This article contains full spoilers for “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” including its ending and post-credits scene.
“Spider-Man Will Return.” Those four words appear at the very end of the credits, styled like a vintage James Bond sign-off, and they carry more weight than they might look like at first glance. Tom Holland isn’t confirmed for “Avengers: Doomsday.” His name doesn’t appear on the sprawling cast list. So where exactly is Peter Parker going — and when?
The film includes just one post-credits sequence, placed at the end of the closing credits instead of midway through, and it doesn’t feature any characters. What appears instead is Ned’s Spider-Man tracker app — the fan-built program his best friend has been running throughout the film to monitor sightings of Peter across New York City. The tracker pings a new location, then begins zooming out. And out. And out. Far beyond New York. Far beyond Earth. Wherever Peter Parker is headed next, it isn’t on this planet, Kotaku explained.
What It Means
The setup points in one direction: “Avengers: Secret Wars,” the follow-up to “Doomsday” scheduled for 2027. In the comics, Secret Wars collapsed the entire Marvel multiverse into a single patchwork dimension called Battleworld — a place built from pieces of different timelines and universes, populated by every hero and variant Marvel could throw together. If the MCU follows that template, Battleworld would be the logical destination for a Spider-Man being tracked somewhere off-world, Forbes argued.
There’s also a Fantastic Four wrinkle. Den of Geek reported that the post-credits scene was actually shot on the Avengers set by Joe and Anthony Russo — the directors of Doomsday — and teases the arrival of the Fantastic Four into the main MCU timeline via a space shuttle crashing from orbit. That moment, Den of Geek noted, directly connects the film’s final beat to “Doomsday,” even though Holland himself hasn’t been confirmed for that movie.
Collider’s breakdown framed it simply: the scene is teasing a Spider-Man gathering of some kind on Battleworld, and Marvel is getting there step by step — “No Way Home” established that multiple Spider-Men already know and trust each other, which removes one hurdle for any future multiverse reunion.
The Jean Grey Thread
Equally significant is what happens before the post-credits scene. Sadie Sink’s Jean Grey — confirmed on-screen here as a mutant whose telekinetic and telepathic abilities have spiraled dangerously out of control — saves Peter’s life before slipping out of New York. Her final shot is on a bus, heading somewhere northeast of the city, with no stated destination. The implication is Professor Xavier’s school, though whether it exists yet in the MCU’s main timeline isn’t spelled out, Variety noted.
What’s been made clear separately, from Samara Weaving’s Emma Frost casting announced Thursday morning and Kevin Feige’s Comic-Con comments earlier this month, is that the X-Men reboot is actively assembling. Jean Grey now has a direct personal connection to Peter Parker in the MCU. If Secret Wars brings them back together on Battleworld, that thread will have been planted here.
Peter’s Position in the MCU
Forbes made the larger point plainly: Spider-Man is the MCU‘s biggest hero, and the idea of him skipping two consecutive Avengers films strains credulity. Holland’s absence from “Doomsday’s” announced cast looks less like a farewell and more like a misdirect — either a surprise cameo is coming, or Marvel is deliberately saving Peter for the bigger, more multiverse-focused second film, where his relationship with Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s versions of the character would carry the most narrative value.
The ending leaves Peter in a stronger place, reunited with MJ, connected to Jean Grey as a possible ally, while clues surrounding Ned hint at an adventure that stretches far beyond Earth. The film is deliberately self-contained, as Kotaku noted. What comes next is anything but.
“Avengers: Doomsday” opens December 18, 2026. “Avengers: Secret Wars” follows in 2027.
