Spider-Man Brand New Day's Post-Credit Scene May Be Setting Up Tobey Maguire's Return in Avengers Doomsday

Spider-Man Brand New Day was fantastic, and I am comfortable saying it is the best live-action Spider-Man movie since Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man 2. And speaking of Tobey Maguire, I think he might have been in this movie, and I want to explain why.

The film treats Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man era as a swan song

The previous Spider-Man film was Spider-Man No Way Home, which brought back Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield's versions of the character through the multiverse. In that film, Tom Holland's Peter refers to Maguire's Peter as Peter 2. Brand New Day calls back to that directly when Peter tests his new organic webbing and someone points out that Peter 2 had organic webs, and that he was cool.

Beyond that single line, the whole movie plays like a send-off to the Raimi and Maguire era. The way it is shot and color corrected echoes that older trilogy, and the story beats, with Peter struggling to walk the line between being Peter Parker and being Spider-Man, mirror what that earlier era was doing.

An app that tracks Spider-Man sightings is the key to the post-credit scene

In the movie, Ned creates an app that works like the speed check reports on a navigation app. People spot Spider-Man somewhere, report it, and other users see the sighting, the same way drivers report a speed trap. Ned does not have an actual tracker inside Spider-Man's suit, it all runs on crowdsourced sightings.

In the post-credit scene, we get a shot of the app showing no recent sightings, giving the impression Spider-Man has gone missing. The camera then pans off into space, we see what look like multiversal glitches as though we are passing through interdimensional barriers, and then a new location is found for Spider-Man, floating out in space.

Taken literally, this could mean the MCU's Spider-Man is already off in space

If we want to be technical and stay in-universe about it, this would mean someone used the app to report a Spider-Man sighting out in deep space, and that signal somehow made its way back to Earth. That could be teasing that the MCU's own Spider-Man wound up in space, maybe even on the planet that will become known as Battleworld.

But I think we may be taking the post-credit scene a little too literally.

My theory: this is a fourth-wall-breaking tease of Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man

I think the scene could be using the app to tell us, the audience, that there is a Spider-Man in space who is about to pass through an interdimensional barrier and arrive on the MCU's Earth. And the Spider-Man I think that could be referring to is the very one referenced earlier in the film, Tobey Maguire's version.

My reasoning is that he would be in space and passing through multiversal barriers because he is aboard the interdimensional Fantastic Four rocket, alongside the Fantastic Four, Doctor Doom, and Steve Rogers. According to leaks, the opening of Avengers: Doomsday features an incursion hitting Tobey Maguire's Earth, and that universe ends up destroyed. Some leaks even suggest he dies as a result.

That same leak reportedly says the X-Men universe is the one colliding with Maguire's, and that they end up destroying his universe to save their own. But Hugh Jackman's Wolverine, who was there planting the bomb that destroys the universe, ends up staying behind with Maguire as his universe crumbles. That is what the leak claims, and I want to be clear that is all it is, a leak.

I have floated the idea that Maguire and Jackman's fates are left open for Secret Wars

I have long said that if this leak is true, then Maguire and Jackman's fates are left open-ended in a way that sets up their return in Secret Wars. They could land in the void when the universe dies and then play a big role in Avengers Secret Wars.

But what if the scene plays out differently, and Maguire and Jackman have a bigger role in Doomsday than expected? Picture Maguire's Spider-Man and Jackman's Wolverine sitting there watching the sky break apart, just before the universe collapses, when the Fantastic Four rocket zips in, the door opens, and Doctor Doom steps out and tells them to come with him if they want to live. That would mean they get pulled onto that ship as it travels into the MCU to meet Thor and the other Avengers.

Personally, I doubt that is the case. In all likelihood, the post-credit scene is probably a reference to Tom Holland's Spider-Man going off-world for Secret Wars, which is likely where we will see that character again, since it has been heavily reported that he is not in Doomsday.

There is also a chance this ties Tom Holland's Spider-Man to Yelena Belova and the X-Men universe

There is still the possibility that the scene could reference Tom Holland's Spider-Man while also tying into Doomsday and the Fantastic Four, if his role in that film is simply being hidden well. Maybe Spider-Man, who knows Yelena Belova well after the two bathed together in Brand New Day, goes with her to the X-Men universe in Avengers Doomsday.

The Avengers Doomsday trailer already shows Yelena traveling with Reed Richards, Sam Wilson, and Shang-Chi to the X-Men universe. If Yelena feels she needs an extra hand, she could recruit her old friend Spider-Man, who is said to usually handle small potato problems, only for her to tell him this time it is a big potato and she needs his help.

That would explain why the post-credit scene opens with no sightings of Spider-Man on the app and why he then shows up in space after passing through interdimensional barriers into the X-Men universe. If that is what is happening, Tom Holland's Spider-Man would be there with Yelena, Reed, Shang-Chi, Sam Wilson, and Doctor Doom on their way to the Fox X-Men universe, which would be an epic sentence to even say out loud.

Which Spider-Man do you think that post-credit scene was actually referring to, and why is he drifting out in space?