Small Details You Missed In Spider-Man: Brand New Day

Contains spoilers for "Spider-Man: Brand New Day"

"Spider-Man: Brand New Day" is often a big movie, where the web-crawler dukes it out with ninjas in one scene while another set piece involves him going toe-to-toe with The Hulk. Michael Giacchino's score is full of grandiose notes, while the dynamic between Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Tom Holland) and Frank Castle/The Punisher (Jon Bernthal) is full of boisterous, humorous moments. After a big superhero adventure like this one, it's easy to feel a surface-level examination of "Brand New Day" is a perfectly acceptable way to absorb everything this title has to offer.

In reality, though, director Destin Daniel Cretton and company have crammed "Brand New Day" with all kinds of tiny details that are well worth examining. Some of these details aren't life-changing, amounting to just nods to past "Spider-Man" adventures. Others, though, reflect fleeting but notable references to the comics or intriguing glimpses into the internal minds of major Marvel Cinematic Universe characters. Some even speak to casting trends in broader "Spider-Man" media or finally cap off months of fan speculation over which actors are playing what roles in "Brand New Day."

Spider-Man may seem happy-go-lucky on the outside, but he's constantly plagued with problems and misery. There's always more going on with this hero on the inside. Similarly, "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" offers plenty of small details that are easy to miss, yet equally vital to process.

While investigating what's going on with his hormones, Peter Parker is shown wearing a ratty T-shirt with red lettering on it. The letters spell out "Delmar's Deli," a location that appeared in the first MCU Spider-Man adventure, "Spider-Man: Homecoming." This location, run by the friendly Delmar (Hemky Madera), was a place Peter regularly visited in his everyday life. Eventually, while still getting the hang of being Spider-Man, Peter had to save Delmar and his cat once his plans to foil a bank robbery went awry and left Delmar's Deli in flames.

Deleted scenes from "Spider-Man: Far from Home," reconstituted as a short film entitled "Peter's To-Do List," had Peter encountering Delmar again as this teenager prepared to travel to Europe. That was the last time anyone saw this location in the MCU and the physical Delmar's Deli doesn't reappear in "Brand New Day." However, this shirt indicates Peter is keeping this cherished locale close to his heart. Ned and MJ aren't the only fixtures of his old life that he refuses to forget, while reminding audiences of Delmar's Deli reflects how far Peter has come.

Once upon a time, Peter couldn't halt a bank robbery without jeopardizing places like Delmar's Deli. Now, he's a reliable crime-fighter in New York City, whose problems have grown quite larger. Much has changed for Peter Parker, including who even remembers he exists, but this piece of attire indicates his love for Delmar's Deli hasn't been diluted.

After Wilson Fisk/Kingpin's Spider-Man reference in the second "Daredevil: Born Again" episode, it was inevitable that the lives of these two Marvel Comics characters would intersect in live action. Fisk performer Vincent D'Onofrio has also made it clear he really, really wants to take on Spider-Man. D'Onofrio doesn't physically appear on-screen in "Brand New Day," but his face does manifest in the background of one scene. Through this Easter egg, the MCU's incarnations of Wilson Fisk and Spider-Man finally collide, albeit in a very subtle fashion.

In a mid-movie scene where Spider-Man is trying to control his newfound and overwhelming organic webbing skills in an alleyway, a tattered poster for Fisk's mayoral campaign is affixed to a nearby green dumpster. In Season 2 of "Daredevil: Born Again," Fisk is forced to vacate his mayoral position and leaves New York City as a shell of his formerly powerful self. The raggedy nature of that alleyway poster suggests how far Fisk's reputation has fallen. A figure who once controlled New York City now has any visual reminders of his existence gathering dust on dumpsters.

Spidey never acknowledges this poster nor does any of his "Brand New Day" dialogue indicate he's encountered Fisk. Still, this background detail does establish that the MCU's Wilson Fisk/Kingpin is still lurking in the shadows of Spidey's life. Perhaps this is a precursor to D'Onofrio's dreams coming true via a proper Spdier-Man/Kingpin showdown.

When Peter Parker seeks out Bruce Banner's (Mark Ruffalo) help with his mutating DNA, he heads off to Empire State University, where Banner is now teaching college students. When Parker stumbles into Banner's classroom, this MCU veteran is giving a seminar to a roomful of students who only have questions about his exploits with the Avengers. One of the questions — about why Thanos didn't use the Infinity Stones to double the resources rather than eliminating half the population — comes from a female Asian American student named Cindy, whose name might sound familiar to some die-hard fans of the Spider-Man comics.

The name might be a homage to the character Cindy Moon, who becomes the spider-based superhero Silk. If so, this wouldn't be the first live-action iteration of Cindy Moon to show up in the MCU. Tiffany Espensen previously portrayed a version of Cindy Moon that debuted in "Spider-Man: Homecoming" and subsequently appeared again in "Avengers: Infinity War." Save for technically showing up via archival footage in the extended "Spider-Man: No Way Home" cut, this iteration of Cindy Moon vanished after the five-year time-jump between "Homecoming" and "Spider-Man: Far from Home."

Does this mean the college-aged Cindy seen briefly in "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" is the MCU's new incarnation of Silk? Given how fleetingly the character is seen, it's probably just a nod to the comics. Still, it's good to know that the "Brand New Day" creative team haven't forgotten about Silk.

In one of the final "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" scenes, a congregation of New Yorkers gather to cheer on Spider-Man. Everyone here is dressed up in something evoking their favorite New York vigilante (sorry Danny Rand/Iron Fist), whether it's red/blue jackets or full Spider-Man costumes. Among these is one guy wearing a ramshackle Spider-Man mask that sure looks familiar. The specific look of the webbing lines on this mask combined with the pitch-black eyes and the texture of the guy's fabric makes it look like he's wearing something emulating Nicholas Hammond's Spider-Man costume from the 1970s CBS show.

When ranking or just discussing all live-action Spider-Man actors, it's important to remember Nicholas Hammond portrayed this character long before Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, let alone Tom Holland. His stint consisted of the TV program "The Amazing Spider-Man," various episodes of which were smushed together to form feature-length movies (like "Spider-Man: The Dragon's Challenge") internationally. The presence of this iteration of Spider-Man in the broader culture has been incredibly limited, with multiverse movies like "Spider-Man: No Way Home" and "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" never making time for nods towards this inaugural live-action Spider-Man.

Of all things, "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" appears to have made room for at least a quiet nod to the character's broadcast network past with this extra's costume. When it comes to celebrating Spidey, all iterations of the character are apparently welcome.

After the final battle in "Spider-Man: Brand New Day," there's a montage of various New York City landmarks and corners of the city in which Big Apple residents root for Spider-Man to recover from his injuries. The Empire State Building is covered in red and blue colors, while a gigantic tarp featuring Spidey's face dangles from the Brooklyn Bridge. In one of these wide shots of various New York buildings, on the right side of the screen, eagle-eyed viewers may just spot the Avengers Tower, which previously turned up in the finale of "Spider-Man: Homecoming." 

This location was more recently depicted as being purchased by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) in "Thunderbolts*," with that film's post-credits scene showing the New Avengers (including "Brand New Day" supporting player Yelena Belova/Black Widow, portrayed by Florence Pugh) residing inside Avengers Tower as their headquarters. Interestingly, though only briefly seen in the New York skyline in "Brand New Day," this version of Avengers Tower seems to resemble its exterior as seen in "Thunderbolts*" rather than the more colorful iteration (complete with an Avengers logo) briefly glimpsed in the "Avengers: Doomsday" trailer.

This very quick glimpse of Avengers Tower in "Brand New Day" also harkens back to an earlier time in the MCU's history. Specifically, it echoes how various posters and banners for the MCU Netflix shows would feature Avengers Tower deep in the background. The decades change, yet Avengers Tower still distantly looms over the Big Apple's street-level heroes.

One of several villains Spidey defeats in an opening montage is none other than Lonnie Lincoln/Tombstone, portrayed by rapper-actor Marvin Jones III, a name that should be familiar to die-hard fans of these "Spider-Man" movies. Jones III is the rare actor to portray a Marvel Comics character in both animation and live-action media, as he previously portrayed Tombstone (as a main henchman of Wilson Fisk/Kingpin) in "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse." Allegedly, he'll be reprising that role in 2027 in the highly anticipated follow-up "Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse."

Tombstone's screentime isn't extensive in "Brand New Day," yet the familiar casting is still a nice nod to the cast of one of the most famous animated movies of all time. Incorporating Tombstone at all in "Brand New Day" means it's been a busy year for the character in live-action media. Nicolas Cage's "Spider-Noir" TV show also featured another incarnation of Tombstone played by Abraham Popoola, here depicted as a more tragic figure that the audience wanted to receive redemption. That's a strong contrast to the "Brand New Day" Tombstone, who's intentionally framed as archly nefarious as possible so he can register as a baddie during a rapid-fire montage.

Marvin Jones III may not have a monopoly on all pop culture depictions of Lonnie Lincoln/Tombstone, but he's clearly the go-to actor for this character in big-screen "Spider-Man" adventures.

Throughout the apartment that Peter Parker's former best friend Ned Leeds (Jacob Batalon) shares with MJ (Zendaya) are various reminders of Ned's geek-based passions, including Lego minifigures on his desk and "The Empire Strikes Bkack" playing on his computer (a movie Peter made an extended bit about in "Captain America: Civil War"). Then there's various pieces of anime art hanging around his bedroom, one of which can be clearly identified in two separate scenes is a "Naruto" poster.

For most audience members who even see this poster, it'll resonate as just a piece of random decoration. However, there's a greater significance to this "Naruto" shout-out. This poster specifically heralds the live-action "Naruto" movie that "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" director Destin Daniel Cretton is helming. A few weeks before this Spidey adventure hit theaters, the project reached a pivotal pre-production stage as Cretton announced that a casting hunt was underway to find live-action versions of the three "Naruto" protagonists. It looks like this film (which is being financed and released by Lionsgate) is indeed coming to life after eons in development, though no firm release date has been set. 

Still, Cretton seems clearly committed to making "Naruto" his next production. Thus, the "Naruto" poster lingering in the back of two "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" scenes offer a glimpse into this filmmaker's future, in addition to reinforcing key nerdy personality traits of Ned.

The various pre-release trailers and TV spots for this latest "Spider-Man" outing inspired countless "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" fan theories, some of which actually made sense. Many of those theories revolved around who exactly Keith David was playing. His vocals were a pivotal part of the film's initial teaser trailer, as his iconic voice delivered lines about the "life cycles" of spiders and how they can be tantamount to a "rebirth." For months, folks online went nuts trying to predict who Davis was playing. Was he Kwaku Anansi? Perhaps some new form of The Jackal? 

Of course, long-time comic book movie geeks know that pre-release speculation on who major actors are playing in superhero films can often lead to amusingly mundane endpoints. Decades ago, people were convinced Anthony Michael Hall was playing The Riddler in "The Dark Knight," when in reality he was just playing a news reporter. Scoot McNairy was allegedly portraying Jimmy Olsen in "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" before eventually revealed to be playing a totally original one-off character. Ike Barinholtz was supposedly Hugo Strange in "Suicide Squad." The list goes on and on.

Keith David now joins that pantheon, as he merely has a cameo as an unnamed narrator of a spider documentary Peter Parker watches in his apartment. Some viewers may even miss that he's in the feature entirely given how briefly his vocals appear. Such brevity may perplex fans who'd spent months speculating which "massive" character David was "destined" to play.

While teaching, Bruce Banner insists that his students come up with academic questions rather than inquiries focused on his Avengers exploits. In defense of those students, Bruce's subject matter for the class that Peter Parker interrupts certainly doesn't help erase memories of the events of "Avengers: Endgame." The lecture Peter stumbles into is focused on quantum-based traveling, an extension of the multiverse quantum theories that made the entire "time heist" of "Avengers: Endgame" possible. No wonder these twenty-somethings can't stop thinking of Thanos.

In "Endgame," super-geniuses like Tony Stark took forever to figure out how this kind of Quantum Realm-informed multiverse time-travel hopping was possible. Bruce offering up a lecture at least tangentially related to this matter suggests he's interested in making sure the next generation can access this valuable information. What initially eluded Bruce and Tony in "Endgame" is now just another science course at ESU. In an extension of his "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" cameo and "She-Hulk: Attorney at Law" supporting role, Bruce is once more educating the next generation on how to navigate this "age of miracles."

On a meta-level, this "quantum" reference offers up another of the sparse connections between "Brand New Day" and the various "Avengers" movies (alongside a New York tour guide reference to "the battle of New York.") Bruce Banner can't forget these adventures, and "Brand New Day" makes sure the audience doesn't either.