One of the possible directions Spider-Man: Brand New Day is alluding to is Peter Parker's transformation into Man-Spider. But if that happens, it may be the second time viewers have seen this iteration of the character brought to life.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day May Be Adapting The Man-Spider Story
Spider-Man's mutating DNA in the Spider-Man: Brand New Day trailer calls back to a storyline in Spider-Man: The Animated Series, which saw the character go through a similar problem. When he decided to take matters into his own hands, he unwittingly transformed himself into a creature that was more spider than human - Man-Spider.
Spider-Man repeating that mistake here is within the realm of possibility, especially since he's shown seeking the help of Bruce Banner. In the show, Peter Parker also sought the advice of an expert, consulting Dr. Curt Connors. It was Dr. Connors' warnings about what the mutations in his DNA that provoked Spider-Man's hasty - and costly - actions to stop the process.
Of course, it's possible that Brand New Day is instead building toward a movie version of the comic narrative the Man-Spider arc is based on, which is the 1971 story from The Amazing Spider-Man, retroactively referred to as the Six Arms Saga, that culminated in Peter growing four additional arms.
However, the Man-Spider transformation is considerably more famous at this point. Not only that, but it would leave a much stronger, horrific impression than Peter simply growing more arms as he did in the classic comic books.
Spider-Noir Could Also Be Adapting Man-Spider (But Very Differently)
Interestingly, there's good reason to suspect that the Man-Spider arc will receive some level of representation in this year's other live-action Spider-Man project, which is Prime Video's Nicolas Cage-led TV series, Spider-Noir. The trailer for the show featured a brief glimpse of a bald figure, appearing to be Nicolas Cage, with spider-leg appendages near his body and a misshapen face.
No explanation for this has been given, though there are some reasonable possibilities. Due to Cage's Spider-Man being Ben Reilly and not Peter Parker, it's long been theorized that Spider-Noir is an adaptation of the Clone Saga, and that Ben is one of multiple Spider-Man clones. If that's the case, this spider-like version of the character in the trailer might be the product of a failed cloning experiment.
Alternatively, it may fit into this idea of Nicolas Cage's portrayal of Ben Reilly as "a spider pretending to be a person." It's possible that Man-Spider represents Ben's fear of what he could one day become, as if he really is destined to become something that's more spider than human, not unlike what Dr. Connors ominously predicted for Peter in Spider-Man: The Animated Series.
If that does turn out to be the case for the show, and if there's truth to the theory that Peter Parker is in for a frightening transformation in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, there could be some striking similarities between the two projects, in spite of the great differences in tone. Both already have Tombstone, they may include Man-Spider, and there could be more shared characters between them as well.
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