Tom Holland's Peter Parker will be the latest MCU superhero to enjoy a new techy sidekick in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Saving the Multiverse from collapse in Spider-Man: No Way Home took everything from Peter Parker. His friends don't remember him, and he no longer has any family to lean on. It seems like the only social interaction Peter can look forward to heading into Spider-Man: Brand New Day is with fellow crimefighter Frank Castle, who is rarely a good hang.
All that time alone can drive a person mad. Luckily for the titular hero, he's smart enough to create new friends out of thin air.
Ahead of the release of Brand New Day, the film's director, Daniel Destin Cretton, let a few pages of the script out of the Marvel Studios vault (via EW). They focus on the film's opening moments, when Peter is reading the letter he wrote to his friends, Ned Leeds and Michelle Jones, in No Way Home. The script then jumps ahead nine months as Peter works on his tech and talks to his AI companion, EV.
As Cretton puts it, EV is the "closest thing Peter has to a friend" at the start of Brand New Day. The director's note is sad, to say the least, as Peter went from a flourishing support system to nothing in a matter of a few hours. After No Way Home, Spidey no longer has access to a suite of Stark Tech or his old AI companions, Karen or EDITH. Cretton's script made it clear that, going forward, Peter is behind all his tech, calling him "a kid genius with limited funds."
Previously, Spidey's Stark-made suit had Karen, voiced by Jennifer Connelly, integrated directly into his super-suit in classic Iron Man fashion. Going forward, it's too soon to tell whether the web-slinger has pulled off the same with EV, or if his homemade helper will only be assisting him at home and his desk.
However, it's not all bad because, as the MCU has proven time and time again, robot sidekicks can be just as effective as their human companions...
Every Robot Sidekick That Has Appeared in the MCU
JARVIS
Tony Stark rarely acted like it, but he was incredibly loving. His butler, Edward Jarvis, made a huge impression on him as a child, at times acting as a surrogate father. So, when Tony grew up and created an AI assistant, he named it after his old pal.
JARVIS stood in Tony's corner long before the Iron Man suit entered the picture. When being a hero's sidekick was on the table, JARVIS jumped at the opportunity, offering advice and assistance during every major battle. And the AI's loyalty paid off because he became an integral part of the robot hero Vision.
DUM-E
While JARVIS was in Tony's ear, another robot was getting its hands dirty helping the genius in the lab. Tony created DUM-E while at MIT and brought the robot back to his home in California. After Tony returned home from Afghanistan in Iron Man, DUM-E helped create the Mark-II suit, but that wasn't his biggest contribution in the movie.
Of course, Obidiah Stane betrayed Tony, leaving him for dead by stealing his arc reactor. Tony made it to his lab but was unable to secure a replacement. DUM-E stepped in and saved his creator's life. In Iron Man 3, Tony returned the favor by rescuing DUM-E from a watery grave and rebuilding him.
U
Dum-E wasn't the only robot Tony created in his dorm room at MIT. U made the trip from the East Coast to the West Coast as well and helped just as much as DUM-E in the Mark II armor's creation.
Like DUM-E, U almost lost its life during the house explosion in Iron Man 3. Tony came to the rescue and put U back in order. In Spider-Man: Homecoming, the robot was present at Avengers Tower when Happy Hogan was moving some memorabilia out.
FRIDAY
With JARVIS out of commission in Age of Ultron, Tony had to dust off another AI companion he created, FRIDAY. She picked up the baton from her predecessor and ran with it, helping save Sokovia and the rest of the world from the titular robot.
FRIDAY returned in Captain America: Civil War, helping Iron Man even the odds in his fight against Steve Rogers. Sadly, FRIDAY went on ice when Tony passed away in Avengers: Endgame.
Karen
Tony got such a kick out of having a robot voice in his suit that he gave one to his protege, Peter Parker, in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Karent and Peter didn't get along at first, mostly because she got in the young hero's way on more than one occasion.
By the end of Homecoming, though, Peter got his head on straight and began to embrace Karen. But the good times didn't last forever because Mysterio destroyed Tony's Spider-Man suit, ending Karen's run in the MCU in the process.
EDTIH
Tony always wanted to remain ten steps ahead of his enemies. He knew that if he died, Stark Industries' vast resources could fall into the wrong hands. With that scenario in mind, he created EDITH and bequeathed it to Peter.
Initially, Peter was overwhelmed by the responsibility Tony gave him, allowing Quentin Beck to swoop in and take control of EDITH. Mysterio betrayed Peter and unleashed all the Stark drones on London. Spider-Man suited up and put the EDITH genie back in the bottle.
HERBIE
All the sidekicks that have appeared on this list thus far have serious connections to Iron Man. But Tony is far from the only genius in the multiverse. Reed Richards built HERBIE ahead of the events of The Fantastic Four: First Steps, and the robot quickly became a key member of the family.
HERBIE helped Reed baby-proof the Baxter Building and did any other chores his allies put on his plate. He also did his best to keep Franklin Richards safe when Galactus came sniffing around for him.
Griot
Shuri worked very hard to build up Wakanda's tech infrastructure. One of her greatest achievements was the AI Griot, who helped her in her lab throughout Black Panther. She even lent her sidekick out to Everett Ross when he needed a way to destroy Killmonger's ships.
Griot was back and better than ever in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, playing an instrumental role in Namor's defeat and the creation of a synthetic Heart-Shaped Herb. Shuri might not want to sit on Wakanda's throne, but she and Griot are passionate about keeping the country safe.
Redwing
Sam Wilson might have run around with Captain America, but he wasn't as strong as him. He relied on tech to give him an advantage in battle, such as his versatile flight suit, which came equipped with a robot companion, Redwing. Despite the other Avengers not embracing Redwing, Sam deployed it throughout Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War.
The robot returned in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and helped the future Captain America out of a few jams. While it remains to be seen whether Redwing will return in Avengers: Doomsday or Avengers: Secret Wars, the movies seem to be all-hands-on-deck situations, making it a safe bet that it will appear.
