It’s taken us a while to emotionally process the depth of Spider-Man No Way Home, but now that we have, here’s our answer to the question, will MJ remember Peter. In our heart of hears we want to say yes, because it’s been one of the best rom-coms we’ve had on the big screen in a long time, but we’re going to try to be impartial, look at the facts with a logical stare and give you all the details that are important to the future of the series.
Another good reason for the time between the film’s release and putting together this feature on whether or not MJ will remember Peter is that we didn’t want to get into the plot ending details too early. With that in mind, if you haven’t already seen Spider-Man No Way Home then you might want to ship out now to another universe to catch it before returning to read the details below. Equally, some of our predictions for Spider-Man 4 might actually come to pass, so if you don’t want to read any of them now’s your chance to back out.
AdvertisementIf you’re reading this and you’re not too sure what the deal is with MJ after the events of the 3rd Tom Holland Spider-Man film, essentially, Peter was forced to make everyone forget about him to save everyone. By doing this, MJ, Ned, Happy and anyone else close to him have had all of their memories about him erased, so when he visits them at the end of No Way Home they have no clue about who he is.
Will MJ remember Peter
This is the movie equivalent of the million dollar question. What we know for sure is that to begin with, the next film in the series will see Peter returning to his friendly, neighborhood Spider-Man efforts alone. No only has everyone forgotten that they know him, but he has also decided to let things continue like that to keep them out of harms way.
AdvertisementIt’s clearly going to be a tough time for him in the No Way Home sequel, but is it possible that MJ will remember Peter in the long. The simple answer is, yes. There’s definitely scope from a storytelling point of view to ultimately write in a solution to the problem and for that to be the teary-eyed ending to the 4th film, but the question is whether or not it works for the future of the franchise.
For us, this is still a little up in the air with a number of theoretical outcomes. If you think about it, there are maybe four possible strands for the story to follow next. First, Peter has to battle it out with the leftover piece of Venom and in that process manages to find a way to make MJ remember who he is. Secondly, he learns that he can’t live without them as he’s fighting Venom 2 and decides to tell them about the real past and starts again from the begging.
AdvertisementThird, he sticks to his plan to go it alone and the 3rd film is a sad and lonely battle with the big black people eater that reinforces his decision to keep his girlfriend safe. Fourth, the same as the 3rd option, but it leaves things a little more open for yet another sequel to play out the Peter Parker and MJ memory story arc.
However, when you think about these options logically, you realise that the latter two would mean very little screen time for MJ, Ned and Happy. While Tom Holland is a very strong lead as Spider-Man, we think Zendaya, Jacob Batalon and Jon Favreau have become too entrenched in the story and fan’s appreciation of the films to be able to leave them out of the next film.
When you look at it from this point of view, it seems to imply that the first two possibilities are way more likely, which means there’s a 50-50 chance that MJ will remember Peter. The flip side to that 50-50 equation is that Peter would go on to decide to get to know them once again and tell them the truth no matter what, which gives us a happy ending of sorts anyway.
However, there is a wild card option that brings the 3rd and 4th scenario back into the mix. If the appearance of Venom 2 somehow links up with MJ, Ned or Happy then they’d all get involved in the film, even if they don’t go on to remember Peter or re-connect with him in some kind of meaningful way.
If you look at the history of Spider-Man stories, that’s a distinct possibility, but without the happier culmination it would make for four bitter sweet endings in a row. You could say that would just be the norm, but at this stage we’re starting to run out of credible villains for Peter to face, so the question is whether or not the next film will be the last for Tom Holland. If it is then they might opt for a more pleasing ending.
A final option to that thread is that the battle with Venom 2 will result in two films with the kind of gravitas that made Avengers Infinity War and Endgame so impactful. This makes a lot of sense to us from a story perspective and from a financial point of view with the Tom Holland Spider-Man films being some of the most popular in the MCU to-date.
AdvertisementLooking at everything in the round, it seems to be a nicer ending for the specific memories of Happy, Ned and MJ to be returned at the very end somehow to leave things with a sunset finish of sorts.
Obviously, Infinity War and Endgame have taught us that there will be casualties along the way, but they did stop Thanos and bring back half of humanity, so it was mostly a happy enough way to finish things.
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How might Happy, Ned and MJ remember Peter
The obvious answer is that while Doctor Strange probably won’t interfere in the short term to help Peter out, it’s definitely within his power to find a solution. This would be the easiest way for Peter to return the memories of his friends. He’s obviously go the Multiverse of Madness to deal with first, but lets say the next twist in the Spider-Man saga is a double feature he might be persuaded to relent at the end of the second.
Second on the hit list is Venom 2. Let’s say, for instance, that the magic that made “everyone” forget about Peter Parker doesn’t work on a symbiote because they don’t operate effectively as a “one” they always bond with another to word as a two. Another option is that Venom 2 isn’t a person as such, so again could be exempt from the spell because of this.
It’s a technicality, but it is possible and this could be the way that MJ remembers about Peter. If she’s at the center of a double film feature and she bonds with Venom 2 then it’s possible that this might override her memory loss. She might be a bit of a baddy for a while, and her knowing who Spider-Man is might cause some trouble to begin with, but it is theoretically a way to undo things.
Equally, it’s also possible that something in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will occur to alter things for everyone. Let’s say Stephen need to hit some kind of cosmic reset switch to deal with the crazy threats of his multiple selves then that might change things significantly for the gang.
Yet another option is that Ned appeared to master some forms of magic in No Way Home. His memory of Peter might be gone, but that doesn’t mean that his ability to manipulate reality has. If that’s the case, then this could also be a way for them all to get their memory back in the next film.
Finally, and probably our least favorite option is that Peter decides to sneak into the Sanctum Sanctorum in a moment of crazed desperation, steals a few magic books and learns how to selectively fix MJ, Ned and Happy. It doesn’t sound like it would make much of a story, but it’s a possibility nonetheless.
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