Spider-Man: Brand New Day Secretly Retcons Marvel’s Best TV Show, & I Love It
One thing that the MCU has typically managed to do well over the years is make sure that its movies and TV shows coexist. They may not always interact much, with the likes of Moon Knight and Echo never crossing over into film, but they also don’t tend to feature anything that goes against or retcons another project. Interestingly, that’s not actually the case with the MCU’s latest massive blockbuster, Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
Spider-Man’s fourth outing in the MCU features the Department of Damage Control, who have also appeared in Ms. Marvel, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, just to name a few. However, this time around, it gets revealed that Damage Control has different objectives than previously established, and it sets them up as a larger antagonistic force going forward. This is in direct opposition to something from a great MCU TV show, and it’s actually a good thing.
Released early in 2026, Wonder Man received rave reviews from critics and fans as a well-written series that felt different from pretty much everything else in the MCU. Although Wonder Man isn’t getting a season 2, the show is in the conversation for one of Marvel’s greatest. Spider-Man: Brand New Day retcons a major Wonder Man story element, which might be for the best.
Damage Control Had Different Plans In Wonder Man
Wonder Man follows Simon Williams as he auditions for the titular role in a TV show. He’s also a superpowered individual whom the Department of Damage Control wants to keep an eye on. They bring in Trevor Slattery, formerly known as The Mandarin, to befriend Simon and keep tabs on him, as they view him as a threat. This is especially true after the episode explaining the Doorman Clause, which prevents superpowered people from working in Hollywood. It’s also believed that the DODC hopes to use people like Simon to create super agents.
By the end of the story, Simon is considered a potential “asset” to the DODC before he breaks Trevor Slattery out of prison and flies away with him. In Spider-Man: Brand New Day, the early scenes with the DODC suggest they’re indeed trying to empower agents, including turning members of the Hand into their own security team. However, Peter Parker later discovers that’s not the case, as the DODC is taking superpowered individuals and trying to duplicate their powers to give them to people of their choosing.
In Spider-Man: Brand New Day, the DODC is revealed to have tortured Jean Grey’s sister until she died in their attempt to learn everything about her abilities. They attempt the same thing with Jean Grey until she overpowers them. That changes the way we look at the DODC; they were never seen as the good guys, but this truly puts them in the category of villains. The DODC is likely going to be an antagonistic force going forward, especially after Peter acts as the MCU Oppenheimer, creating what will become mutant power inhibitors.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day‘s Reveal Makes Wonder Man Better
There is a possibility that this change about the Department of Damage Control isn’t a retcon and is more just a reveal. The DODC clearly doesn’t care about lying, so Simon, Trevor, and everyone else they’ve interacted with could’ve gotten a fake story from them. Regardless, this change makes looking back at Wonder Man more interesting. In fact, it makes the show worth a rewatch through a different lens. Now, when you see their interest in Simon, you realize that they wanted to use him as a test subject.
Watching Wonder Man the first time around makes you concerned that Simon will be put away for having powers. He’d lose his career, his dream, and never get to interact with his family again. However, knowing the truth about the DODC means that he’d have been tortured on top of being imprisoned. That raises the stakes of every interaction Simon has throughout the series. Trevor struggles with betraying Simon for the DODC, yet if he knew what would happen to his newfound friend, he possibly would’ve found a way out of his situation or at least warned Simon.
For as great as Wonder Man is as a series, the stakes are relatively low upon first viewing. Learning the DODC’s true intentions changes that and puts Simon’s life at risk. That makes for a more engaging watch the second or third time through and turns Marvel’s tremendous show into something better. Even if Simon is never seen in the MCU again, the DODC is now established as a horrific entity that’s willing to lie, torture, and kill to get what they want, making them an ideal villain for the likes of the X-Men and future heroes to deal with.
