go, “You’ll have to watch to find out,” or dodge the question. Instead, he just admitted that, yeah, comic book movies are weird and some of this stuff will drive you bonkers if you think about it for too long. Which is totally fair.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is out July 31 in theaters.
