In Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Peter Parker (Tom Holland) is largely isolated, having lost Aunt May and, due to a spell cast by Doctor Strange, his friends' memories of him. According to Polygon, the only humans he regularly interacts with are NYPD detective Jean DeWolff, and beyond her, his main companion is an AI assistant named E.V., voiced by Naomi Watts.
Polygon notes that E.V. continues a pattern in the MCU Spider-Man films of Peter relying on an AI companion. His first AI, introduced in Spider-Man: Homecoming, was built into a suit designed by Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and was voiced by Jennifer Connelly. Peter initially called her "Suit Lady" before naming her Karen. The article points out that Karen operated similarly to Stark's other AIs, JARVIS and FRIDAY, monitoring Peter's vital signs and controlling suit features by voice command, including a scene where she activated an "instant kill" mode without being asked.
Karen was destroyed in Spider-Man: Far From Home when Peter's Stark tech suit was destroyed by Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal). She was succeeded by EDITH, voiced by Dawn Michelle King, an AI security system Tony Stark left to Peter after his death. Polygon explains that EDITH's name was a joke from Stark, standing for "Even Dead, I'm The Hero," and that she was housed in a pair of high-tech glasses rather than a suit. EDITH's storyline echoed Karen's, including a scene where Peter accidentally activated a weapons satellite. Peter later lost control of EDITH to Mysterio before regaining it, and then lost EDITH again in Spider-Man: No Way Home when his identity was revealed and his Stark tech, including EDITH, was confiscated and placed with the Department of Damage Control.
According to Polygon, in Brand New Day, Peter has no Stark tech to rely on and instead built E.V. himself. Director Destin Daniel Cretton described E.V., per an annotated script covered by Entertainment Weekly, as "sadly, the closest thing Peter has to a friend." The article notes that some fans previously criticized Karen's presence in Homecoming as making Spider-Man too reliant on technology, but argues E.V. feels less intrusive given how isolated Peter is in the new film, with the AI used mainly for tracking the villain and issuing crime alerts.
Polygon suggests that, based on the fates of Karen and EDITH, E.V. may not remain part of the story for long. Spider-Man: Brand New Day is now in theaters, according to the article.
Two additional IGN articles referenced alongside this coverage—one on the film's global box office debut and another featuring Hideo Kojima's review—were not accessible for this synthesis.