Quip about Spider-Man: Brand New Day by Electric Sheep
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Warning: This review may contain spoilers
Good to know that if your handshake game is sick enough then you're able to undo four years of character development.
Turns out Peter Parker's greatest weakness was being incapable of making new friends!
Also reviewed by KirkletonnA+, nochance13A-, Adam MiltonB+ and kenzoB-
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This will just be a movie we disagree on because our take-aways on this are so vastly different. For me his character development is learning that he shouldn't push away those he cares about when he has the opportunity to reach out. This was shown in NWH as well so i really don't feel like anything was undone per-say. It is a valid question to ask how does Ned know the handshake but that will just have to be a future mystery to solve. I really don't think Ned got his memories back and that final moment is realizing that Peter is Spider-Man. Peter not making new friends also has valid reasons because it is still his mindset that self imposed isolation is what is best for him. So when he gets over this at the end of the movie and the events of the movie allowed him to reconnect with his loved ones, why wouldn't he? For me its all one big message to people who have ever felt the same.
I'm not arguing against any of the themes of the movie. I'm only criticizing the execution of the plot. I think that the question of the handshake happening at all + the Hulk moment lays a good foundation for my complaint. But if it doesn't matter to someone at all if they end up undoing the memory wipe, then I understand why my complaint doesn't land at all. It's just a disagreement on the principle rather than the execution at that point.
Ned wasn't getting all his memories back after the handshake... he was realizing Peter was Spiderman because MJ called Spiderman "Peter" as he left their apartment
How did he know how to do the handshake? If not leaving the door open for the possibility of memories getting restored in future movies, why make the ending ambiguous at all? Why was Peter able to break through to Hulk by using his real name if not leaving the door open to restore memories in the future? If they start undoing the mind-wipe in the future (which is my guess) then what was the point of making a big deal about it to begin with if you're just going to undercut it by 180ing the decision in the very next movie? Pair this with the rest of the MCU trotting out all its fallen Avengers from the grave - doesn't give me a lot of faith that they won't leave this alone too. Just kind of tired of these movies making a big deal about a tragic sacrifice a hero has to make, just to make that sacrifice no big deal because they can find a way around it later. I understand doing that to some extent over the course of several movies, because comic books never end - but it feels weird for it to happen in back-to-back installments. BUT! Maybe I'm wrong and that doesn't happen.
Not reading that novel
I personally think that it's muscle memory more so than him remembering the motions himself, I think there are actually a lot of reported real world examples of this. I don't think that ending was meant to be ambiguous, maybe more so people paying attention to detail. I actually appreciate this more than the typical exposition or spoon feeding we get from hero films. But even Jean said there was nothing at all of Peter in MJ's mind, to me more so cementing that Ned pieced it together that he is Spidey. So that's fair but I don't think it was per say the acknowledgment of "Peter" that made him snap out of it or him remembering him. We have seen Hulk attack friends and other Avengers countless times, plus we have NEVER seen these two interact before, so why would Hulk care if it was Peter? I will say I'm incredibly tired of the Hulks in the MCU being mind controlled and then talked down by someone. It's very rinse and repeat. I can 100% agree with the rest.
What's the narrative purpose of showing us the muscle memory handshake? Do we not expect Ned to have questions about how/why that happened? Then Peter tells him - which doesn't give him his memories back, sure. But I'm anticipating some future Ned magic where he gets the memories back once he knows they're missing.
No that's valid, I can actually see the ambiguity there, I think it was to have a visual representation of Peter's character development. For 4 year's he's struggled with the anxiety of not keeping his promise to them. After the growth he experienced in this film he finally went through with his promise and went to Ned. The shake itself was maybe part fan service to the Home trilogy fans, but also him breaking down that wall he put up himself. I think I would have liked it more if the shake didn't go as planned, and he chose to even still go through with his promise and tell Ned. That would more so show the development in my opinion but I get what they were doing (I think at least).
What character development was undone specifically?
Yo mama