A Star From Marvel’s Netflix Shows Was Cut From ‘Brand New Day'

Y’all, I had an absolute blast with Spider-Man: Brand New Day. I was quietly and respectfully having the best time on a Sunday morning as Tom Holland cemented his reputation as the best live-action Spider-Man with a crushing performance that was steeped in disappointment and heartache, while still managing to bring that Spidey charm. But his performance was assisted by one of my favorite things in the movie: how much they let him wear the suit (the sauna scene being a highlight). My second-favorite thing was how connected the movie was to the MCU!

There are more bad cinematic universes than good ones, and many of those barely even manage to get up and running. A lot of that is because executives wanted a taste of what Marvel had pulled off. But it’s not easy, and the MCU itself is just as much proof of that as anything else. There have been exciting highs and frustrating lows, thanks to the connected universe, and Brand New Day feels like the best use of what they have established in quite some time.

I’ll try to avoid the major spoilers here, because, successful as the movie may be, I’m sure some folks reading this are waiting to watch for one reason or another. So I’ll start with things from the trailers: The Punisher, The Hulk, and The Hand. All three have varying levels of importance. The Hand, a group of ninja assassins, was fun in a nonsensical way. They didn’t need to be there, but their presence was fun. The Hulk, or more particularly, Bruce Banner, raised a few questions about why he’s lost control of his powers since last we saw him, but he was used excitingly, and seeing Hulk and Spidey square off was a lot of fun.

Then, there’s The Punisher. Jon Bernthal’s Frank Castle ended up being far more involved in this movie than I ever would have expected. He’s so integral to the plot that he plays a major role in the third-act resolution. Holland and Bernthal have great chemistry, so Punisher’s addition was a boon that brought the wall-crawler closer to Marvel’s Netflix universe in a better way than the shows ever did, either in the past or since they’ve moved to Disney+ (not one mention of Spidey on Born Again?? Not even a news clipping?!). But according to Rosario Dawson, that connection was almost much stronger.

Dawson played Claire Temple in the Netflix shows. In the comics, she’s a doctor and friend/love interest of Luke Cage. In the shows, she’s a nurse who gives aid to crimefighters. Apparently, she might have done that for Spider-Man in the new film. According to Deadline, Dawson appeared at GalaxyCon and was asked which MCU character she would want to team up with. She explains that she could have said Spider-Man, because that pretty much happened, saying, “I even shot a scene in the new Spider-Man movie. But I got cut out.”

She went on to note that her mom might have taken it harder than she did. “I know. I told my mom, and she was like, ‘That sucks. Now I can’t post the [behind the scenes] pictures [on social media].’ And I was like, ‘Right, Mom. Me being cut out of the movie that has, like, the largest viewership of a trailer ever; the issue is you can’t post your BTS photos,” she joked. I wish that they had left the scene in. You’ve got the universe! Use it!

Claire Temple may not be a household name, but Rosario Dawson is well-known, and it could have let the universe feel lived-in like the other appearances do. That said, I enjoyed the movie as is, and maybe one more cameo would have been the straw that broke the camel’s back. I doubt it. Some of my favorite comic books are the big events where characters are crossing over throughout. But you never know. That is, until Marvel rereleases a “new cut” of the film where Dawson’s scene is added back in, and so is an extra shot of The Hulk slamming Spidey around or something.