Spider-Man: Brand New Day ending breakdown: Do Ned and MJ finally remember Peter?

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is finally playing in theaters, bringing us a film fans have been waiting years for. After the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home, no one remembers who Peter Parker is, but he keeps protecting New York City as Spider-Man.

There has been a lot of speculation around who Sadie Sink is playing in the film and whether Spider-Man or MJ dies. Spider-Man: Brand New Day not only answers all that but also ends with an interesting post-credit scene that teases Spider-Man's next appearance in the MCU.

Disclaimer: This article includes spoilers about Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Reader discretion is advised.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day ending explained

Spider-Man: Brand New Day ends on a surprisingly happy note. MJ still doesn't remember who Peter is, but she does read the letter he wrote her. So, there's hope she might remember him at some point in the future. Despite all the speculations online, MJ doesn't die, and neither does Spider-Man. Well, almost.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day reveals that Sadie Sink plays the mutant Jean Grey, but the Department of Damage Control or Spider-Man isn't aware of who she is. She is revealed to be the one who was controlling multiple people (including Hulk, Frank Castle, and MJ) to attack the DODC. Jean Grey breaks into the DODC office to find out what V-Max means. V-Max was the last thing her sister, Sara Grey, had told her telepathically before she died.

Once Spider-Man realizes the telepath has attacked the DODC again, he arrives to stop her, but she sends Hulk (under her control) to fight him. Spider-Man tries to turn Hulk back into Bruce with his universal inhibitor but fails. Jean Grey controlling Hulk's mind makes him lose control and turn into Savage Hulk. Spider-Man is finally able to stop Savage Hulk from killing him by appealing to his humanity.

On the other hand, Frank arrives at the office of DODC to help Spider-Man, but Jean manipulates him into opening up the vault where Bill Metzger and his staff were hiding. Once the vault is opened, Jean asks Bill,

"Where is she?"

before Spider-Man uses the universal inhibitor to subdue her. Before passing out, she takes Sara's name, and when Spider-Man asks Bill what she meant, he denies knowing anything. Jean is then taken into Bill Metzger's custody, but that isn't the end of Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

When Peter returns to Frank Castle's place where he had left MJ, she confronts him about the letter he had written to her but never sent. Peter then explains Doctor Strange's spell to her and apologizes for kissing her when she was being controlled by Jean. MJ apologizes for still not remembering Peter, and he takes her to her home, where she lives with Ned.

Next, in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, we see Peter tell Ned everything as well. Once MJ describes what it felt like to be controlled by Jean Grey, Peter realizes Metzger lied to him and that there's more to the telepath and what she has been doing. Parker, with the help of Yelena, finds out that the telepath is Jean Grey. She is looking for her sister Sara, who was abducted by the DODC.

Upon realizing that Jean Grey might not be the one at fault, he heads to the DODC office to rescue her. Bill, on the other hand, doesn't know what V-Max means and has been experimenting with Jean's powers, much like the DODC had done with Sara, which eventually killed her. As she is being experimented upon, Jean realizes that V-Max was what Sara had read on the air vent above the cell she was held at.

When she realizes that her sister is dead, Jean is overwhelmed with her power and freezes the entire city with her power. Spider-Man is the only one immune to her power and tries to rescue her, but Jean sends The Hand members who are being controlled by her. Peter is able to fight off The Hand after he removes his inhibitors and unleashes his new powers.

After reaching Jean, she enters his mind and comes across a memory of Aunt May. In the memory, Jean talks to May, who helps her understand that Jean isn't alone. May tells her,

"Because you're special, people can do dark, monstrous things to you… We love you, not because you're special, but because you're you."

Peter comes and sits by them, assuring Jean that she doesn't have to fight alone just because Sara died. He makes her believe that she can now rely on Peter too. Due to Peter's heightened sense, he is able to sense Castle, who attempts to shoot Jean from outside the building. He saves Jean by taking the bullet himself.

Peter is fatally wounded but survives. We find out that Jean kept him alive with her powers until medical help arrived. Peter then sees that people have crowded around the hospital once they heard that Spider-Man was hurt. He realizes that he is not actually alone, that hundreds of people love Spider-Man even if they don't know who Peter is.

Thanks to Frank wearing Spider-Man's mask and standing at the hospital window, Peter is able to leave the hospital undetected, as he sees how the crowd goes wild thinking it's Spider-Man at the window. Jean Grey heads to what looks like upstate New York. Bill Metzger is nowhere to be found, but the DODC comes under investigation.

The film ends with Ned walking to the bodega where he and Peter used to hang out, and Peter introduces himself. Almost instinctively, they shake their hands like they used to, and Ned surprisingly remembers it. In a moment of recognition, Ned says,

"Peter!"

which suggests he finally remembers his best friend, and the film ends. But Spider-Man: Brand New Day has a post-credit scene. In the post-credits scene, we see that the Spidey Tracker Ned made tracks Spider-Man in New York City but then shows him to be moving away. He keeps moving until he glitches and is seen to be somewhere in outer space.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is playing in theaters now.