‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ Post-Credits Scene Squandered Its Perfect Ending

Spider-Man: Brand New Day

Credit: Sony

Last week, you could almost feel the hype in the air as fans prepared to go see the first Spider-Man live-action film in five years. The MCU has been at an all-time low recently, but Spider-Man: Brand New Day promised something new and better and more intimate, and it delivered on all three.

Forbes‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ Review: The First Superhero Movie That Made Me Feel Something In A Very Long TimeBy Erik Kain

One of the biggest questions buzzing around the film, outside of some casting leaks, was whether we’d get any post-credits stingers teasing the next big Marvel Cinematic Universe entry, Avengers: Doomsday.

Unfortunately, it turns out, we did. And that was a mistake for several reasons. Warning: spoilers for Brand New Day follow.

Why The ‘Brand New Day’ Post-Credits Stinger Was A Big Mistake

My colleague Paul Tassi explained what the stinger was about the other day so if you need more details, head over there. In the meantime, let’s cover the most obvious reasons this stinger failed. These are also the more generic reasons, but we’ll start there and then narrow our focus to what really irks me so much about this scene.

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It wasn’t worth the wait. Press Start’s Shannon Grixti notes that “if you’re a person that’s hellbent on waiting around for the post-credits scene, don’t expect the near fifteen-minute wait to be worthwhile. It’s a mix of usual Spider-Man gag and genuine tease as it makes use of Ned’s comical Spider-Man tracker app as an alert pings out in the void of space. It’s a fun enough nod to the upcoming Doomsday and Secret Wars duology, if you’re able to ignore the utter abandonment of logic within the joke.”

It was pointless. As critic Peter Howell noted about the film, “The only misstep is the bloated 145-minute running time, which includes a pointless post-credits scene.” I actually don’t think the film was too long, though it had a few pacing issues that could have been resolved and some clarity concerns that some quick exposition might have helped but the post-credits scene was, indeed pointless.

Lots more negative reactions can be found online, on social media and reddit and so forth, though fans are also having fun speculating on whether it’s a nod to Doomsday or Secret Wars and where Peter might actually be in space, so that’s fun. But I think the criticism is well-earned, and I’d like to hone in on why I think it’s actually worse than people are saying.

‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ Had The Best Ending In An MCU Film In Years

In my review of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, I spent a good chunk of the piece writing about the ending, the very ending of the film when Ned recognizes and remembers Peter. It’s such a powerful, emotionally poignant and surprising moment. I heard gasps in the audience. The reaction was palpable. It was one of those endings that will stick with me for a long time. Part of why it was so brilliant is because it refocused the film from Peter and MJ’s (fizzled) romance, to Ned and Peter’s friendship. And that was just not something I think anyone expected, including me.

And this is what irks me about the post-credits stinger. The ending was so perfect, so lovely and unexpected, that making us all sit for ages to get a little animation of the Spidey-Tracker with Peter somewhere in space just to tease another movie felt like more than just a waste of time or pointless. It undermined the feeling I was supposed to be feeling when I walked out of that theater.

I was supposed to feel that sense of awe because the only word I can come up with for this friendship is agape, as in the type of unconditional love that even a sorcerer’s powerful spell can’t undo. I wanted to let that sink in as I walked out of the theater and instead I was also feeling irritated.

That’s not cool, Marvel, Sony, whoever I need to point and wag my finger at. That’s a very bad decision. This movie should have skipped post-credits scenes altogether and left us with that brilliant, beautiful moment of friendship and revelation. Oh well.

P.S. I said much the same thing about the final episode of The Walking Dead, which added a preview for an upcoming spinoff after a really great parting shot. No spoilers, but you can read that at the link if you care.