Spider-Man: Brand New Day writer Chris Mckenna confirms he is writing Secret Wars, plus reveals some scrapped ideas for the latest Spider-Man film. McKenna recently made a podcast appearance on The Bulwark. The interview/chat is around an hour long, but the content I am covering here (Marvel) takes about the first 40 minutes. I do suggest giving it a listen as it’s too detailed for me to transcript the whole thing. I will try to cover the highlights best I can though.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day

McKenna was asked about alternative ideas that never happened for the film that became Brand New Day. The writer was working on behalf of Sony and thus was wary enough to stay away from completely different ideas that could be used down the line. We do know from others (who were more forthcoming) that one of those ideas was symbiote related as rumors suggested.

However, Mckenna was more open about some ideas in and around what we did get. For example, some different types of first acts they toyed with, the process of getting Jean Grey as the main ‘villain’ and who else they considered.

First up though McKenna talked about how tricky the writing process has been on Spider-Man films due to changing studio dynamics and priorities. Going back to the movie that became No Way Home, McKenna pointed out that ideas to use Spot and then later Kraven were changed due to both characters being used in other Sony projects. It sounds like Kraven hunting Spider-Man through a booby trapped NYC could have been the last film if not for Sony’s Kraven the Hunter. That movie also had an effect in the latest Spider-Man film when an idea to use Chameleon as the villain instead of Jean was rejected due to the character appearing in Kraven also.

RELATED: Spider-Man: Brand New Day Makes It To All-Time Number 1 Domestic Box Office

As for some ideas on how to begin Brand New Day?

There was one where Peter runs into MJ while investigating a mystery and keeps up a dual identity with a British accent so she would not recognise his voice. Another where Peter is living in South East Asia on a boat fighting crime, and then Spider-Man returns to NYC. Cue Peter going back and hiring Matt Murdock as this new person has trademarked the name.

Another idea had him get sick, hallucinate a plot involving Spider Totems and then wake up in hospital. Peter lost his flat and ends up staying with two dudes who are actually Boomerang and Overkill. There was also one, more similar to what we got, that had MJ investigating who Spider-Man was and figuring it out. As opposed the way it ended up being of Peter watching his friends and keeping away.

Jean Grey

Mckenna was developing the idea of a villain who could be anyone and this led them to telekinesis which inevitably goes into X-Men territory. However, as McKenna explains, this was a Marvel character Sony didn’t own and one that they had impending big plans for after getting the X-Men rights back. Therefore, getting Marvel to agree took time and planning. In the meantime McKenna says they did explore some alternatives.

“We started thinking, ‘What if it was Shadow King from the comics, who’s a really, really cool villain, who is a telepath that first gets discovered by Charles Xavier, and he runs into him in Egypt. You didn’t even see this character because all our Shadow King is trying to do is find his body. And that was the story. He was trying to find his body. His body basically had been taken from him and hidden somewhere in New York City a long time ago by people who recognised that this guy was really dangerous.”

McKenna also explains in this section that even then they were having to not refer to him as Shadow King because the character had appeared in Legion. This became an issue.

“Everyone started realising, ‘Well, this isn’t very satisfying because just having a disembodied voice the entire time and not having a face-to-face villain, you hit a wall at a certain point and you can’t explore who the character is.’ So much of Spider-Man’s stories are so great because of his connection with the villain and his telling.”

It was September 2025 when McKenna got a call from the Studio to say Marvel had agreed to give them Jean Grey. The rest as they say, is box office history.

Doomsday And Secret Wars

Mckenna also confirmed he did some writing work on Doomsday (as did Michael Waldron) and praised the basic idea that Stephen McFeely came up with for the film. Also confirming he is currently writing Secret Wars as well for Marvel.

“I think I’m allowed to say I have been working on the Avengers movies,” McKenna said. “I’m writing Secret Wars and I helped out a little bit on Doomsday and they’re big. They’re star-studded—big stars, big action, big movies, set pieces, big worlds—and then some really intimate, small ideas, like character ideas. It’s quite a balance.”

“Stephen [McFeely] had an idea for Doomsday that is really great and really potent. There’s elements of it that are really just fun and elements that are just really kind of an emotional gut punch”

As for Secret Wars?

“We have basically, like, hundreds of the characters up on the wall. We’re trying to go, ‘Okay, who can we fit in where and which story?’”

That’s it for this informative interview from McKenna into the process. Maybe readers will be more forgiving when leakers break a story and then the studio changes their mind. It is possible to be right at the time and wrong in the end when it comes to leaks and rumors.

As always, leave any thoughts below.

 

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