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Parsing Peter Parker’s Brand New Day (video)
The trailer for Spider-Man: Brand New Day has arrived and there’s a lot to pick out of it. Alasdair Stuart hit the rooftops of New York (or is it Glasgow?) […]
The trailer for Spider-Man: Brand New Day has arrived and there’s a lot to pick out of it. Alasdair Stuart hit the rooftops of New York (or is it Glasgow?) and this is what he found.
0.01 – Spider-Verse Vibes
One second in and we have Peter hanging upside down on a girder. This idea that orientation is just something Spiders play with is used to beautiful effect in the Spider-Verse movies and it’s nice to see it here.
0.21 – Behind the Mask
This shot, inside the suit, of Pete’s eye is lovely. Such a subtle callback too to the days of Heads Up Displays and onboard computers. This is just a guy in a suit, doing his best.
0.25 – Perfect Day
The music from here especially as a good friend pointed out, seems to be riffing on Perfect Day by Lou Reed. If so that’s a subtle nod to the nomenclature of the series and an ironic comment on Pete’s life.
0.32 – The Letter
One of the notes the trailer is hung off is Peter’s letter, which we saw at the end of No Way Home. Here we hear him read all of it, intercut with shots of him alone in his apartment washing his suit and getting the key to the city. Interestingly, not from Mayor Fisk which puts this in an interesting spot in the MCU’s overall timeline. Presumably this happens after Daredevil: Born Again Season 2.
0.41 – The Key
Peter holding the key, in his sweats, in his apartment, alone is peak Spider-Man. Poor kid.
0.42 – Running to Work
I LOVE this shot because it’s everything we love about Spidey in motion. Hard pressed, out of time and working hard anyway. Go get ’em, Pete!
0.49 – APC Chase
This sequence seems to be the one the trailer is built around and doesn’t Glasgow look good as New York! The APC’s owners are uncertain at present. Some people are saying noted and likely main villain Mr Nobody, others that it’s Damage Control.
0.52 – ‘WHAT THE HELL, FRANK?! YOU JUST HIT ME WITH A VAN!’
And there’s the dynamic instantly. Peter Parker, Spider Puppy and Frank Castle, grumpy murderous pitbull in human form,
1.01 – ‘Motherf-‘THWIP ‘GO HOME!’
One of my favourite niche jokes is when a movie subtly acknowledges it can’t be as sweary as usual, so this made me very happy.
1.08 – EZRA?!
That is indeed Eman Esfandi from Ahsoka as MJ’s new love interest. Some fans are hoping/dreading that he’s playing Paul, her infamously loathed boyfriend from the recent comics run. No word yet.
1.15 – Parker Out
Peter passes out and wakes up in a web cocoon. This whole sequence has been hinted at in leaks for a while, and they seem to be going for it. Peter has entered another stage of his initial mutation, and in the comics, in the past, that’s led to some wild choices.
1.21 – Peter Parker Plummets
This whole sequence with him falling is shot in a way that makes me think there’s a lot more to it. At this time code, you can see he’s got one hand up as though he’s holding onto a web strand. We can’t see it though, which suggests some unfinished VFX. It’s also shot, slightly, like someone’s catching him. And let’s face it, Daredevil and Pete have kind of met before…
1.27 – Stats!
The scanner is showing the following:
ENHANCED HUMAN DETECTED
SUPERIOR AGILITY
HEIGHTENED SENSES
ENHANED PERCEPTION
And the stuff above it is interesting:
Subject Designation: Vigil 09(o 04), Unidentified Enhanced Operative
Threat Level: Agility enhanced, non-lethal profile
Last Known Activity: Urban traversal via synthetic filament
Visual lock: Acquired
This is set up in such a way for us to think it’s Bruce scanning him. But I wonder, given some of that language, if it’s actually Damage Control…
1.29 – BRUCE!
My GUY! I am always so happy to see this version of Banner and that’s a very interesting board he’s in front of. I can make out what seems to be LATTICE QUANTUM CHRONODYNAMICS so is Bruce messing with time? Or teaching other people how to do so responsibly? Also note the armbrace. He never fully recovers from using the Infinity Gauntlet.
1.36 – Science Bros!
Over a montage of Pete’s powers going wild, we hear Bruce talk about how DNA mutation is enormously dangerous.
1.40 – May’s Grave
‘When You Help Someone, You Help Everyone’
He’s such a good kid. Also, that’s a direct reference to the incredibly good 2018 Spider-Man game. It’s also interesting to note that if this is four years after her death in 2024, then the MCU is now officially slightly in the future. Oh and Pete has an eyebrow taped up so he’s obviously been in a fight. This has the look of ‘I have to go do a very hard thing, and this might be goodbye’ to me. Or it’s right before that sprint along the roof top at 0.42 and that’s the sign-off for the movie.
1.43 – Locked Room Prisoner
Who is THIS?! We’re shown them in a very coy way, and we don’t see their face. But the hands look young, and feminine and we know Sadie Sink is a major part of this…
1.50 – Passenger
We see the end of the APC chase, with Peter seconds ahead of a SWAT team. He yanks a turret door off the vehicle and finds… an old lady. Who smiles at him and then looks surprised as what seems to be a consciousness leaps from her to two other people in the room. The exact sort of trick Jean Grey does regularly, and Jean has been the odds on favourite for who Sink’s playing for a while now. If so, that increases the likelihood this is a Damage Control vehicle carrying a prisoner to me.
Also is that Keith David doing the voiceover about spiders being reborn?! And does it change with each jump or is that just us?!
1.52 – ‘We are faced with a danger we can’t control, one we can’t even see’
Trammell Tillman! Beloved of these parts for his work in both the last Mission: Impossible movie and Severance. He’s playing the new head of the superhuman control agency, Damage Control and what he’s talking about sure sounds like an Omega level mutant doesn’t it?
1.57 – Hands Up
They want us, so badly, to think this is Pete, with the hoodie and the lab gear but this screams both ‘villain’ and ‘JEAN?!’ to me. There was another cut of this trailer that was leaked which apparently confirmed this, showing her from the front.
1.58 – SCORPION!
Michael Mando, last seen as one of Vulture’s goons way back in Homecoming! Scorpion is a great Spider-Man villain and it’s so good to see him get his due!
2.03 – ‘You’re losin’ it, kid,’
This looks a lot like Frank walking off into the sunset. Interestingly, it looks like it’s shot in the same place as the next scene, which is MJ and Peter, as Spidey, face to face.
2.07 – ROGUE?!
This must be a troll. It has to be, It’s also, regardless, very, very funny.
2.08 – Amazing Fantasy Issue 15
The iconic cover of this early appearance is replicated here in live action!
2.09 – Amazing Spider-Man 345
And another one! This time with a delightfully comics accurate Boomerang!
2.10 – Amazing Spider-Man 134
And another cover! This time the claw footed gentleman is Tarantula, and this was their debut.
2.11 – The Hand!
Not a comic cover despite appearances but this is a weird beat given they’re fully dressed ninja, in prison, with two of them holding high-tech cudgels, And this fight’s been going on for a while judging by the state of Pete.
2.12 – Black Eyes
Entirely black eyes, in what they want us to think is the same scene. Incidentally some folks say they can see MJ reflected in his eyes here.
2.14 – Swordbreaker
This is VERY cool, but what’s especially interesting to me is if you look closely, Pete’s eyebrow is busted open. So, the Aunt May scene falls after this…
2.17 – Somehow not a comic cover!
We see Pete leap into battle with what seems to be the same group of Hand out on the roofs of the city. Some folks are also saying there’s someone else in this scene that’s been digitally edited out. Given the eye line of some of those ninja, they may have a point…
The trailer rounds out with a cute little comedy beat and honestly, I’m really excited for this one. The MCU Spider-Man movies are consistently great, and this one looks no exception. We’ll find out on July 31st.
Find out more about the trailer here. James Whitbrook’s been doing some excellent work looking into the stories they may be drawing from:
Sci-Fi Bulletin: Exploring the Universes of SF, Fantasy, Horror and Spy-fi! 