A short video of two friends shaking hands has become one of the most controversial clips on the internet. Marvel Studios has not provided a definitive answer to the question: Does Ned Leeds remember Peter Parker, and if yes, was magic involved?
The video, circulating as a TikTok edit on the social network and reposted on X, Instagram, and Reddit, depicts the finale of Spider-Man: Brand New Day when Tom Holland’s Peter Parker meets Jacob Batalon’s Ned in a store, tells his real name, and extends his hand. The routine, everyday gesture transforms into the prolonged, multi-step handshake that the two characters perform in the Homecoming series. Ned performs all the steps, looks up, and exclaims: “Peter!”
Two words appear on the clip: “the spark ??”
This frame has contributed to the development of one fan theory following the July 31 release of the film: the handshake not only revived Ned’s memory. Some fans claim that it was some spell performed unconsciously by two people unaware of the power of their actions.
However, the idea has been around for a while. In Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), Ned steals Doctor Strange’s sling ring and immediately starts opening interdimensional portals, something that took months for Strange to achieve. Ned claims that his hands feel tingly, and that his grandmother always believed him to be magical. However, the film does not continue this plotline.
Supporters of the theory believe that the lingering magic of that scene is why the spell failed to affect Ned, and that the sequence of actions performed during the handshake resembles a spell rather than a habitual gesture. Thus, the process and its result are the same in this case.
On the other hand, there is a much more rational explanation of the event. Humans can have excellent muscle memory, and a long routine performed over years may remain in the mind even without remembering who performed it. Before the handshake, MJ (Zendaya) unintentionally uses Peter’s real name in a conversation with Ned. And when Peter introduces himself right before the handshake, Ned remembers his name. No magic is required.
There is also another point of view. The fans draw parallels between Sadie Sink’s Jean Grey, whose telepathic abilities influence many characters in the film’s climax. As Jean’s powers can restore memories in Marvel comics, some fans think that she broke the spell’s effect, leaving memories ready to be activated either by Ned’s handshake or by MJ’s necklace.
The film does not provide a definite answer to the question. The film’s director, Destin Daniel Cretton, and Marvel Studios have not commented on how the scene works. MJ, reading a letter from Peter describing who he was, claims that she does not remember him, although later in the film she is shown on the roof of Midtown High wearing a pendant given to her by Peter in Far From Home.
The mystery has not affected the film’s performance. Spider-Man: Brand New Day earned $360 million in the US box office opening weekend, slightly outperforming Avengers: Endgame ($357.1 million) and becoming the highest-grossing US opening weekend ever, and reached $1.05 billion in six days, becoming the second fastest to do so after Endgame. According to Sony Pictures, the production budget was $225 million. The film has a 90% critics’ rating and a 98% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and A CinemaScore.
