Warning: Major spoilers ahead for Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
One of the quieter but most emotionally loaded questions coming out of Spider-Man: Brand New Dayisn’t about a villain twist or a shocking cameo, it’s about a handshake. Specifically, whether that handshake means Ned Leeds has finally gotten his memory of Peter Parker back, and what that could mean for the future of Peter and MJ’s relationship.
Did Ned Leeds Remember Who Peter Parker Is?View this post on InstagramA post shared by Spider-Man (@spidermanmovie)
For most of the film, Peter is left dealing with the full consequences of Doctor Strange’s memory spell from No Way Home, a world where literally everyone, including his best friend and the love of his life, has no idea he ever existed. That reality shifts unexpectedly near the film’s end, during what starts as just another routine errand for Peter, picking up flowers for Aunt May.
While out running that errand, Peter, still going by his cover identity “Maynard,” crosses paths with Ned once again. The two go through the same awkward, one-sided reintroduction that’s defined their interactions throughout the film, until Peter, almost instinctively, extends his hand for their old secret handshake. What happens next isn’t explained through dialogue or magic; it’s pure muscle memory. Ned’s body seems to remember before his mind catches up, and the routine unfolds naturally, ending with a quiet, stunned “Peter” escaping his lips.
The scene raises an interesting wrinkle in how Doctor Strange’s spell actually functions. If a years-old habit buried in muscle memory is enough to undo a spell powerful enough to erase someone from the entire world’s memory, it suggests the magic was never as absolute as it seemed, more a suppression than a true erasure. It’s a satisfying, if slightly convenient, reminder that in the MCU, emotional bonds tend to find a way around even the most powerful magic.
Read More: Spider-Man: Brand New Day Review: Tom Holland Spider-Man Transforms In His Best Form Ever
Does This Mean Hope For MJ And Spider-Man?Naturally, this raises the bigger question: if a handshake was enough for Ned, could something similarly simple undo MJ’s memory loss too? The film seems to gesture toward that possibility, though it never fully commits to it.
Earlier in the movie, Peter experiences one of the story’s most gutting moments when he believes he’s finally gotten through to MJ during a kiss, only to discover it wasn’t really her at all, but Jean, having taken over her body as part of a cruel manipulation. Jean mockingly points out how naive it was of Peter to think a simple kiss could break Strange’s spell, and given how the rest of the film plays out, with Peter consumed by his own internal struggle and his effort to pull Jean back from the darkness, he and MJ never actually get the chance to test that theory for real.
Still, the film leaves the door open. In a scene intercut with Ned’s handshake moment, MJ is shown sitting alone on the roof of their old school, quietly holding onto the necklace Peter once gave her. The detail feels deliberate. Holding onto that object suggests some fragment of memory, or at least feeling, may still be lingering somewhere beneath the surface, waiting for the right moment to resurface.
Whether that moment comes in a sequel or elsewhere in the MCU’s expanding slate remains to be seen, but if Ned’s reunion is any indication, Peter Parker’s connections to the people he loves might be a lot harder to erase than Doctor Strange ever intended.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day starring Tom Holland is now playing in theatres.
Read More: Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s New Song Barsaat Captures Peter And MJ’s Heartbreak Perfectly; Video Inside!
The post Did Ned Leeds Finally Remember Peter Parker Is Spider-Man At The End Of Spider-Man: Brand New Day? first appeared on MissMalini.
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