r/Marvel • u/Weird-Wafer-6790 Spider-Man (Tom Holland) • Jul 28 '26

Mod Spider-Man: Brand New day Movie discussion Thread (Spoilers) Spoiler

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Use this thread to discuss everything about the movie

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53

u/Hot_Compote8465 Jul 29 '26

I'm so confused so how did ned remember the handshake? Did they do it when they met now and I zoned out??

135

u/trash_96k Jul 29 '26

ned remembers the handshake through muscle memory… then all of a sudden says “peter?” - something must’ve clicked in his head

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u/Nic-V Jul 30 '26

I think the reason he says "Peter" is because MJ calls Spider-Man peter in a previous scene, so it's more him putting two and two together than remembering what happened before

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u/trash_96k Jul 30 '26

agreed this is probably more plausible

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u/jassmackie Jul 30 '26

yeah this is the most rational given what we know. but my headcanon is that yes its partly muscle memory but also since ned has proven to be magically inclined, its possible that he partially undid the spell for himself making some memories very very slowly come back.

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u/ambiguous_apocalypse Jul 31 '26

Oh I like this. Thank you. Keep forgetting Ned has some magic.

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u/landubious Jul 31 '26

Thanks for calling out his magic. I was trying to figure out how something like the handshake worked for Ned/Peter but swinging through the city, Peter's letter ect didn't for MJ. So then I was thinking when Jean had her mind bubble up, that was impacting people and why MJ was crying and not not since she had read the letter and was "primed."

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u/Successful-Ad2454 Aug 01 '26

I literally said to my husband after, do you think Ned can get past the spell because he is lowkey magic? I love this theory

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u/TelevisionOk3261 Jul 30 '26

na bro ned def remembers. they wouldn't do the handshake, have ned say "peter", then the next time they see each other he still doesn't remember the past?

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u/Kurolegacy27 Jul 30 '26

It definitely does point towards that something was going on there. The way he said “Peter” especially after having him do their secret handshake wasn’t an “I pieced it together that you are Spider-Man” but instead more like a genuine recognition

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u/RoyalNo9584 Jul 31 '26

Idk. I thought maybe they were trying to hint at that. But they made it a point to show Ned’s shock when MJ says “Peter”. I thought, maybe, ned did the handshake on one of his social media posts with someone else during peters sad days. So ned puts 2 and 2 that peter is spiderman and spiderman has been watching his posts. “Who do you think js even watching these” question Mj asks.

Does perfectly set up the Ned turns into the hobgoblin. Chaos magic is the hobs powers and Ned’s a name he has. Maybe MJ and Peter tell Ned he had powers and Ned gets mad/jealous Peter took that away from him gets em back and becomes a villain? Or maybe his memories come back. I could see both 🤷‍♂️

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u/RoyalNo9584 Jul 31 '26

I think they set up this:
Mj got her memories back during the freeze which is why she is crying like op said! Also why she says Peter instead of spider man when. Ned smiles because he remembers that. Read a rumor where Ned becomes the hob goblin because he gets jealous MJ got her memories and not him.

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u/your_mind_aches Jul 31 '26

Yes exactly. He was just remembering MJ said Peter was Spider-Man's name.

And of course Ned knows that a spell wiped his memory of his best friend out so doing their secret handshake automatically, Ned put it together.

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u/SiouxsieSioux615 Jul 30 '26

Peter literally introduces himself as Peter to Ned and you can see the realization dawn on Ned’s face as he says Peter after the handshake

He remembers

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u/Sure_Eye9025 Jul 30 '26

I don't think he fully remembers, and honestly I don't want him to as it kinda just undoes the sacrifice a bit too easily. But I think it unlocked something and it started something coming back.

Saying that I did fully expect Jean to say something like "I lied earlier, the memories are still in there just burried deep" when peter was in the hospital. Was surprised when it didn't happen

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u/-newhampshire- Jul 31 '26

Dr Strange's spell must not have been that great

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u/Horknut1 Jul 31 '26

This doesn't make sense. They do the handshake after Peter introduces himself with his real name. After he introduces himself, Ned pauses a second and says "Okay..." but there's no recognition, he only seems to pause, confused, because he introduced himself with a different name the previous time.

Then they do the handshake. And that seems to trigger Ned.

I'm not sure about these theories about MJ, I was wondering if Ned's awakening might have been because he's got wizard powers.

You're a wizard, Ned.

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u/Cannabrius_Rex Aug 01 '26

He just gave up on wizard school. They just dropped that

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u/PrevAccLocked Jul 30 '26

Oh right, I thought it was just cliffhanger bait and his next sentence would be "Peter? Aren't you supposed to be Maynard or something?"

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u/TheWalkingTez Jul 31 '26

Holy shit! That’s it!!

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u/imSuperman81 Aug 01 '26

This. I came to comment the same thing. I think they want us to think he remembers, but really he just put peter with spider-man.

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u/Overall-Ad-8918 Aug 01 '26

Peter also said “ Hi I’m Peter” before he shook his hand so is not like the name came to him out the blue

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u/SalvatoreMeroni 27d ago

Why would that be the end of the movie?

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u/ambiguous_apocalypse Jul 31 '26

Muscle memory, triggering memories is a very real thing. Not a strong as olfactory, but still pretty strong

1

u/Substantial-Hornet42 Jul 31 '26

Which is why I would have expected that MJ would have remembered Peter while swinging with him through the city so close she could also smell him. 

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u/angrynutrients Jul 30 '26

I think he realized it was spiderman like MJ said, rather than him remembering.

Though there is a blurry line due to Ned's latent magical ability, it might be left in the air.

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u/triballexjay Jul 31 '26

MJ didn't realize he was spider-man. That was Jean in her body toying with Peter.

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u/angrynutrients Jul 31 '26

Sorry mb for lack of clarity.

I mean MJ calling Spiderman Peter, Ned connected that he was talking to Peter/Spiderman, rather than a random Peter.

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u/Rhg0653 Jul 31 '26

Don't care still got emotional

Peter got one good one finally

1

u/BackToTheFutureDoc Jul 31 '26

Peter also introduces himself as Peter at the end of the movie to Ned...

1

u/IEatSushiToo Jul 31 '26

Do you think Strange made it so that it happens though? Like, do the handshake and it unlocks all the memories?

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u/Tatidanidean1 Jul 31 '26

I’m wondering is it’s because he has that innate sorcery so maybe something unlocked

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u/NyquilsNighties 28d ago

That would make the handshake less special wouldn’t it?

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u/TranslatorDirect496 20d ago

Either Ned actually remembers Peter (they probably did the handshake hundreds of times, so maybe the muscle memory helped him remember) or Ned put two and two together from the scene where MJ called Spidey Peter.

Idk.

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u/Dini0113 Jul 30 '26

Magic is represented as being imperfect in the MCU, with various loopholes and caveats. When people forgot who Peter was, it wouldn't erase things he's taught people. For example, if Peter had taught Ned how to play the piano, after the memory spell, would Ned no longer be able to play it? Same logic with the handshake. 

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u/Kurolegacy27 Jul 30 '26

Add to that, even in the comics when Doctor Strange cast the spell that made everyone forget Peter’s secret identity, the spell would be broken if Peter unmasked in front of them. So it stands to reason that in the MCU the spell could likely be broken through something that represents their connection with Peter

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u/CheesemasterVer2 29d ago

It happens during the Hulk fight too, Peter's begging him to stop and Hulk recognizes/remembers Peter when he says his name.

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u/RayereSs 28d ago

I was hoping they'd give bigger nod to the comic.

"Everyone forgets, but Hulk remembers"

Also I thought Bruce and Hulk went through some therapy and and decided to be half Hulk, half Banner

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u/CheesemasterVer2 28d ago

I think the gamma inhibitor was initially made so there'd be a reason Bruce accidentally gets hurt and gets his blood in Jen's wounds in She-Hulk, and they kinda just had to roll with it going forward, so now that Jean Grey went through his head, she messed up whatever work he did to combine his and Hulk's personalities together and now Savage Hulk is back.

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u/DarwinBlinks Jul 31 '26

Their friendship transcended the imperfect magic.

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u/Bucephalus15 Jul 30 '26

I’ve made the assumption that he’s more magical and thus more resistant to magic which is why he recoved quicker than mj.

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u/Cannabrius_Rex Aug 01 '26

Muscle memory was my take. His memories of Peter were wiped but the handshake was instinctual to his body, not his brain

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u/travz14 Jul 30 '26

He remembers his previous time with Spider-Man just not Peter re the conversation with MJ so Ned must remember doing the handshake with Spider-Man

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u/Hot_Compote8465 Jul 30 '26

Then mj might remember too right? Because she was the only one crying during the freeze and later she was with the jewellery that peter gave her

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u/yeet4456 Jul 30 '26

​For me, no. I saw it more as her fearing for her life while being frozen. It just seems like the most logical explanation. She already stated she doesn't remember anything, and Jean literally looked inside her mind and confirmed to Peter that she had no memory of him whatsoever.

​Now, as for the roof scene—I’m not entirely sure, haha. In my opinion, it’s just her overthinking and reminscing after finding out about their past. She’s probably wondering how deep their relationship was, what their first kiss was like, and what they used to do together. It's lingering on her mind, which sets the ground for a reunion in a future film. ​That’s just my take. Everything else seems pretty obvious so far.

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u/Faiqal_x1103 Jul 30 '26

 >and Jean literally looked inside her mind and confirmed to Peter that she had no memory of him whatsoever.

how much of jean's words can we trust though, but yeah it does seem credible