Marvel Studios changed one of its official Spider-Man: Brand New Day posters, and the new version drops a character who stood front and center the first time around. The artwork features a tight close-up of Tom Holland’s masked Spider-Man, with the New York City skyline shining in the lenses of his eyes. Brand New Day picks up four years after Spider-Man: No Way Home, where a spell wiped Peter Parker from the memory of everyone who once knew him. He now fights crime alone, protecting a city that has no idea who he is.
The character pulled from the updated poster is MJ, played by Zendaya. On the original one-sheet, her face appeared inside the reflection of Spider-Man’s right eye lens, a quiet nod to the heartbreak driving Peter’s story. The new version removes her completely, leaving only the city skyline in the reflection. The swap is an interesting choice because that first poster made MCU history, and MJ’s presence told fans plenty about her role in the film.
Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios first showed the close-up poster during CinemaCon in April. The image stood out because it is the first teaser poster for a Marvel Studios movie to spotlight a love interest who is not the title character.
The reflection also pointed back to the classic Spider-Man 2 poster, which placed Doctor Octopus in the lenses of Spider-Man’s mask. Marvel fans picked up on the callback right away.
Aside from MJ being removed from the new poster, everything else about the composition looks the same, making the missing character easy to spot when the two versions are viewed side by side.
MJ is a key piece of Brand New Day's story, so it'll come as a surprise for many fans to see her removed from arguably the film's best poster. The trailers show Peter keeping tabs on her years after the spell, even though she no longer recognizes him. Zendaya returns as Michelle Jones-Watson, and her scenes point to an emotional reset for the couple. It's not unusual for Marvel Studios to remove a popular character from an official poster; it has done so on several occasions and usually for good reason.
In this particular instance, a new version of the poster omits Zendaya's MJ, likely because it was designed for merch. This updated image appears on official Brand New Day merch, which focuses specifically on Peter Parker's lenses. It makes sense for MJ to be omitted since the intent of the merch is to fully focus on Spider-Man.
Marvel Studios History of Altering Its Movie Posters
Marvel changing a poster is nothing new. Over the years, the studio and its partners often put out two versions of the same poster. Some swaps are small, while others sometimes take a character out completely.
For example, the French poster for Captain America: The First Avenger dropped a villain like the way this Brand New Day poster omitted MJ. The American poster shows the Red Skull’s face glowing in the smoke above Captain America and his compatriots. The French version removes him and keeps the focus on Cap and his wartime allies.
Iron Man 3 had a crowded poster and a stripped-down one with fewer characters than the first. The busy version lines up the film's main cast. You see Tony Stark in his damaged suit, Pepper Potts, the Mandarin, Aldrich Killian, and Rhodey in his armor. The other version keeps only Tony and Pepper, removing everyone else. Tony's Iron Legion can still be seen in the background, though.
Avengers: Age of Ultron also made a small but interesting change to its original poster. The first poster shows Tony Stark’s bare face inside the Iron Man armor, right in the middle of the Avengers team. The second poster shows Tony fully wearing his Iron Man mask, but everyone else stays in the same spot.
Captain America: Civil War did the same thing at the top of its poster. One version shows Captain America’s masked profile staring down Tony Stark’s bare face. The other swaps Tony’s face for the full Iron Man helmet.
Thor: Ragnarok also gave Hela two distinct looks. One poster shows her in her huge spiked headdress. The other shows her without it, with her hair loose. Raganrok had many amazing-looking posters, and these two were among the standouts.
Black Panther did something similar with T’Challa. One poster shows his face bare as he looks down at his claws. The matching version covers his face with the full Black Panther mask.
Avengers: Endgame was the last of this pattern in the Infinity Saga. Its first poster puts Tony Stark’s face near the top, with Thor beside him and the rest of the hero lineup underneath. The second poster shows Iron Man in the same position, but this time with his helmet on.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness also changed its layout for international markets. The American poster shows multiple characters around Strange. This includes Scarlet Witch, America Chavez, Wong, Baron Mordo, and Christine Palmer. The international poster moves those characters into the broken glass shards floating around Strange and Scarlet Witch.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever saved its biggest change for streaming. The theatrical poster shows Shuri out of costume, while the Disney+ poster shows her in the Black Panther suit. Marvel could finally reveal the new hero because the movie was already out.
Thunderbolts also omitted one key character from its Disney+ poster. The theatrical poster shows the full team in a wrecked city street, with smoke and falling debris as they get into a brawl. The Disney+ poster, on the other hand, omits one key member from the initial six-character poster. The character removed from the lineup is Taskmaster, who died in the film. By the time Thunderbolts arrived on Disney+, she was long gone, so it made perfect sense to omit her from the streaming poster.
Marvel Studios' posters have evolved significantly since the Infinity Saga, with variations driven by diverse marketing needs. Some designs change to build hype, others alter details to avoid spoilers, and a couple are tailored specifically for platforms like Disney+.
Geraldo Amartey is a writer at The Direct. He joined the team in 2025, bringing with him four years of experience covering entertainment news, pop culture, and fan-favorite franchises for sites like YEN, Briefly and Tuko.
