Not every scene from the Spider-Man: Brand New Day trailers made it into the finished film. The movie has been smashing box office records since its release, reaffirming Tom Holland, Zendaya, and Jacob Batalon as the strongest core ensemble in the Spider-Man franchise. Director Destin Daniel Cretton has earned praise for the film's grounded tone and visuals, all delivered in a two-hour-and-24-minute cut. But it turns out that even with that lengthy runtime, several sequences were trimmed, altered, or removed entirely before the movie hit theaters.
Warning - This article contains spoilers for Spider-Man: Brand New Day
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is now swinging in theaters, five years after the release of Spider-Man: No Way Home, the longest gap between any two Tom Holland Spider-Man movies. Between a directing handoff from Jon Watts to Destin Daniel Cretton, the 2023 writers' strike, and Holland stepping away to film Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, the wait was a long one.
It's paid off: the film opened domestically to an all-time record $360.1 million, edging out Avengers: Endgame's 2019 debut for the biggest opening weekend ever.
The movie also resolves a few lingering questions. Peter's dramatic physical changes throughout the film, dubbed "spider-puberty" by the actor, had fans wondering if he'd been turned into a mutant, but Brand New Day confirms he's still a mutate, even as it introduces Sadie Sink's Jean Grey and sets up 2028's X-Men movie.
And after years of nobody remembering Peter Parker thanks to Doctor Strange's spell, a handful of characters learn his secret by the end of the film, including Frank Castle, Ned, and MJ. With that much story to fit into one movie, it's no surprise some of the footage teased in marketing never made the final cut.
Brand New Day Trailer Scenes That Didn't Make the Movie
Spider-Puberty
One clip from marketing showed Spider-Man sitting in a hospital gown while a nurse tries to give him a shot, only for the needle to crumple against his toughened skin, a lighthearted moment seemingly designed to show kids that needles aren't so scary. It never appears in the finished film.
Spider-Man does end up in the hospital by the end of Brand New Day, after taking a sniper round meant for Jean Grey. However, it's unclear if these moments in the films would've even connected.
The tone of this clip feels more suited to an earlier "spider-puberty" checkup than part of his climactic, heroic recovery, being kept alive by Jean's telepathic abilities.
Peter Collapsing
This shot was all over Brand New Day's marketing: Peter walks through his apartment door, soaking wet, and immediately collapses. In the final film, though, he collapses toward the closed door, not away from it, after walking in, because the movie built an entire context around the shot that trailers never showed.
After leaving Ned and MJ's party when he sees MJ kissing her new boyfriend, Peter dramatically swings home through the rain in his street clothes, sits at his desk rereading the letter he wrote to MJ, and only then starts to spiral, gripping his wrist in pain as his eyes turn fully black.
He stands and turns for the door before finally collapsing. It seems like the version of the scene from the trailers would've been made for a snapper cut, but the theatrical version seems like a major emotional improvement.
Adjusted Tarantula Scene
A quick one: around the 2:10 mark of the first trailer, Spider-Man's fight with Tarantula is shown against a skyline showing much more of Manhattan than what ends up in the finished opening image.
The fight itself, part of a montage covering four years of Spidey battling villains since the ending of No Way Home, is otherwise unchanged, making this look like a simple shot swap rather than a cut scene.
MJ at Aunt May's Grave
Set photos and a pre-release teaser both showed Zendaya's MJ standing beside Peter at Aunt May's grave. That scene didn't make the movie.
Peter alone visits May's grave again near the end of Brand New Day, telling her he's not going to do this alone anymore, while he and MJ barely discuss May at all beyond a passing mention.
Since MJ's entire connection to May existed through her relationship with Peter, the spell likely erased that memory too, and the movie ultimately doesn't tackle his ex-girlfriend visiting his aunt's gravesite.
BONUS: Alternate Boomerang Action
A shot from a leaked trailer showed Spider-Man swinging up the side of a building away from Boomerang. The leaked version was a near-exact recreation of the cover of The Amazing Spider-Man #345, right down to the angle and framing.
The final film keeps a version of the chase but drops the identical comic recreation composition, likely because the homage worked better with this alternative angle. The image of his swinging away from Boomerang has been used in much of the marketing as well.
BONUS: Ninja Star
A promotional still showed Spider-Man with a shuriken embedded in his shoulder, implying he takes a hit during the film's climactic battle (or earlier).
In the finished fight against Jean Grey's mind-controlled Hand ninjas, Peter fully locks into his heightened spider-sense and dodges every blade thrown his way.
The still may have come from an earlier cut of the sequence built to show Peter getting hurt, before the film pivoted to using the fight to show how Peter is able to be Spider-Man simultaneously, no longer needing the inhibitor chip, but retaining his humanity.
