‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ Is (Almost) The Perfect Prologue To The Mutant Saga
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is many things, but one of them is something many never expected: an introduction to the MCU X-Men! The rumors swirling around the internet for months were proven true as the movie finally swung into theaters worldwide: Sadie Sink’s mysterious telepathic antagonist is none other than Jean Grey herself.
Jean Grey’s role in Brand New Day is wildly different from other versions of the character in many ways, but she certainly brought some classic X-Men themes into the film. Or at least, she brought the setup for them.
While interesting connections are drawn between Spider-Man’s strange mutations, Bruce Banner’s inner monster, and Jean Grey’s dangerous telepathic powers, the film’s ending shy away from bringing this storyline to a natural conclusion. Instead, it drops these connections with no further comment.
[Warning: Spoilers for Spider-Man: Brand New Day are discussed below!]
Far From Home was an epilogue, and Spider-Man: Brand New Day is a prologue
Some fans have very negative opinions about Spider-Man: Far From Home, which is a shame since it’s a great movie. However, it’s understandable why some Spidey fans hate it. Far From Home sometimes focuses more on addressing the fallout from Avengers: Endgame than it does on Peter Parker, and it’s missing some classic Spider-Man elements (like the New York City setting).
I’ve always thought of Far From Home as the perfect “epilogue” to The Infinity Saga. As viewers, we take our first tentative steps into a post-Endgame MCU alongside Peter, who’s lost his mentor and just wants to be a kid for a little while longer after losing five years of his life. That’s what makes Brand New Day so interesting. In many ways, it seems like a prologue to The Mutant Saga, if it actually ends up being named that.
Brand New Day is a very Spider-Man-y movie, from swinging around NYC and cameos from B- and C-list Spidey villains to match-ups with fellow street-level characters like the Punisher and the Hand. But at the same time, the movie’s themes include suppressing yourself, the potential danger of natural mutations and evolution, and how to responsibly handle incredible amounts of power.
Some central concepts explored in Brand New Day set up the X-Men so perfectly that it’s almost baffling that it doesn’t follow through in its final moments.
A clear line is drawn through Peter Parker and Jean Grey, connecting the two in a manner we’ve never seen before. Peter struggles to navigate his newfound abilities brought on by increasing levels of arachnid DNA. Meanwhile, Jean goes haywire with her own powers, at first using her telepathy to possess anyone she wants before accidentally freezing half of New York City and developing her iconic telekinesis.
They come together as allies at the end of the film, bonding over their shared grief, with Peter telling Jean that she’s not alone because she has him. The problem with this ending is that it doesn’t differentiate Jean from Peter in any way. While it’s very emotionally impactful and excellently acted by Sadie Sink and Tom Holland, Jean and Peter’s final conversation would have you think she’s about to join his friend group unless you’re already familiar with X-Men lore.
Mutants aren’t the same as other superheroes, and the MCU’s greatest challenge with introducing them so late in the game is establishing why they’re different.
Discrimination and fear are key elements of mutant stories, so the MCU has to clearly mark what makes them different since the general public hasn’t had much issue with other superpowered people running around for the last two decades. Spider-Man: Brand New Day gets close but stumbles at the finish line by hinting at themes familiar to X-Men fans but not actually raising these questions for the audience.
Classic X-Men themes in the movie could have been handled better
There are some great seeds planted in this film for future X-Men stories: the universal power inhibitor developed by Peter Parker, kidnapping and experimenting on young superpowered individuals, families abandoning their children because they’re different, kids struggling to control their powers, the desire for acceptance and love.
But one idea that really stood out was a line from Bruce Banner, which featured in the trailer for Brand New Day: “How would you decide what parts of nature are good or bad?”
That concept is such a rich theme to explore in a film where Peter is trying to edit his own DNA while confronting a mutant teenager who’s still learning how to use her powers. I thought this point would be driven home in the finale as Metzger revealed that people like Jean are “mutant freaks” who he thinks will harm humanity. Instead, the idea never comes up again after Banner poses the question to Peter.
The concept of inhibiting mutations and trying to control nature only affects Peter slightly as he decides to embrace his natural powers in the climax. But it’s never tied back to Jean, which is utterly baffling considering she’s our biggest introduction to mutants in the MCU.
It could have fit the DODC’s experiments perfectly, yet Metzger doesn’t get any semblance of motivation for his villainy. As soon as he reveals that he killed Sara, Metzger is silent for the rest of the film and literally disappears offscreen. It’s never established why he wants people like Jean and Sara Grey beyond “let’s try to replicate your powers.”
The third act of Spider-Man: Brand New Day could have fully set the stage for the X-Men by allowing Metzger to establish that mutants aren’t the same as superheroes. All it would take is a quick villainous speech where he lashes out against Jean’s powers and says something about her being a mutant and out of the ordinary.
It’s not like Metzger and the DODC were trying to experiment on Spidey or replicate his powers. They may have developed anti-web guns, but they didn’t seem to care about leveraging his powers the way they wanted to use Jean and Sara’s.
Of course, the argument can be made that a Spider-Man movie shouldn’t have the responsibility of setting up the X-Men, which is fair. But Marvel made this decision entirely on their own. Brand New Day is not an adaptation of an established comic book story, and this connection between Spider-Man and Jean Grey doesn’t exist anywhere else in Marvel media.
Marvel chose to introduce our first X-Men character in this movie in this manner. They decided to lay some groundwork for classic X-Men story elements in a Spider-Man movie. That’s why it’s disappointing to see the film pull back at the last second, like it’s afraid of drawing a line in the sand between Peter and Jean.
Peter Parker and Jean Grey are not the same. Their stories in this film intersected beautifully, but they are fundamentally very different.
In the third act, Jean says to Peter, “My sister died in this room, surrounded by these men, and her only crime was that she was special. Just like you. Just like me. People like us don’t get to live a normal life.” It’s a powerful sentiment delivered perfectly by Sadie Sink, but it doesn’t apply to Peter the way it applies to mutants like herself.
Peter Parker might be alone and depressed, but being alone is a choice he made to protect his loved ones. Sara and Jean no longer had any loved ones because their own mother abandoned them for being different. They were cast out by their family and hunted by a government agency just for being born.
Peter Parker is living a normal life in an apartment, free to go about his business without being hunted for who he is. And that’s not just because he has a secret identity and Jean doesn’t. The Avengers are the same way. The DODC isn’t breaking into Yelena’s spa or Bruce Banner’s classroom.
Brand New Day’s themes of seeking acceptance, struggling to control your own power, inhibiting those powers at a genetic level, and deadly mutant experimentation certainly can (and probably will) come to the forefront in the MCU’s X-Men film. But if Spider-Man wanted to introduce these concepts, the film should have carried them through to the end of the movie and begun to show audiences the divide that will grow in the next MCU saga.
Final thoughts on Spider-Man: Brand New Day
As it stands, Spider-Man: Brand New Day is a very good movie with strong characters and an impactful, emotional storyline. It moves Peter Parker’s story forward in exciting ways and places the audience back into a truly interconnected cinematic universe.
It also offers a little tease of the MCU’s mutant-focused future. We’d just be on stronger footing if the movie actually cemented those ideas in its climax instead of pretending like Peter Parker and Jean Grey have the same life experiences.
Also check out John’s video review below, our latest conversation on Twitch @MyCosmicCircus, or read Maxance’s review of the film here.
