Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for Spider-Man: Brand New Day
For decades, one of the biggest X-Men challenges has been explaining why mutants are particularly feared more than others in a world filled with superheroes and superpowered beings. Despite having the Avengers, Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, and so many more heroes, mutants like the X-Men are constantly discriminated against in the comics for being born different. However, one can argue the distinction could be even harder to translate in the MCU.
Like the comics’ Marvel Universe, the MCU already has aliens, wizards, androids, gamma-powered heroes, super-soldiers, wallcrawlers, and more enhanced individuals with extraordinary abilities. As such, it would feel fairly bizarre if mutants were to come onto the scene and become hated just for having powers and/or looking different. That said, it does seem like Spider-Man: Brand New Day is already laying the groundwork for some key nuances often seen on the page ahead of Marvel’s upcoming X-Men reboot from director Jake Schreier.
Rather than making mutants universally hated just for having the label of mutant while others who gained powers later in life via non-genetic means are viewed as heroes, the MCU is seemingly building toward something far more compelling after Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Sadie Sink’s exciting debut as Jean Grey.
How Spider-Man: Brand New Day Sets Up The MCU’s Distinction Between Feared Mutants And Other Superpowered Heroes
When it comes to mutants, the MCU arguably has an even bigger challenge when it comes to showing why the in-universe public would come to fear and oppress “homo superior”. After all, this is a global population that has lived alongside the extraordinary with different-looking beings possessing incredible powers for decades. Keeping that in mind, Spider-Man: Brand New Day potentially provides an answer with Director Bill Metzger and the Department of Damage Control.
Metzger isn’t afraid of Sadie Sinks’s Jean Grey just because she’s a mutant. His concern lies in the sheer potential of her power and what he sees as a lack of control in the hands of a teenage girl. Wanting to harness and replicate that power to be used in better-equipped hands (his), Metzger is fully willing to push Jean to the point of death to get what he wants, having already proven his determination by killing Jean’s sister Sara (also a telepath) during his previous experiments on her.
As such, this mistrust and fear of Jean wielding such major power without oversight could become very important in the MCU’s future. The public of the MCU could be similarly influenced and come to collectively believe that mutants should be feared and hated specifically because of the risk they could pose with their powers.
Friendly Neighborhood Assessment · MCU Era Tom Holland’s Spider-Man Trivia
🏠Homecoming2017
✈️Far From Home2019
🌌No Way Home2021
😈VillainsSinister…
🤖MCUAvengers
01
Before getting his own solo film, Tom Holland’s Peter Parker made his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut by being recruited by Tony Stark to help in a massive superhero conflict. In which MCU film did Holland first appear as Spider-Man?
✓ Correct! Tom Holland first appeared as Spider-Man in Captain America: Civil War (2016), where Tony Stark visits Peter in Queens and recruits him for the airport battle against Team Cap. His quippy, starstruck portrayal instantly won over audiences.
✗ Web miss! The answer is Captain America: Civil War. Holland debuted in the 2016 film before Homecoming (2017). He was recruited by Tony Stark for the iconic airport fight scene, stealing Captain America’s shield with his webs in one of the film’s most memorable moments.
02
In Spider-Man: Homecoming, Peter faces a blue-collar salvage contractor who turned to arms dealing after being shut out of the Chitauri cleanup by Damage Control. Using an alien-tech wingsuit, he becomes one of Spider-Man’s most grounded villains. Who is he?
✓ Correct! Adrian Toomes, played brilliantly by Michael Keaton, is the Vulture — a working-class father who builds a criminal empire selling alien-derived weapons. The twist that he’s the father of Peter’s date Liz is one of the MCU’s best surprises.
✗ Web miss! The answer is The Vulture (Adrian Toomes). The Shocker and Tinkerer are his henchmen in the film, and Scorpion (Mac Gargan) only briefly appears. Toomes is the main antagonist who personally confronts Peter in the unforgettable car ride scene.
03
Tony Stark built Peter a high-tech suit loaded with features Peter didn’t even know about, including an AI assistant that helps him in combat, provides tactical analysis, and even gives dating advice. What name does Peter give this AI?
✓ Correct! Peter names his suit’s AI “Karen,” voiced by Jennifer Connelly. She assists him with web shooter modes, reconnaissance, and even his love life. Friday is Tony Stark’s AI, and E.D.I.T.H. is the Stark satellite system that appears in Far From Home.
✗ Web miss! The answer is Karen. Friday is Tony Stark’s personal AI, E.D.I.T.H. is the Stark defense satellite Peter inherits in Far From Home, and Jocasta is an AI from the comics. Karen, voiced by Jennifer Connelly, is Peter’s suit assistant throughout Homecoming.
04
In Spider-Man: Far From Home, Peter encounters a seemingly heroic figure who claims to be from an alternate Earth, battling elemental creatures across Europe. In reality, he’s a disgruntled former Stark Industries employee using advanced holographic drones. What is his real name?
✓ Correct! Quentin Beck, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, is Mysterio — a master of illusion who uses Stark Industries’ B.A.R.F. holographic technology and weaponized drones to fabricate the Elementals and pose as a hero. His final act of revenge shapes the entire third film.
✗ Web miss! The answer is Quentin Beck. William Ginter Riva is one of Beck’s team members, Aldrich Killian is the villain of Iron Man 3, and Justin Hammer is from Iron Man 2. Beck is Mysterio, the illusionist who manipulated Peter’s trust across Europe.
05
In one of the MCU’s most shocking mid-credits scenes, J. Jonah Jameson broadcasts doctored footage from Mysterio’s final moments that completely upends Peter Parker’s life. What does this broadcast reveal to the entire world?
✓ Correct! Mysterio’s doctored footage, broadcast by J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons reprising his iconic role), exposes Spider-Man’s identity as Peter Parker to the entire world. This revelation drives the entire plot of No Way Home as Peter desperately seeks to undo the damage.
✗ Web miss! The answer is that Spider-Man is Peter Parker. While the footage also frames Spider-Man for the London drone attack, the earth-shattering reveal is Peter’s unmasked identity being broadcast globally by The Daily Bugle’s J. Jonah Jameson.
06
With his identity exposed and his loved ones under threat, Peter seeks help from a powerful sorcerer to cast a spell that would make the world forget he is Spider-Man. Peter’s constant modifications to the spell cause it to fracture the multiverse. Which sorcerer casts this spell?
✓ Correct! Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) casts the memory-wiping spell at Peter’s request, but Peter keeps asking for exceptions — for MJ, Ned, May, and Happy to still remember him. These constant changes corrupt the spell and tear open the multiverse, pulling in villains from other Spider-Man universes.
✗ Web miss! The answer is Doctor Strange. While Wong is the Sorcerer Supreme and actually warns Strange against it, it is Stephen Strange who agrees to cast the spell. Wanda’s multiverse interference occurs in Multiverse of Madness, not here.
07
Throughout all three films, Peter’s loyal best friend serves as his “guy in the chair,” helping with tech support and keeping his secret. In No Way Home, this character even discovers he can open magical portals using a Sling Ring. Who is Peter’s best friend?
✓ Correct! Ned Leeds, played by Jacob Batalon, is Peter’s best friend and self-proclaimed “guy in the chair.” He discovers Peter’s secret identity in Homecoming, supports him across all three films, and in No Way Home he accidentally uses Doctor Strange’s Sling Ring to open portals to other Spider-Men.
✗ Web miss! The answer is Ned Leeds. Flash Thompson is Peter’s rival and bully who ironically idolizes Spider-Man. Harry Osborn is Peter’s friend in the Raimi and Webb films but doesn’t appear in Holland’s trilogy. Miles Morales is only hinted at. Ned is the irreplaceable “guy in the chair.”
08
At the emotional climax of No Way Home, Peter makes an enormous personal sacrifice to save the multiverse. Doctor Strange completes the spell, and when it takes effect, Peter is left completely alone. What does the final spell do?
✓ Correct! The final spell makes every person in every universe forget that Peter Parker exists. MJ, Ned, Happy, the Avengers — everyone. Peter visits MJ at the coffee shop afterward but decides not to re-introduce himself, choosing to protect them. He starts over completely alone, sewing his own suit in a small apartment.
✗ Web miss! The answer is that everyone forgets who Peter Parker is. The spell doesn’t erase Spider-Man — people still know the hero exists — but nobody remembers Peter Parker the person. This devastating sacrifice means MJ, Ned, and even Happy Hogan have no memory of him at all.
Assessment Complete Your Spider-Sense Rating
/ 8
Are you an Avenger — or just a friendly neighborhood bystander?
Admittedly, Jean demonstrates that risk after the trauma she’s exposed to from Metzger’s experiments evolves her powers, granting Jean comics-accurate telekinesis and expanding the range of her telepathy from just over 30 feet to a full kilometer. If the X-gene starts being triggered within an entire generation on a rapid level in the MCU, the fear and concern about all sorts of powers suddenly emerging in undisciplined teens will at least be more understandable and fairly unprecedented in the MCU, even if the discrimination and prejudice that will likely follow is wrong.
After major MCU storylines like Civil War’s Sokovia Accords and the world seeking greater oversight over heroes like the Avengers, control being a key focal point more than anything else when it comes to mutants makes a fair amount of sense. Even before Spider-Man: Brand New Day, the DODC’s prior clashes with characters like Ms. Marvel (an existing MCU mutant) and Wonder Man (possibly an MCU mutant) do indicate a focus on what is viewed as unchecked power.
The MCU Is Already Justifying Its Younger Cast Of X-Men
Sadie Sink as Jean Grey in a car in Spider-Man: Brand New Day
With Sadie Sink’s Jean Grey and Kit Connor reportedly cast to play Scott Summers’ Cyclops, Marvel Studios seemingly wants to establish why its upcoming X-Men cast will be on the younger side as teenage heroes. As it stands, Marvel Studios looks well primed to establish its X-Men at the forefront of a new generation of emerging mutants, many of whom will likely lack experience with their powers while not being part of any team or institution, just like in the comics (explaining the eventual existence of Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters…and/or Magneto’s Human kinship of Mutants).
Across the board, the X-Men and the majority of their fellow mutants in the MCU will likely be discovering their new place in the world and learning how to use their powers, all while governments and the public also try to determine what their existence means and how they should react. We’re talking about the very earliest days of X-Men stories in the comics, despite the fact that most of the MCU’s other big teams of heroes have been established for quite some time.
However it all shakes out, it’s going to be fascinating to see what the MCU has in store for the X-Men and mutantkind at large.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is now playing in theaters from Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures.
Movie(s)
X-Men (2000), X2, X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), X-Men: First Class (2011), The Wolverine (2013), X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), Deadpool (2016), X-Men: Apocalypse (2016), Logan (2017), Deadpool 2 (2018), Dark Phoenix (2019), The New Mutants, Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)
First Film
X-Men (2000)
TV Show(s)
X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men, X-Men (1992), X-Men: Evolution (2000), Wolverine and the X-Men (2008), Marvel Anime: Wolverine, Marvel Anime: X-Men, Legion (2017), The Gifted (2017), X-Men ’97 (2024)
X-Men: Children of the Atom (1994), Marvel Super Heroes (1995), X-Men vs. Street Fighter (1996), Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter (1997), Marvel vs. Capcom (1998), X-Men: Mutant Academy (2000), Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes (2000), X-Men: Mutant Academy 2 (2001), X-Men: Next Dimension (2002), Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds (2011), Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (2011), X-Men Legends (2005), X-Men Legends 2: Rise of Apocalypse (2005), X2: Wolverine’s Revenge (2003), X-Men (1993), X-Men 2: Clone Wars (1995), X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse (1994)
Comic Release Date
213035,212968
The X-Men franchise, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, centers on mutants with extraordinary abilities. Led by the powerful telepath Professor Charles Xavier, they battle discrimination and villainous mutants threatening humanity. The series explores themes of diversity and acceptance through a blend of action, drama, and complex characters, spanning comics, animated series, and blockbuster films.
