The latest installment in Tom Holland's web-slinging adventures, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, offers a solid narrative with significant emotional payoffs and action sequences involving the Hulk and the Punisher. While the film itself delivers a compelling story, its post-credits scene hints at a much larger cosmic future for the character within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The Spidey Tracker's Cosmic Revelation
The film's post-credits scene focuses on Ned's "Spidey Tracker," an app designed for citizens to log sightings of Spider-Man. Initially presented as a somewhat quirky but well-intentioned tool, the tracker takes a significant turn. The scene shows a new sighting being logged, with the app's map zooming out from New York to encompass the entire globe, and then extending beyond Earth, past the Moon, to pinpoint the sighting in outer space.
Implications for Future MCU Events
This off-world sighting immediately raises questions about its connection to upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe projects, particularly Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. While the exact role of Spider-Man in Avengers: Doomsday remains unconfirmed, the film's trailers suggest an Earth-bound narrative, making a space setting for the character somewhat puzzling, even with the confirmed arrival of the Fantastic Four from space.
The connection to Avengers: Secret Wars appears more probable. Drawing parallels to the 2015 Marvel Comics event of the same name, the film is expected to merge the MCU with other universes, such as those formerly occupied by Fox's X-Men and the Fantastic Four. However, the original Secret Wars comic also largely centered on Earth as the nexus point for multiversal incursions. This again begs the question of why Spider-Man would be located in space.
Another possibility is that the film will draw inspiration from the 1980s Secret Wars comic series, where heroes and villains battled on the planet Battleworld under the purview of the Beyonder. This storyline notably featured Spider-Man prominently and marked his first acquisition of the black symbiote suit, which would later become Venom.
Alternatively, the "in space" notation might be less literal, signifying Spider-Man being "beyond Earth" in a multiversal context, which would align with the expected scope of both Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. The exact significance of this cosmic sighting and its implications for Spider-Man's role in future Avengers films will likely unfold in the coming cinematic events.