A Spider-Man: Brand New Day Leak Has Steve Rogers Remembering Peter Parker, and I'm Not Sure That Works

A new report, or leak, whatever you want to call it, has been sent to me by a lot of people about the post-credit scene for Spider-Man: Brand New Day. The claim is that it is pulled directly from Avengers: Doomsday, the same way the Doom scene in The Fantastic Four: First Steps post-credit scene and the Avengers Tower moment with the Fantastic Four rocket in the Thunderbolts post-credit scene were both said to be lifted straight from Doomsday.

The Leaked Scene Reportedly Puts Steve Rogers and Thor Back in the Present Day MCU

The claim going around is that the post-credit scene for Brand New Day will feature Steve Rogers back in the present day MCU alongside Thor, the Fantastic Four, and the New Avengers, spelled with a Z. In the scene, Steve is supposedly doing a head count of who they have on the roster and asks, "Where's Peter? Where's Spider-Man?" He is reportedly met with confused looks from everybody else.

My read on that confusion is that all of these heroes should still know who Spider-Man is as a hero, and maybe even remember working with him, but as far as they know they don't know his secret identity because of the spell, and they don't know how to contact him. They might just think Spider-Man is a bit of a lone wolf now.

Steve Rogers Reportedly Remembers Peter Parker Because He Wasn't on Earth 616 When the Spell Was Cast

The report claims Steve Rogers remembers Peter Parker because he wasn't on Earth 616 at the time the forget Peter Parker spell was cast in No Way Home. To explain why that matters, the way that spell supposedly worked was that the cracking of the sky caused villains and other people from across the multiverse who knew Peter Parker was Spider-Man to start spilling into the MCU. At Peter's own request, Doctor Strange casts a spell that makes everyone forget Peter Parker, period, not just that he is Spider-Man, which closes the sky cracks.

The theory behind the leak is that only people on Earth 616 were affected by that spell. Since Steve Rogers wasn't on Earth 616 at the time, the idea is that he would still remember Peter Parker and remember that he's Spider-Man.

Why I Don't Think That Theory Holds Up

I don't think that can be true, because all of those villains from other universes who were coming into the MCU had to have Strange's spell work on them too, so that they forget Peter Parker and no longer know he's Spider-Man. What we're told is that the botched spell didn't just affect Universe 616, it reached beyond that universe's barriers and hit people in other universes who knew Peter Parker was Spider-Man, which is why they'd been getting pulled into 616 in the first place.

For the spell to actually send those other people home and stop the sky from cracking open, it had to affect those other realities too, not just 616. That theoretically means everyone who knew who Tobey Maguire's and Andrew Garfield's Peter Parkers were also forgot who Peter Parker is. That's a huge change for their lives, especially if either of them is with MJ and has a family. You'd think that's something Tom's Peter might run by the other Spider-Men before doing, but the real issue is that when the script was written, that possibility wasn't even considered.

Would Steve Rogers or Thor Actually Remember Peter Parker?

That brings me to the real question, would Steve Rogers remember, and would Thor remember, since neither was on Earth 616 when the spell was cast. Thor was in Universe 616 but not on the Earth itself. From what No Way Home told us, the spell seems to transcend the MCU and affects other universes, so the only way Steve wouldn't be affected is if the spell only hit 616 and the specific universes the people bleeding through the sky cracks came from.

Steve is reportedly living in the Fantastic Four universe, designated 828, which is a spoiler for anyone avoiding Doomsday leaks. Universe 828 may not have been included in the spell's reach because maybe it doesn't have its own Peter Parker or Spider-Man. But that's where it falls apart for me, because if Steve Rogers is in that universe and knows Peter Parker is Spider-Man, and the spell was pulling in everyone throughout the multiverse who had that knowledge, shouldn't Steve have been pulled back into 616 along with all those villains?

It could go over fine with a general audience to just say Steve wasn't affected because he was in another universe. But if you think about it for more than a second, it falls apart, because the spell had to wipe Peter Parker from the minds of people in other universes for it to do what it was cast to do. If that's the rule, then Steve Rogers knowing Peter Parker is Spider-Man should have made him part of that pull too.

What This Means for Every Spider-Man Across the Multiverse

Long answer short, I don't know if Steve Rogers, Thor, or Captain Marvel, people who were off planet or off universe, remember Peter Parker. The implications of that spell were that everyone everywhere forgets Peter Parker, and that has massive implications when you actually stop and think about it, not just for Tom's Spider-Man, but for every Spider-Man or Peter Parker in the entire multiverse. Tobey's Peter should have gone home to nobody knowing who he is, because everyone had to forget Peter Parker for the spell to work as described.

I don't think that will ever get addressed, not in Brand New Day, not in Doomsday, not in Secret Wars, probably not ever, because the whole thing was flawed to begin with. Both the spell at the start of No Way Home and the one at the end never made sense in terms of their ramifications. It was a cobbled together plot device to bring Tobey and Andrew and their villains into the story and undo the secret identity reveal from the end of Far From Home. I say this as someone who really enjoyed No Way Home, but it is a messy film.

I'd Love to See Steve Rogers Remember, Even If It Doesn't Add Up

I think it would be cool to have Steve Rogers show back up in the MCU as one of the few people who still knows who Peter Parker is and remembers their experiences together. That would be a special moment between those two characters. But it really wouldn't make sense for him not to be affected if every person throughout the multiverse who knows Peter Parker is Spider-Man and who was getting pulled into the MCU was supposed to have forgotten who he is, since that spell was supposed to affect everybody.

Do you think Steve Rogers will still remember that Peter Parker is Spider-Man?