Spider-Man: Brand New Day will finally bring Tom Holland’s Peter Parker back to the MCU for the first time since 2021, but the time that has elapsed likely means that we are missing one of the most important parts of Parker’s story. At the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home, Peter had Doctor Strange wipe the memory of his secret identity from everyone’s minds.

While Spider-Man remained a hero and a protector to the city of New York, Peter Parker became a ghost, with no friends, no family, no Avengers who knew the boy beneath the mask, and an opportunity to start over. This led to heartbreaking moments like his encounter with MJ, who no longer recognizes him. It also allows Peter to embrace his identity without any other outside influence.

And as challenging as it may be for Peter to not fade away while Spider-Man takes the lead, it’s impossible to be the hero he was meant to be if he loses every meaningful connection with the regular people that he does his best to protect. Which is why Peter Parker’s college years are so central to his development in the comics and other media.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day Is Reportedly Skipping Over Peter’s College Years

Unfortunately, Spider-Man: Brand New Day is set to pick up four years after No Way Home, which could mean that either Peter’s college years have already come and gone or that Peter has opted to skip the college experience altogether. The first synopsis for the film confirms the time skip, which lines up closely with the real-world time that has passed between films.

The synopsis also highlights that Spider-Man is at the top of his game, suggesting that Peter may well have invested most of his time into his superhero identity. With that in mind, it’s hard to know exactly where he is in his life right now, what his job may be in order to pay the rent, and if he has any worthwhile connections to lean on when things get tough.

Some Of The Greatest Spider-Man Stories Happened While Peter Was In College

Of course, if Peter had attended college, that would have opened the door for some of the very best Spider-Man stories to be told. Peter could have met Gwen Stacy, formed a connection with Harry Osborn, begun fighting the MCU’s version of the Green Goblin, and so much more.

It may not be a necessity for Peter to attend college to make these connections and meet these new rivals, but that is certainly one of the places where it makes the most sense, and where it has the potential to create lasting bonds with people that will ultimately influence and shape his personal life going forward.

It would have been incredible to see Tom Holland tackle this period in Peter’s life, and to introduce foundational characters that could be important moving forward for a character like Peter Parker. However, there is good and bad to deciding to jump four years ahead in Peter’s MCU story.

The MCU Not Giving Tom Holland’s Spider-Man A College Arc Is Bittersweet

Spider-Man: No Way Home showed an immature Peter Parker trying to change the world to meet his needs, and how that backfired. The results were catastrophic, tearing holes in the fabric of the multiverse, and ultimately meant he had to go to extreme measures to fix things, being wiped from the minds of all of his loved ones.

As difficult as that was for Peter to accept, the fact that he didn’t reintroduce himself to Michelle Jones and try to create a connection with her after being erased suggests that he is trying to protect the people he cares about from being negatively affected by his secret life as a superhero.

Brand New Day picking up four years later, suggests that this remains an important thought in Peter’s mind, and that he wants to keep his life as a hero hidden in order to protect everyone, but it also means he is going to keep any new connections at a distance, and avoid creating a real, deeper connection.

Peter could have chosen to attend college in the wake of those events, but the truth is, this version of the character may not feel like he has a right to create any kind of personal future while he holds the powers and responsibilities that give him the strength to save lives and fight bad guys. With that in mind, Peter’s remaining isolated makes sense, even if it’s a disappointing outcome for the hero.

The four-year time skip also adds a level of weight to these decisions, as it isn’t something Peter decides to go back on a few days, weeks, or even months later. He needs to learn that being a hero adds responsibilities, but he also needs to allow himself to have a life that doesn’t require putting on a mask and putting his life on the line.

If Spider-Man: Brand New Day can adequately show Peter’s next big moment, where he allows himself to open up to some close allies, and to try to strike a balance in his life, then it could be far better for this version of the character than if he’d attended college and created connections that didn’t make sense or align with the previous entries in the story.