SPIDER-MAN: Brand New Day

The film opens with Peter Parker (Tom Holland) writing a letter to MJ (Zendaya), hoping that he may one day give it to her and explain what happened between them. After having Dr. Strange cast a spell to make everyone forget about his existence, Peter has become Spider-Man full time, taking on villains like Mac Gargan/Scorpion (Michael Mando), Tombstone (Marvin “Krondon” Jones III), Boomerang, Tarantula, and The Hand, and working alongside Detective Jean DeWolff (Liza Colon-Zayas). Over the next four years, he watches MJ and Ned (Jacob Batalon) from afar as they go to MIT together.

Spider-Man chases after a runaway tank in Manhattan. Also pursuing the tank is Frank Castle/The Punisher (Jon Bernthal). Spidey knocks Frank out of his vehicle and stops him from following. The tank makes its way towards the Department of Damage Control. Spidey is unable to stop it from crashing through the building. When he opens the tank, he is surprised to find an old woman in there. Someone controlling her telepathically mind jumps from her body to a guard’s body, and Spidey notices. He chases the Mind Jumper to the rooftop, but he is too late, as the Telepath makes a guard direct an escort team to take Scorpion to Bellevue instead of The Raft. Before the Telepath escapes, they let Spider-Man know there is a bomb in the tank, which he is too late to stop from detonating, but the building is evacuated before it goes off.

DeWolff informs Spidey that Scorpion was let out from Bellevue. In order to get a lead on the mysterious villain behind this, Peter pays a visit to a Russian bathhouse, where he meets Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh). She makes him get in by taking off his suit (but not the mask). Yelena says that Damage Control has been attacked four times lately, and someone is looking for something called “V-Max”.

Spider-Man visits the DODC, where he meets the head of the place, Bill Metzger (Tramell Tillman). He discovers that The Hand’s ninjas are working for them. Metzger doesn’t know who is behind the attacks or what “V-Max” is, but Spidey knows that whatever they want is hidden behind a giant vault in the building.

Peter is at a shop, talking to DeWolff on the phone over what he’s learned, but he sees Ned and follows him to his and MJ’s apartment, where they are hosting a party. Peter sees Ned’s wall of Spider-Man theories, including his belief that Spidey is either Flash Thompson or their old teacher Roger Harrington. He has also developed a “Spidey Tracker” app to keep tabs on where the Wall Crawler may be. Peter sees MJ and gives her flowers that he meant to bring to Aunt May’s (Marisa Tomei) grave. He leaves when he sees MJ kiss another guy, and he swings home sadly. When Peter gets home, he experiences something painful before passing out.

Peter wakes up in a web cocoon outside the apartment. He discovers that he now has organic webbing, and that his web cartridges don’t work. He uses his A.I. assistant, E.V. (Naomi Watts), to determine that he is going through changes in his body and DNA, as his arachnid genes are developing and causing him sensory overload.

Once Spidey gets the hang of things (sort of), he goes after Scorpion, who is attacking the DODC downtown. Spider-Man fights him but is losing until he lets the arachnid genes take over. He grabs Scorpion and thrashes him around, but he slams the villain onto a cop car and severely injures the officer inside. After ripping off Scorpion’s tail, Spidey sees he was controlled by the Telepath Peter is horrified at what he did.

Peter goes to a college campus to find Dr. Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), who is teaching a physics class, but all his students only want to ask Avengers-related questions. When the students leave, Peter approaches Bruce since he now wears an inhibitor on his wrist to stop him from becoming Hulk. Peter asks for advice on creating an inhibitor, as well as a universal one that affects everyone. Peter goes home to work on one for himself, and then another for the Telepath.

The Telepath finds Peter and taunts him by saying they are going after MJ. Spider-Man swings through the city, tracking everyone who appears to be mind-jumped, and based on his scans, he finds that the Telepath has a range limit of about 33 feet. When they control a helicopter pilot, Spidey webs the chopper up to stop them from getting anyone else.

Spidey goes to MJ’s apartment and convinces her that she needs to go with him. They stop on a rooftop, where it seems as though MJ might remember who Spider-Man really is. She takes off his mask and kisses him, and it seems as though her memories come back…until it turns out to be the Telepath playing a cruel trick on him. The Telepath makes MJ walk off the building. Spidey catches her, but she falls unconscious. Peter surrenders when the Telepath approaches him as another man, but he catches a glimpse of the Telepath in a car, who turns out to be a teenage girl (Sadie Sink).

Spider-Man brings MJ to Frank’s hideout, which is laced with booby traps that Spidey has to protect MJ from. After some bickering, Frank agrees to let MJ stay there for a while. Spidey scans the Telepath’s face and finds that much of the information on her has been scrubbed, but he did get a name: JEAN. ELAINE. GREY. After MJ suggests a way for Spidey to use his inhibitor properly (it overheated the first time), he works on the one he plans to use on Jean. He and Frank also have an argument because Spidey doesn’t think Frank ever had anyone to care about, seemingly unaware of Frank’s own tragic past and what happened with his family.

Spider-Man heads to the DODC when Jean attacks the place again. MJ convinces Frank to go help him. Metzger gathers his people in a safe room when something starts trying to smash into the vault. Spidey arrives and finds that Jean is controlling Bruce after removing his inhibitor, and he is back to his Hulk form (or at least, his Professor Hulk form). Frank arrives to shoot at Hulk, but they manage to get Jean out of his head. However, Bruce says that something in him broke, and he turns into an even more gigantic Hulk (Savage Hulk). Spidey does his best to stop Hulk from causing too much damage, even stopping a ton of debris from hitting the ground below. Hulk manages to snap out of it when Spidey reminds him they are friends, and he is incapacitated. Unfortunately, Jean manages to get in Frank’s head and uses his explosives to blow up the vault. Spidey gets in there before Jean can kill Metzger and uses the inhibitor to get her out of Frank’s head. Metzger shoots Jean with a tranquilizer dart. Before losing consciousness, Jean simply mutters “Sara…”

Bruce is taken to a hospital, while Metzger thanks Spidey for saving them, and Damage Control takes Jean into custody. When Spidey mentions Sara, Metzger says that Jean entered his mind and saw a memory of a coworker named Sara who died recently.

Spidey swings back to Frank’s hideout, only to discover that MJ found his letter. This forces him to admit who he is and the past that they had together. Peter tells MJ he loves her, but she says she does not feel the same because she has absolutely no memories of them together. Peter is heartbroken but understands. He takes MJ home, and she lets him go “meet” Ned, who is excited to meet his hero. While talking, MJ mentions that she had no memory of being possessed by Jean when she kissed Peter, which makes Peter realize Metzger was lying about Jean entering his mind and seeing a memory. Spider-Man contacts Yelena again, who finds that a lot of info on Jean was scrubbed by Damage Control, but she tells Peter that Sara was Jean’s sister. Spidey realizes Jean is in danger.

As Jean is being held at the DODC, a flashback shows her with Sara (Olivia Booth-Ford). They were abandoned by their mother after their mutant powers developed, but Sara showed Jean how to mind jump between people. Jean watched as a team of Damage Control agents led by Metzger showed up to arrest Sara. When Jean tried to save her, Sara stopped her from doing so.

Metzger has Jean strapped to a chair and begins to activate a device to see how far Jean’s range can go. In the room, Jean discovers that “V-Max” is really something Sara saw in the room from the ventilation system. Jean realizes Sara is dead from the experiments, and she removes her inhibitor, allowing her powers to expand as she sends a psionic wave across the city that leaves almost all of New York frozen, including MJ and Ned. Frank is just outside the range, and he plans to use a sniper rifle to take Jean out. Spidey arrives at DODC and is confronted by The Hand’s ninjas, all controlled by Jean. They overpower him until he takes off his inhibitor and accepts his enhanced genes, declaring to Jean that he can be both Peter Parker AND Spider-Man. Spidey defeats The Hand and some Damage Control guards in a spectacular fashion before breaking into Jean’s room.

Jean has shards of glass aimed at Metzger, while Frank sets up his sniper position. Peter allows Jean to enter his mind so that she sees a memory of May talking to Peter. Jean then sits in his place so that it seems like May is talking to her and assuring her that she is not alone. Peter then talks to Jean, and she understands that he has lost someone like she did. Jean lets go of her anger, but Frank fires his shot. Peter moves Jean out of the way and takes the shot himself. Jean uses her powers to keep him alive while Frank heads over and rushes him to the hospital. All of New York waits anxiously to learn if their hero is okay.

Peter wakes up with Frank by his side. He is remorseful for getting Peter hurt, but he admits that the two of them are friends. Frank lets Peter slip out while he puts on Spidey’s mask and gloves to stand out the window and address the crowd of fans. Peter is touched by the love everyone has for Spider-Man. In MJ’s apartment, she is still wearing the Black Dahlia necklace that Peter gave her a long time ago, and she starts to smile.

Jean takes a bus out of the city. Peter talks to DeWolff, who says that Metzger is missing but the police are investigating Damage Control. She also expresses happiness that Spidey is not so alone anymore but also encourages him to rest. Peter then sees Ned and approaches him. He does their secret handshake, and it seems as though Ned’s memories of Peter are starting to come back.

After the credits, we see Ned’s Spidey Tracker app losing a signal of Spider-Man on Earth. It then moves to the far reaches of outer space, where the signal picks back up. The final text promises “Spider-Man will return”.