Spider-Man: Brand New Day was originally set to be a drastically different film from the one currently in theaters, one of the film’s writers recently revealed. In a recent interview with The Bulwark, Chris McKenna, who was a co-writer on every Tom Holland-led Spider-Man film, detailed these original plans for Brand New Day.
He started by explaining the following:
“He had to have a persona. So it would be Peter from Queens pretending he’s British because he was trying to disguise his voice. Tom Holland doing an American version of a British accent. He was juggling personas. He has to fall in with her to get in with this mystery, and he’s pretending he’s someone else: Ben Reilly. But he’s Ben Reilly, British.”
McKenna also explained in the interview that the film would feature Tom Holland’s Peter Parker outside of New York, explaining that:
“[Peter would’ve become] a badass hero in Southeast Asia, taking down Southeast Asian gangs. He has to go all the way back to New York to deal with this imposter. Like, who is this guy? He gets there, and he finds out, like, this guy is using my web fluid, and he’s using my suit. And it turns out the guy has done what Peter Parker had never done, where he actually copyrighted the Spider-Man brand, like trademarked it.”
McKenna also explained that the original script for Brand New Day would’ve featured a prominent appearance by Charlie Cox’s Matt Murdock/Daredevil. Here are the full details:
“Then [Peter] had to hire Matt Murdock as a lawyer to help him fight because he got a cease-and-desist from this other guy. You can’t pretend that you’re Spider-Man. And so it became this whole thing that was pretty fun, but it was just a different story.
Another idea for the film that ultimately got scrapped, McKenna explained, was to tie it more closely to the MCU’s current Multiverse Saga. In the original plans, which would’ve involved Marvel Comics’ Spider-Totem mythology, Peter would’ve been injured and hospitalized after a fight. After which, a voice, revealed to belong to a local bodega cat, would call out to Peter, telling him that different Spider-people were watching over him and that he must collect a Spider-totem.
It’s unclear exactly when the filmmakers scrapped these plans, but fans will likely be intrigued by all these details that didn’t ultimately come to fruition.
