Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s 5 Big Clues That MJ & Ned Remember Peter Parker at the End
Coming into Spider-Man: Brand New Day, there was one thing on everyone’s mind that they wanted to see – more than Spider-Man interacting with Punisher and Hulk, or finding out who Sadie Sink was playing, or even seeing Peter Parker do some classic neighborhood Spider-Man antics. People were dying to know if Ned Leeds and MJ would end up remembering who Peter Parker was.
At the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home, Doctor Strange’s spell meant that nobody remembered Peter, yet as soon as audiences saw Ned and MJ, Peter’s closest friends, in the trailer for Brand New Day, they needed to know if there was going to be a reunion between the trio. Spider-Man: Brand New Day has crushed box office records, so pretty much everyone knows by now that while there is a reunion between Peter, Ned, and MJ, things don’t go exactly as everyone hoped, leaving several questions lingering.
MJ explicitly tells Peter that she doesn’t love him, because she doesn’t even know him. However, there are several bits of evidence throughout the film, especially in the final act, that suggest MJ may be wrong, and that she and Ned still have some memories of Peter, even if they don’t realize it.
5) MJ Draws Peter’s Suit From Spider-Man: Homecoming
One of the easiest hints to overlook or completely miss in Spider-Man: Brand New Day comes when Peter, Ned, and MJ are hanging out alone. It’s a reminder of how things used to be between the three as MJ is sketching while Peter, as Spider-Man, is building a LEGO set and nerding out with Ned. After Ned leaves the room, MJ shows off the sketch she was drawing, which shows Peter and Ned hanging out. It seems innocent enough on its own, but when you look closely, you can see that Peter is in his costume from Spider-Man: Homecoming.
While his suit isn’t totally different now, the difference is clear enough that some folks have picked it up. Peter doesn’t even notice it, but MJ shouldn’t have memories of that suit. Even if she remembers being saved by Spider-Man a few times, she wasn’t around when Peter saved her classmates in that suit in the film. It could just be a coincidence, though it makes more sense if it’s part of her subconscious.
4) MJ Touches Her Necklace At The End Of The Movie
The entire concept of MJ having the Black Dahlia necklace at all is an interesting thing to consider in this movie. MJ was famously gifted the necklace by Peter in Spider-Man: Far From Home as he looked to express his romantic feelings for her. Although she no longer remembers who Peter is, she still has the necklace and wears it throughout the film. It’s intriguing to consider her feelings toward it. How does she think she came to have it, and why does she deem it important enough to wear every day?
Wearing it is one thing, yet in MJ’s final shot of the film, she’s shown touching it while looking towards the sky, deep in thought. This could be a case of her actually remembering Peter, especially if you include the theory that Jean Grey’s powers brought back her and Ned’s memories. It could simply be a case of MJ knowing the necklace is important and not understanding why, similar to how she said she felt like she was waiting for something big to come along in her life.
3) Ned Remembers The Handshake
The most glaring example of someone remembering Peter, at least a little bit, comes right at the end of the film. Peter finally goes up to Ned and introduces himself officially before offering a handshake. Ned accepts, and then Peter goes into the old special handshake that the two shared in the past. Ned, seemingly unaware of how or why he’s doing it, responds and gets the entire handshake right. Since the film never explicitly says whether or not Ned and MJ’s memories return, this left a lot of people with questions.
It certainly seems like Ned remembers his old buddy, especially when you consider the look that comes across his face. However, an argument could be made that this was simply muscle memory. He could still not actually remember Peter, yet his body understood what to do because he’d done it so many times in the past, including just before Doctor Strange’s spell was done.
2) Ned Associates The Handshake With The Name “Peter”
Ned doing the handshake could be chalked up to muscle memory, but that theory runs into some trouble when you add in Ned looking at him and saying, “Peter.” That moment shows that Ned associates the handshake with that name. He may have done it based on muscle memory, but connecting it to Peter is an entirely different thing. It could be argued again that Jean Grey’s control knocked something loose from Ned’s subconscious, and the handshake triggered something that brought all his memories flooding back.
However, a more interesting case could be made that this stems from Ned’s magical abilities. In Spider-Man: No Way Home, he can open portals like sorcerers, which has likely been dormant since he no longer interacts with superheroes. Maybe his abilities opened the door for his memories. Alas, Ned is a smart guy, and he could’ve just been connecting the name Peter, which he had just heard, with the fact that he learned from MJ that Spider-Man’s name is Peter. The final scene could’ve simply been Ned figuring that maybe this guy is Spider-Man.
1) MJ Returns To The Rooftop From Her Time With Peter
The scene near the end of Spider-Man: Brand New Day where MJ touches the Black Dahlia necklace becomes even more significant when you notice where it takes place. MJ is sitting on the rooftop where she hangs out with Peter and Ned in Spider-Man: No Way Home. It’s also the place where Peter goes to think and is where they find him after Aunt May’s death in that film. MJ going there is a big hint that she remembers who Peter is and what that rooftop meant to them.
That said, even with Doctor Strange’s spell, MJ could remember hanging out with Ned on that rooftop. It could still be a special place for her to think about life, which she was doing at the end of Spider-Man: Brand New Day. This could be due to Jean Grey’s powers, especially since MJ is shown crying during that scene when nobody else is. However, it’s just as likely that she still feels like something is missing from her life and both the Black Dahlia necklace and that rooftop play a part in what she’s searching for.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is now in theaters.
