The recently released trailer for Spider-Man: Brand New Day may have accidentally revealed where Peter Parker stands within the MCU's New Avengers lineup. Tom Holland returns for his fourth MCU outing in a story set four years after the reality-altering events of No Way Home. Fans have been closely analyzing the film's connections to 2025's Thunderbolts*, eager to see how New York City's superhero landscape ties together across both films.
A compelling theory has been circulating online suggesting that a specific scene shown in the first Spider-Man: Brand New Day trailer actually takes place during the Void attack in Thunderbolts*. Sentry, and his darker half, the Void, played by Lewis Pullman, was established as one of the MCU's strongest characters during this sequence.
The moment from the trailer in question shows Spider-Man swinging through a visually distressed New York City, saving a citizen in a shot that emulates the character's first Marvel Comics cover.
There are several key pieces of visual evidence: the sky carries a similar overcast tone seen during the Void's (Lewis Pullman) takeover of the city, a dark mist covers the streets, and the color grading between the Brand New Day footage and the Thunderbolts* sequence matches.
From a timeline perspective, the Void's dark strike on New York in Thunderbolts* was relatively quick, with the threat neutralized when the team helped Bob regain emotional control. However, how long it lasted in real time is never made explicitly clear, with seemingly thousands of New Yorkers being trapped in their worst nightmares.
That loose window, probably only a few minutes in reality, is more than enough room for Spider-Man to have been swinging through the wreckage, doing exactly what he does best.
Ironically, the plot of Thunderbolts* was impacted by 2021's Spider-Man: No Way Home, director Jake Schreier said they couldn't reuse Sentry's comic-accurate memory-erasure origin because No Way Home had already done a similar story beat, joking, "Obviously, we couldn’t tell that same story… Thanks, Jon [Watts]."
What makes the theory even more plausible is the widely held belief that Brand New Day will open with a substantial montage sequence chronicling everything Peter Parker has been up to since his final swing at the end of No Way Home. This will also likely include fighting Boomerang, Tarantula, and possibly even visiting Aunt May's (Marisa Tomei) gravestone.
If Spider-Man was in fact saving people during the events of Thunderbolts*, before The New Avengers were crowned, it could also help align with the 14-month gap in the post-credits sequence. It's unclear when Brand New Day takes place, but presumably it's one of the most recent events, along with The New Avengerz seeing the Fantastic Four enter orbit.
It's not official if Holland will be in Doomsday, but his upcoming solo outing taking place right before the next major MCU crossover would increase the odds of him joining the Avengers again.
In addition to the Void sequence, some fans believe this montage could include nods to Daredevil: Born Again, which has raised many MCU fans' questions about street-level NYC continuity.
The montage seems like a wise idea, reintroduces audiences to this version of Peter, one who has spent four years operating entirely in the streets of NYC, with no personal life to speak of.
New CinemaCon footage of Peter interacting with Ned (Jacob Batalon) and MJ (Zendaya) only reinforced how his life that defined the Home trilogy is long gone.
Spider-Man's Greater MCU Impact
If Brand New Day confirms Spider-Man was present during the Void's attack, it would represent exactly the kind of storytelling fans have been craving: independent stories existing within a shared, breathing world.
That balance is one of the MCU's longest-running strengths, and connecting Peter's solo film to a major theatrical release like Thunderbolts* carries far more weight than a film-to-television bridge ever could. Film-to-film connections simply seem more probable, as Marvel Studios has taken its foot off the proverbial streaming gas.
That said, Brand New Day won't be without its TV ties entirely. Jon Bernthal's Frank Castle is ready to battle in Holland's fourth Spidey film, directly linking the film to the upcoming Special Presentation The Punisher: One Last Kill.
Despite tricky rights issues and other restrictions, fans would always love to see every MCU event connect in sequential order, especially when certain heroes should logically be there.
