Obligatory Spider-Man Post by Kayode D. '27

[this blog is so so late, but it’s about the goat and i need to post it, so here it is!!:]

Last night, I went with some friends to watch Spider-Man Brand New Day at the movie theater. I LOVED IT. I think it’s the best on yet, and my favorite movie of the year hands down. I’ve been thinking about going back to watch it again tonight…

I was telling my mom about it, and she said I should make a blog pointing out the MIT references the movie had, and there were a good few!! Light spoilers ahead and heavy spoilers at the end of this blog. 

MIT References [Light Spoilers]

In Spider-Man No Way Home, Ned and MJ get accepted to MIT in the class of 2028. Spider-Man does not get to go because of space-time hijinx, and spends the next 4 years watching them enjoy MIT through Ned’s social media. We don’t get to see much of MIT⁠01 no scenes were shot at MIT from what I could tell , as all we get is a montage of the years passing. There is one notable exception. 

Towards the end of their time at MIT, Ned says the line:

“Final Semester at MIT! Oh, my gosh we’re graduating in a month. We’ve made so many memories. Where do I begin? Night swimming in the Charles River with Jim and Wiley. The infamous food fight at the banana lounge. Pulling all-nighters at Stud 5 with MJ and Nate Dawg. It seems like yesterday I was sitting on a roof with MJ…” 

So much to unpack here. Let’s break it down: 

• Night Swimming in the Charles River: Very much not recommended. The Charles river is not clean enough to swim in, especially not at night. I know someone who was doing a research study on the bacteria growing in the river…all I’m saying is that this one isn’t a flex. 
• Infamous Food Fight at the Banana Lounge: The Banana Lounge is a space on campus where large crates of bananas are regularly delivered. There is definitely the ammo for this, but the space is pretty tight to constitute a full on food fight. It would be very notable, though. 
• Pulling all nighters at Stud 5: This one had us losing our minds. This is elite ball knowledge. The other two you could make up with some google searches but to know about stud 5?? Stud 5 is the fifth floor of the Student Center, a big study space where students often pull all nighters, especially during the end of the semesters.⁠02 My friends and I have spent many nights there… but for them to mention this in the movie?? ELITE Ball knowledge. I wonder who they talked to to get that line. Has to have been a student or someone. Hmmmm…

Other than that, there isn’t much else mentioned about MIT in the movie. There is one other thing I took note on: At one part, MJ tells Peter that before she switched to studying Aero-astro, she wanted to study Biochemical Engineering. She then looks at his device and solves an issue. While walking home after the movie, I realized that there are very few [if any at all] classes that overlap in these two majors. To switch from course 10B to 16 would be a full academic career pivot, and one she would have to take before her sophomore year in order to take Unified, a series of Aero-Astro classes that most course 16’s take their sophomore year. So this means she only got at most a year of focused Biochemical engineering courses, which I’d wager isn’t enough to make the jumps and problem solving required to repair Peter’s tech. Unless she ASE’d out of all of her GIRs and did a full year of advanced biochemistry, and then FULL PIVOTED out of that into Aero-Astro…which is possible…or she did UROPs and independent research in that area while studying course 16…or if this is a superhero movie that I am overanalyzing in the nerdiest way possible. 

Also, no one was wearing their brass rats. Which is fair, people don’t wear them all the time, but still. Ok, MIT nerd nitpicking over. 

ABSOLUTE CINEMA

This movie was SO PEAK. From Beginning to END!!!

I think that this was the best superhero movie that I have seen…possibly ever. I felt like a kid again!! Watching Spidey beat the bad guys! And I like how they handled the power-creep this time around. We just finished arcs where Spider-Man was battling Thanos. It’s hard to make Batroc the Leaper feel like a gratifying next villain after the last one almost destroyed the planet. But they did it! A street-level Spider-man. Who woulda thunk? And the whole arc with MJ??? So many layers to it, such a good movie.

Also, I LOVE THE MOVIES!! What?? I forgot how much fun the movies are. We went to the AMC in Boston Commons, near downtown. It was BUSTLING with people–mainly teens and college students– and it was a really fun time. In high school I worked at a pizza place, but if I ever left that job I wanted to work at the movie theater. I need to go back ASAP. 

Lowkey, I started this blog in July and didn’t finish it. Now I did, but I forget most of what I thought about this movie other than it’s good. I’d watch it again. Maybe I will and then I can make more comments on why it’s good. Happy Birthday, Maynard!