Spider-Man: Brand New Day Finally Says The Biggest Infinity War Criticism Out Loud

Warning: This article contains spoilers for "Spider-Man: Brand New Day."

Half the fun of the Marvel Cinematic Universe comes from seeing how otherwise standalone productions can bump shoulders with the most unexpected storylines imaginable. Tom Holland's Peter Parker is busy looking after New York City, but audiences never know if his web-swinging stunts might take him near Doctor Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum or the Avengers Tower itself. "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" certainly didn't hold back from trailers coasting on the strength of all of those shared-universe connections, of course. But, more than almost any other "solo" movie, this sequel best captures the feeling that any Marvel character could be lurking just around the corner.

It's most unexpected example of this, as it turns out, isn't even an actual appearance or cameo. Sure, the arrival of Sadie Sink's Jean Grey makes "Brand New Day" a crossover for the ages. And we definitely had fun watching Mark Ruffalo's Bruce Banner and especially Jon Bernthal's Frank Castle add some star power into the mix. But, in each and every one of those examples, we knew they would be happening.

What we didn't see coming occurs relatively early in the film, when Peter seeks out Banner (after restoring himself to his human form) for some help. While the professor is attempting to teach his class some physics, he's interrupted by a student with much more pressing concerns on her mind. What follows comes as close to breaking the fourth wall as a non-"Deadpool" movie can get. Why didn't the villainous Thanos (Josh Brolin) simply double the amount of resources in the universe, rather than snap away half the population? This is a direct reference to arguably the most popular criticism of "Avengers: Infinity War," and we can't stop thinking about it.

Hey, don't blame us for nitpicking; blame "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" for poking fun of one of the funnier observations about "Avengers: Infinity War." At this point in the MCU timeline, the Great Snappening of "Infinity War" and "Endgame" (or the Blip, if you're boring) has sort of become the 9/11 of this universe. It's traumatic, sobering, and an undeniable inflection point in all of human history ... but it's also a little funny among those of a certain age, too. The students of Professor Banner's class are no exception, including the one who straight-up asks the former Hulk about the finer points of Thanos' grand plan to restore "balance" to the universe.

This laugh line is guaranteed to kill it among theater audiences around the globe, as will the reactions by Banner and especially Peter — his little shrug, as if he never thought of this before, is a great bit of physical comedy by Tom Holland. At the risk of reheating the exact same discourse from 2018, is this actually a plot hole? Yes, there's logic to the idea of using the Infinity Stones to simply double the amount of available resources (just as there's logic to the argument that this would only delay the overpopulation problem, not solve it). It's even simpler than that, however. Thanos clearly wasn't as rational as he convinced himself he was, and he wanted to commit mass genocide. Plus, there would obviously be no movie(s) if he opted for a path of nonviolence. No need to think any deeper than that, folks. Case closed.

"Spider-Man: Brand New Day" reopened this controversy in the funniest way, and you can relive it for yourself in theaters now.