Updated

Updated · Yahoo! Voices · Aug 5

Jacob Batalon Revives 2017 Spider-Man Handshake in Brand New Day as Samsung Pushes $1,200 Fold8 Deal

Updated

Updated · Yahoo! Voices · Aug 5

Jacob Batalon Revives 2017 Spider-Man Handshake in Brand New Day as Samsung Pushes $1,200 Fold8 Deal

Q: If Ned's memory was completely wiped, how does a simple handshake threaten to unravel Peter Parker's ultimate sacrifice?

It threatens Peter Parker’s sacrifice because the handshake suggests Doctor Strange’s memory-erasing spell may not have erased everything. In *No Way Home*, Peter’s “ultimate sacrifice” was giving up his place in Ned and MJ’s lives so they would forget him and be safe. In *Brand New Day*, the returning handshake works as evidence that some trace of Peter may still survive in Ned, even if not as a full conscious memory. Jacob Batalon himself described it as possibly “muscle memory,” but he also allowed that there could be a “slight glint” of recognition. That distinction matters. If Ned can instinctively perform a deeply personal, improvised gesture tied only to Peter, then the spell may be imperfect, weakening, or vulnerable to emotional triggers. The final “Peter?” can be read as more than mimicry: either Ned is connecting subconscious memory to Peter’s name, or he is genuinely beginning to remember his best friend. The film leaves that ambiguous on purpose. Some fan theories point to residual magic from Ned’s own mystical abilities in *No Way Home*, while others suggest larger psychic disruptions in *Brand New Day* may have helped loosen the spell’s hold. None is confirmed on screen. What is clear is the narrative risk: if one handshake can unlock even fragments of recognition, Peter’s hard-won isolation may not hold. That would begin to unravel the emotional cost of his sacrifice—and open the door for Ned, and possibly MJ, to find their way back to him.

3 articles · Updated · Yahoo! Voices · Aug 5

Jacob Batalon said Ned and Peter Parker’s secret handshake in Spider-Man: Brand New Day returned “like muscle memory,” even though No Way Home had wiped Peter from Ned’s memory.
The 29-year-old actor said he and Tom Holland invented the move in about two minutes before shooting Spider-Man: Homecoming in 2017, then repeated it across the first three films until it stuck.
In the new movie, the handshake follows Ned’s use of a Samsung-built “Spidey Tracker” app, with the character shown using a Galaxy Z Fold and Galaxy Watch.
Brand New Day, directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and starring Holland, Zendaya and Batalon, is now in theaters and has already set the record for the biggest opening weekend ever.