The One Person Who Remembers: Tom Holland’s ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ Tease Has Fans Spinning Theories
Few emotional gut-punches in recent superhero cinema landed quite like the ending of ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home,’ when Peter Parker sacrificed his entire identity so the world could move on. The conclusion saw Doctor Strange cast a spell meaning the world would forget Peter, and one of the burning questions surrounding ‘Brand New Day’ has been whether anyone at all still remembers him. That question is now more alive than ever as the film’s release date approaches and Tom Holland continues to drop carefully placed breadcrumbs in the press circuit.
The spell cast at the end of ‘No Way Home’ means the world has forgotten that Peter Parker exists, not just as Spider-Man but as a person entirely, leaving MJ, Ned, and even the Avengers with no memory of him whatsoever. Holland has since expanded on how the creative team worked around this challenge, explaining that the characters remember their interactions with Spider-Man and even remember the hero himself, they just have no idea who he is underneath the mask. It is a distinction that makes Peter’s isolation feel all the more suffocating.
Then came the bombshell. While speaking to IGN Benelux, Holland was asked if any of the Avengers remember him, and the actor gave a cryptic but unmistakable tease, saying that no one remembers Spider-Man is Peter Parker, “apart from one person,” before stopping himself from going any further. Holland was cut off mid-sentence by Zendaya before he could reveal anything more, leaving fans with half an answer and a very loud mystery to unpack.
The fan theories wasted no time filling in the blank. The two most prevalent candidates are the Hulk and Sadie Sink’s still-officially-unnamed character, widely believed to be Jean Grey. The comics actually laid the groundwork for the Hulk angle years ago in a team-up issue where the Green Goliath calls Spider-Man by his secret identity, revealing that while the spell worked on Bruce Banner, the Hulk, being a separate personality, never forgot who Peter was. That theory has received a significant boost with the confirmation that Savage Hulk, the version of the character separate from Banner, is returning in ‘Brand New Day’ for the first time in years.
The Jean Grey theory carries its own weight, as a leaked trailer from late last year appeared to include dialogue from a character sounding like Sink seemingly confirming she already knew that Spider-Man and Peter Parker were one and the same person. Holland has also described the film itself as feeling like a “detective movie,” with even Spider-Man spending much of the story trying to piece together what is happening around him. That framing suggests the mystery of the one person who remembers is not a throwaway detail but a thread woven through the film’s central tension.
Holland called ‘Brand New Day’ the best Spider-Man film the team has ever made, a statement that carries real weight coming from someone who has inhabited the role across multiple films and crossover appearances. The film is directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, working from a script by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers, and arrives in theaters on July 31, 2026. Whether the one person who remembers Peter Parker turns out to be a gamma-powered Avenger, a powerful mutant, or someone no one has even guessed yet, that single dangling tease from Holland has done exactly what Marvel trailers do best: made waiting feel almost unbearable. Who do you think is the one person still holding Peter Parker’s secret, and does your theory change how you’re feeling about ‘Brand New Day’?
