The first trailer for Spider-Man: Brand New Day delivered a mix of villains, fresh faces, and even a mysterious mutation affecting Peter Parker, but stopped short of revealing a straightforward plot. As is often the case with early Marvel Studios previews, the footage appears intentionally scrambled, making it difficult to place each moment within the film's suspected two-hour story. Still, by breaking down the trailer beat by beat, there's a chronological sequence that begins to take shape.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is clearly being positioned as a reset, a sentiment Tom Holland himself has echoed, describing the film as a "fresh start." That applies not just to this version of Peter Parker, but to the franchise as a whole, with Destin Daniel Cretton stepping in after Jon Watts passed the proverbial baton.
Even with that reset in place, familiar faces are still part of the story. Zendaya's MJ and Jacob Batalon's Ned are both back, despite no longer remembering Peter. That lingering connection is especially notable given the story picks up four years after Spider-Man: No Way Home.
The response to the trailer has leaned heavily positive, but there's also been a fair amount of confusion baked in. It's tough to get a clear read on what's actually happening, especially since Marvel Studios is known for misleading visuals to protect major reveals.
Still, even with some intentional misdirection, there's enough there to piece together a rough outline of how events could unfold when the film hits theaters on July 31.
Spider-Man Brand New Day Trailer Scenes In Chronological Order
Montage of Spider-Man Since No Way Home
To kick things off, it looks like Spider-Man: Brand New Day will open with some sort of montage, filling in the gap between No Way Home and where this story begins.
It even feels like the perfect spot for the first proper voice-over from Tom Holland's Peter Parker, guiding the audience through everything that's happened since his life was reset.
Based on the trailer, that likely includes quick hits of him swinging through the city saving a civilian, along with brief looks at him taking on villains like Boomerang and Tarantula. Notably, The Fantastic Four: First Steps just used a very similar device to establish its team right out of the gate.
One other moment that could fit into this montage is Peter visiting Aunt May's grave, though that also feels like something the movie might hold onto for a more extended, emotional beat later on. It's the kind of scene that could go either way depending on how quickly the film wants to approach Peter's loss.
There's also the detail of Peter watching a video of Ned Leeds and MJ's first day at MIT at the start of the trailer.
That could very easily be folded into this opening stretch as well, showing the early days of leading a much different life after everyone forgot who he was.
Punisher and Mind-Controlled Tank
This feels like the point where Brand New Day really zooms in on what Spider-Man is up to in the present day. The trailer shows him chasing down a rogue tank that's tearing through the city, while also dealing with Punisher (Jon Bernthal), who clearly has a history with him. It's an odd dynamic, but one that Holland said might be his favorite of the film.
From there, it looks like things escalate fast, with Spider-Man trying to slow the tank as it barrels through New York City, putting civilians in harm's way.
It has that classic street-level chaos the MCU hasn't leaned into much with Spider-Man lately, emulating the opening of 2014's The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
The wrinkle comes later in the trailer, when it's revealed that the tank may have been operated by an older woman under some form of mind control. That influence then appears to jump between other military-style guys, who seem to be Department of Damage Control.
Structurally, it lines up as a continuation of the same event, but the bigger question is how it all started, because the trailer very clearly leaves out the origin of the tank and whatever force is actually pulling the strings.
Spider-Man Meeting William Metzger
Based on the closed captions identifying Tramell Tillman's character as "Bill" in the trailer, it's likely he's playing Anti-Mutant activist William Metzger.
In the MCU, Bill appears to be the head of the DODC, which fans have seen in No Way Home, Ms. Marvel, and Wonder Man.
In the trailer, he's seen meeting with Spider-Man, warning him: "We are faced with a danger that we can't control. One we can't even see."
This meeting would make sense to take place shortly after Spider-Man's run-in with the tank, and the mysterious mind-jumping ability Peter had just witnessed.
Jean Grey Scenes
Sadie Sink's role in Brand New Day is still a total mystery. She only kind of made her debut in the trailer, where her wrists are presumably being restrained in a chair, and then a shot of what fans assume is her in a hoodie with her hands up.
Stranger Things fans will have to wait until next time to actually see the young star's face.
In the plot, a reveal of her character around the time Spider-Man is first drawn into the mysterious danger would make sense, but the lack of context around Sink's assumed moments in the trailer makes her place in the story a complete wild card.
Peter Looks Back on His Letter to MJ
This may jump ahead a bit, but it starts a new sequence of events tied to Peter running into Ned and MJ again. First, he's shown holding the old letter, the one he wrote years ago when he was going to tell MJ everything and try to make their lives normal again.
Of course, Peter decided against it, choosing to keep his old friends out of harm's way.
But now, in Brand New Day, Peter can also be seen holding a phone, watching Ned walk into a cafe, wearing a hoodie, with a small bouquet of flowers sitting next to him. A detail that connects to the next scene.
Peter Visits MJ and Ned's Apartment
One of the most heavily featured scenes in the trailer is the party at MJ and Ned's new apartment. MJ has a new boyfriend, played by Ahsoka star Eman Esfandi (who fans already hate), and Peter is seen awkwardly looking on.
The flowers from the previous scene turn out to be a housewarming gift, which also reveals that Peter is their neighbor.
This all points to Ned and MJ having graduated from MIT since No Way Home and moving back to New York City post-grad.
It makes sense that Peter would still be in college at Empire State University while his old friends have already graduated; after all, he had to take the GED and start from scratch academically.
Peter Gains Organic Webs
It makes sense to place what appears to be the start of Peter's mutation right after the party. He's seen covered in sweat and barely standing, wearing the exact same outfit from when he's with Ned and MJ.
It's hard to imagine this comes before the party, so it's presumably right after he leaves, stumbling back to his room.
In Brand New Day, Peter is mutating into something new, and that includes developing organic webs. In the trailer, he seemingly wakes up surrounded by them and falls out of his window, struggling to control his new spider-like powers.
Peter Visits Bruce Banner
Who knows how this will actually play out, but going from the mutation scene to Peter asking Mark Ruffalo's Bruce Banner about DNA mutation after class makes a lot of sense as a sequence of events. There could be elements of the movie in between, but that order feels pretty accurate.
This was the only look at Bruce in the trailer, which is interesting given that it's been officially confirmed he'll be a rageful Hulk again in Brand New Day.
Peter Fights the Hand in Prison
Confidence isn't high on exactly how or when The Hand fits into Brand New Day. Beyond a few aesthetic shots, there's not much connective tissue explaining why The Hand is in this movie or why they're going after Peter Parker at all.
What does seem to work together is the inside and outside of the prison, feeling like part of the same sequence.
The one detail that helps place it in the timeline is that Peter appears to be using his organic webs rather than his web shooters, confirming this happens a bit later in the movie.
Spider-Man vs. Scorpion
As more trailers come out, more will become clear, but for now, Michael Mando's return to the MCU as Scorpion was randomly dropped into the first trailer.
If Mac Gargan is broken out of prison in this movie, it would make sense for this to take place right after that shot of the giant hole in the prison wall.
Spider-Man and MJ on the Rooftop
The reason for the rooftop scene between Spider-Man and MJ to be last is that it's the only other nighttime scene, connecting to the Scorpion encounter.
This also could make some sense, having this interaction later in the movie, as MJ's apartment is shown to have pictures of Spider-Man, she must have an interest in the character. Also, Doctor Strange's spell only mind-wiped everyone from knowing who Peter Parker is, but MJ could still have memories of Spider-Man, and not understand the full context.
Peter getting to speak to MJ as Spider-Man has to be one of the more anticipated conversations of Brand New Day.
