[This story contains spoilers for Spider-Man: Brand New Day.]
For more than a decade, writing duo Erik Sommers and Chris McKenna have been one of the constants in Spider-Man’s life.
The scribes, who got their start on TV shows like Community, are credited on all four of Tom Holland’s solo movies: Homecoming (2017), Far From Home (2019) and the nearly $2 billion grosser No Way Home (2021). They return in a big way with Brand New Day, which has toppled multiple records, including passing Avengers: Endgame for the biggest first week domestically of all time. It’s already amassed $1.68 billion globally since launching July 31.
Sommers and McKenna had a number of tasks to juggle, but one of the more impactful for the future of Marvel was the addition of Jean Grey (Sadie Sink), the first castmember of the MCU’s new X-Men team.
Jean is ultimately revealed to be a sympathetic character in search of her sister, Sara Grey (Olivia Booth-Ford), who has been captured by the government organization Damage Control in order to exploit her psychic powers.
But on her path, Jean causes bodily and emotional harm to both Peter and numerous innocent bystanders by inhabiting their bodies and forcing them to do her bidding. Sommers and McKenna say it was important to make her feel like a real threat, though they say they don’t believe she went as far as causing any deaths. (One man does appear to be hit by a bus at one point, and the Internet is debating whether he died.)
“I think technically, she’s not responsible for any deaths. But you come away with the impression, certainly, that she’s caused a lot of destruction in mayhem,” says Sommers. “Even if you’re going to have a villain who really is redeemed at the end or goes through a transformation, you have to start them off in a place where they feel formidable.”
While internet sleuths have been predicting Sink was Jean for awhile now, McKenna notes that a key to the movie was holding back the reveal: “We were in Peter’s shoes. We were not putting the audience ahead of him, so he was reacting to everything, and we were with him reacting.”
In a conversation with THR, the duo also claim that nobody knows what happened on Staten Island between Spider-Man and the Punisher, who apparently was saved by the wallcrawler at some point in their shared past.
When we spoke for No Way Home, you said that movie could be a fitting end, or a story engine to propel a new plot. It was obviously the latter. How soon after No Way Home did you get the ball rolling?
CHRIS MCKENNA We were having conversations pretty soon afterwards. And then at a certain point, it was like, “Oh, wait, we should probably have a deal first.” We were so excited to talk about it. (Laughs.)
So what happens next? Are you in a writers room with Amy Pascal and Kevin Feige?
SOMMERS Yeah, it’s all of us in a room. Producers, folks like Kevin and Lou [D’Esposito] from Marvel. It’s a lot like the early days in any season of a TV show. You’re just sitting there, “So, what are we gonna do? What is this thing?”
There were all sorts of rumors, even that Wolverine might being in this. So how early does Frank Castle come into play?
MCKENNA The Punisher was someone who came out very early. Their relationship is so great in the comics. You already had Jon Bernthal doing such a fantastic job with Punisher. We knew that Jon and Tom had such a close relationship that Jon had actually helped Tom record his [Marvel] audition tape and vice versa.
SOMMERS We were mindful that up until now, Peter has had an older person who’s sort of a mentor. We didn’t want to replicate that. We didn’t want Peter and Frank to be like his relationship with Tony (Robert Downey Jr. in Homecoming). Or the way he’s looking up to Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal in Far From Home) when he first meets him. Even if Frank calls him a kid or whatever, they are sort of more approaching each other as equals, as friends eventually. Because that’s part of Peter being more of a grown-up Spider-Man.
Spidey keeps referencing that he saved Frank’s life on Staten Island. Do you know what happened?
SOMMERS I don’t think anyone knows what happened in Staten Island. (Laughs.)
MCKENNA We always had an opening action sequence. I think originally it was a bank robbery, and then that turned into this really fun car chase we did with the tank, but it was always Frank blustering into this action sequence in a way that drove Spider-Man crazy.
Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield gave input as to what their Peter Parkers were up to when we saw them in No Way Home. Did Bernthal have ideas about Frank before he came aboard?
MCKENNA Everything I’ve heard about Jon is that he takes the role extremely seriously. He wanted to be really authentic with certain elements of the weaponry.
You allow Jean Grey to do really bad stuff in this movie. The rooftop scene with Peter and MJ is cruel, and she seems to be responsible for deaths. That’s a lot to put on someone who will be redeemed and is a hero down the road. Did you have any worries?
SOMMERS I think technically, she’s not responsible for any deaths. But you come away with the impression, certainly, that she’s caused a lot of destruction in mayhem. Even if you’re going to have a villain who really is redeemed at the end or goes through a transformation, you have to start them off in a place where they feel formidable. If it doesn’t feel like this is going to be someone who is a challenge to our hero, physically, emotionally, mentally, then you don’t really buy it.
MCKENNA What we were really excited about was this villain got to be a mystery for so long in the movie. We were in Peter’s shoes. We were not putting the audience ahead of him, so he was reacting to everything, and we were with him reacting.
V-Max: were you guys in the dentist chair, looking at the ceiling when you inspiration struck you?
MCKENNA: Once we had Sara Grey in the story, we were allowed to play with the idea that her sister was trying to communicate, sending out a telepathic message, which was an offscreen inciting incident for the villain story. We had different versions of what they were doing to her at Damage Control, attempts of trying to boost Sara’s powers. At one point, I think it was pink snowflakes — an innocuous idea that [Jean would] be chasing without quite knowing until she found out the final reveal of what actually had happened to her sister.
What were your goals with Ned and MJ?
SOMMERS In addition to being a story about Peter being so lonely and learning that he can’t go it alone, it’s also just a story of what it’s like when you move on in that next phase of life. We wanted to show them young and struggling in New York City. I remember the first time we were working on something and talking about, “Well, could Ned be buying beer? That seems so weird.” (Laughs.) And it’s like, “Well, they’re grown up now.” We almost feel paternal. “But he’s our little boy!”
MJ learns the truth about Peter via the letter he wrote in No Way Home. How much did you play with where to put that in the movie?
MCKENNA The midpoint is this mislead where he thinks he’s got everything [when Jean inhabits MJ on the rooftop]. It’s his dream come true that she remembers him and that she’s in love with him still. And of course, then the twist is a stab in the heart. But then the real true low point comes when he does have that moment, and he’s able to let her know the truth, and it does not go how he hoped and dreamed it was.
SOMMERS Yeah, that was really fun. We got to have Peter experience MJ learning the truth twice.
Ned’s handshake at the end: is it muscle memory or is it more?
MCKENNA We’ll let people discuss that on their own.
You guys are working with the Russo Bros. on the next Avengers movies?
MCKENNA We’ve been excited to be able to work on The Avengers. It’s really all we can say at this point. We love working with Marvel. We obviously have a relationship going back a long time with the Russos from Community.
What’s your life like in the days following the release?
SOMMERS It’s exciting see something about it on the internet, but it’s even more exciting when someone who I haven’t talked to in years just reaches out and is like, “Hey, I took my kids to see your movie, and we liked it.”
MCKENNA You work on these things for so long in an attic by yourself. Then suddenly, people you haven’t talked to in years reach out.
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