For Joe Russo, however, the lesson never played quite right. “Spider-Man was one of my favorite characters growing up,” he told CBR. “What I related to was this idea of a kid with incredible responsibility. I think you could manifest that responsibility through accidental death, and feeling the pressure, and the sense of loss in your life in a way that would keep the spirit that we wanted.
“If Peter blamed himself for his Uncle Ben’s death, I think he becomes a very different character,” he continued. “That would have been a different interpretation of the character, a more intense interpretation of the character.”
It’s hard to disagree with that last observation. For better or worse, the MCU Peter Parker has been a different person than either iteration played by Tobey Maguire or Andrew Garfield, as highlighted by Spider-Man: No Way Home. Those Peters were defined by tragedy, and did their superheroics with a black cloud over them, sometimes to the detriment of the story.
Clearly, the MCU wanted a brighter, quippier version of Spider-Man. Reverted back to teenage and played by the affable Holland, this Peter spent most of Homecoming worried about the big dance than he did his culpability in the death of a father figure. Yet, over the past several movies, Peter has grown more conflicted, losing both of his Uncle Ben surrogates with the deaths of Tony and Aunt May.
With Brand New Day promising a different chapter in Peter’s life, will we finally see the full story behind Ben’s death? Or does the fact that Russo decided to share this fact off-screen, in a Q&A, suggest that Ben plays no important role in his nephew’s life? More importantly, as long as Peter believes that his great power leads to great responsibility, does it matter that much if he learned the lesson from his aunt or his uncle?
Spider-Man: Brand New Day swings into theaters on July 31, 2026.
