Brand New Day

Brand New Day is a long chapter in Spider-Man's life, that followed One More Day and covered The Amazing Spider-Man from #546 to #647, as well as all Spider-Man related comics, published during that time period. Two most characteristic elements of it were the "Spidey-Braintrust” team of multiple writers (who started with four and grew larger later) switching between each story with unusual issue frequency – three issues were published in one month, during the first three weeks of said month with other Spidey-related comics for fourth week.

It was followed by "Big Time”, written entirely by Dan Slott with issues coming out twice a month. The Big Time era has gone on to either ignore/undo much of Brand New Day in favour of a different direction.

Tropes used in Brand New Day include:

• Aborted Arc: The Gauntlet was supposed to lead to something the writers called Sinister 666 but it never came to be.
  • Joe Quesada hinted in an interview that Mary Jane would be caring for a baby. Fans thought this may have had something to do with Harry Osborn's newborn son Stanley (Harry had also moved in with MJ for a breif spell in the BND era), but once Stanley was born, Harry opted to move away with him, and nothing came of the "MJ with a baby" promise...at least for now...
    • Fans have also yet to hear more about Quesada's planned follow-up to the plot threads explored in One More Day and One Moment In Time, though in retrospect, given how well THOSE stories went down, maybe the wait is better than the actual delivery
• Axe Crazy: Anna Kravinoff.
• Bad Future: The one Peter saw during JMS' run has been explained, if Arachne's visions were true - it's a future where Peter killed the recently ressurected Kraven which led him to go down the same path as The Punisher of sorts, with the added problem of alienating himself from everybody, before getting killed in a police confrontation. The costume there is a big hint, but we have to wait for this year's "What if" one-shot to see if it's true.
• Balance Between Good and Evil: The fundamentals behind the relationship between Mr. Negative and Martin Li.
• Betty and Veronica: Early comics was implying multiple variations of such Love Triangle – from Peter-Lilly (Veronica) -Carlie (Betty), Carlie – Peter (Betty) – Vin (Veronica) or Lilly – Harry (Veronica) – Peter (Betty). Finally, the official one became Lilly – Harry (Betty) – Norman (Veronica)
• Brain Bleach: Peter was desperate in need of it once he saw Aunt May in bed with JJJ's father.

Peter's inner monologue: Must. Wash. Out. Brain.

• Brainwashed and Crazy: Mr. Negative can do it to people via touch, and did it to Spider-Man and Aunt May, though the latter was more Brainwashed and Jerkass
• Calling the Old Man Out: Harry finally did it to Norman.
• Came Back Wrong: Kraven, Grim Hunter, Kaine.
• Card-Carrying Villain: Mr. Negative.

Mr. Negative: "I propose a toast. To evil."

• Cerebus Syndrome: Later stories, with few exceptions, grew progressively darker.
• Character Development: A nice thing about BND was giving Eddie Brock another crack at trying to atone for the stuff he did as Venom and becoming Anti-Venom.
• Cool Old Guy: Jay Jameson.
• Curb Stomp Battle: Old Rhino vs New Rhino New Rhino hadn't a chance
• Darker and Edgier: All stories during The Guantlet arc.
• Derailing Love Interests: Michaele has been mutated into a total bitch and ended up technically raped by Chameleon, just so she could be removed from Peter's "girlfriend material" zone.
  • Black Cat lost a lot of her early 2000's character development, in which she fell in love with the man behind the mask. When she finally made her return in Brand New Day, she was back to being the shallow thief who only loves Peter for being Spider-Man.
  • To be fair to Felicia, she, along with everyone else (except Mary Jane, Carlie, The Jackal, and Kaine), has no clue who the "man behind the mask" is anymore, as Peter wiped the world's memories of his true identity in "One Moment In Time".
  • That is the point of OMD/BND; reset the universe to the way it was before Character Development "ruined" Spider-Man by making it not exactly as it was when Quesada first found the series. The Reset Button just brings back 80s' Felicia.
• Enemy Within: Mr. Negative and Martin Li - former represents evil and the latter the good side of a man they once were and are actively trying to maintain a Balance Between Good and Evil by undoing other's deeds.
• Fan Nickname: Anti-OMD(and/or)BN 0 peeps tend to lump EVERYTHING post-OMD under the flag of Brand New Day, even though technically it was only the 1st load of arcs that were BND. That's about the nicest nickname the antis can call it.
  • Marvel acknowledged this. Most of their staff were referring to all Spider-Man comics between issues #546 and #647 as Brand New Day. They even used it a marketing device, announcing a shift to a twice-a-month format and replacing multiple writers with one as "The end of Brand New Day". That, however, has not stopped fans continuing to label the stories as "BND", and this will likely continue until the day someone restores the "proper timeline"
  • Speaking of multiple writers, their team was called "Spidey Braintrust".
• Friends with Benefits: Spider-Man and Black Cat – Felicia doesn't even want to know who he is or if he's dating other people.
• Harmless Villain: Override.
• Infant Immortality: Averted. Billy Connors has been killed by Lizard.
• Jerkass – Michele just really crossed the line at this, randomly destroying or selling Peter's stuff. Most people, having such landlady, would seriously consider living under the bridge. Some would even choose it.
• Killed Off for Real: Rhino's wife, New Rhino, Billy Connors, Mattie Franklin, Madame Web, Sasha Nikolajevich, Grim Hunter (who came back to life three issues earlier).
• Knight of Cerebus: Electro, who started The Gauntlet arc by leveling the Daily Bugle building. Some considered Deadpool to be a double subversion - his fight with Spider-Man was funny but also foreshadowed (by Wade directly warning Spidey that the next weeks of his live will be a nightmare, no less!) the upcoming shift to Darker and Edgier that took place the very next issue.
• Large Ham: New Rhino It didn't do him any better
• Lighter and Softer: Compared with pre-OMD Spidey titles, before Cerebus Syndrome.
• Mad Scientist: Doctor Trauma.
• Meaningful Name: Doctor Trauma again.
• Name's the Same: Here at the very least, where "BND" has another reason to make you shiver.
• Not-So-Harmless Villain: Spot, big time. A guy who was so lame he was in Legion Of Losers turned into Nightmare Fuel incarnate the moment he realized his own power.
  • Hammerhead, after he Took a Level In Badass.
• Overused Running Gag: In the first few arcs Spidey was always running out of web fluid. Apparently all the writers had the same idea and seemed to decide not to speak to each other about it. It went from the drama-increasing move it is when used sparingly to a funny gag of him constantly running out to just being annoying.
• Psychopathic Manchild: Anna Kravinoff.
• Run the Gauntlet: The story arc was even named "The Gauntlet".
• Shipper on Deck: Mary Jane and Black Cat are this for Peter and Carlie.
• Spiritual Successor: Grim Hunt to Kraven's Last Hunt.
• Super-Powered Evil Side: Mister Negative. Lizard too, until he took total control, eiliminating the original Dr Connors persona..
• Take That: Dexter Bennet might be based on Joe Quesada.
  • Certain writers seem to love taking pot shots at fans that liked the marriage. What with a recent issue having Peter asking MJ if he could stay at her place for a few days. Cue them laughing at 'honey I'm home!' and mocking marriage... subtlety is not their strong suit.
    • That one is in Dan Slott's Big Time already.
      • Slott has since made up for this by having MJ admit she still loves Peter (although she made sure Peter didnt hear it, as he was still involved with Carlie at the time), and the two have had some nostalgicly sweet moments as friends together.
• That Man Is Dead: Noticed by Norah, after Old Rhino avenged his wife.

Norah: Aleksei Sytsevich is dead. New Rhino is dead. All hail old Rhino.

• This Loser Is You: Was in full force during the start of the series with Peter. It actually got to the point where it became insulting to fans. Since Slott took over the book, Peter has become a lot more accomplished...which in turn has irked fans, as Peter has now went from struggling photographer to Horizon Lab Whizkid capable of creating power rangers-esque outfits at the drop of a hat.
• Took a Level In Badass: Almost all of classic villains, and some C-listers! Chameleon is now one of the most feared asassins in the world, Rhino's undergone a comeback that's made him look more like a force of nature than a common thug in a fancy suit, Mysterio became a Magnificent Bastard, Doctor Octopus easily took control of New York City, Sandman can now create his own duplicates, Electro can turn into lighting, Lizard eliminated the old Connors side and became a Complete Monster both in trope and literally, even Hammerhead had become stronger – now he has exoskeleton made of adamantium and KEVLAR! THROAT!. See trope page quote to check out Spider-Man's reaction on the last one.
• Unstoppable Rage: Rhino went on one after New Rhino killed his wife and even Spider-Man couldn't stop him from impaling the guy. Spidey himself went on it twice - first After the Kravinoffs brought back Kraven by killing Kaine and then when he thought supervillains killed Lilly's baby.
• Unwanted Harem: Throwing a lot of girls around Peter – Carlie, Lilly, Norah, Michele, Black Cat, Mary Jane, Betty Brant – resulted in this, which led to people complaining that Spider-Man turned into a bad Harem Anime.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Hilariously named The Extremist – an invisible serial killer who murders people for talking bad about superheroes – he's a With Us or Against Us type of person who sees all superheroes as purely good and all who criticize them as villains, trying to blur the lines between right and wrong.
• Your Mom: Spider-Man and Deadpool ended their fight by challenging each other to a good old fashioned "Yo Mama" contest.

Deadpool: "Your mom is so fat that Hank Pym had to beat her up in the back of the Quinjet!"

• • Wade also had something he calls Yo Mammageddon - a "your mom" insult that is so terrible that it can make people cry until they die from dehydration. He was just about to unleash it upon Spidey, when... his timer hit zero. He'd reached the end of how long he was supposed to keep Spidey occupied. When someone said that the ultimate Yo Momma joke couldn't be that bad, he whispered half of it into the poor kid's ear. The kid ran away screaming.