**This review contains spoilers**

In December of 2021, Marvel released Spider-Man: No Way Home, the third Tom Holland Spider-Man movie and the consequential follow-up to 2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home. Also in December of 2021, the Omicron variant of COVID-19 was spiking (remember COVID?). I had tickets to see No Way Home on the Friday night of its release and the Omicron outbreak was throwing a real wrench in my plans. I agonized over what to do. Should I be going to a public theater filled with people at a time like that? Probably not. But did I do it anyway? Absolutely. Because I knew that if I didn’t see that movie that day, it would be spoiled for me online before I could get to the theater and I just could not have that. Five years later, a lot has changed. COVID is… not that big of a deal anymore? And Marvel’s cultural relevance and popularity has been on a real downswing the past few years (including in my own life). But one thing hasn’t changed: I had to see the new Spider-Man movie, Brand New Day, on opening day or else it would be spoiled for me online. I don’t want to make it sound like avoiding spoilers was the only reason I went to see these movies. I wanted to avoid spoilers because I really like these movies and I wanted to give myself the chance to fully experience them. I’ve always been a big fan of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, both in his solo movies and when he appears in other Marvel films. That, plus the long-wait after No Way Home’s momentous ending, and my TomDaya (Tom Holland and Zendaya, obviously) obsession only growing, this was the most excited I’ve felt for a Marvel movie in a very long time. Which is a great feeling. Because I really did love this world for such a long time and I’ve hated how watching every new mediocre (at best) movie and TV show has become more of a chore than a pastime. I know I’m not alone in that. And many have pondered if the age of the superhero movie has just passed us by like a fleeting trend or if the quality has gone down enough degrees to put off audiences but, either way, Spider-Man might just be back to save the day.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is the 38th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (a number that gets crazier every time I see it) and the fourth standalone Spider-Man film in this universe. After director Jon Watts made the first three films in the series, 2017’s Homecoming, 2019’s Far From Home and 2021’s No Way Home, director Destin Daniel Cretton has taken over for Brand New Day. The story picks up after the events of No Way Home in which, to save the world, Peter Parker makes the self-sacrificial decision to have Doctor Strange cast a spell that erases him from everyone’s memory. They still remember Spider-Man, just not Peter Parker. Now we find Peter four years later, living a lonely existence in New York City. His Aunt May is dead and his best friend, Ned, and girlfriend, MJ, don’t know him. He spends his time either fighting crime on the streets of New York or holed up in his tiny apartment stalking his former friends on social media, watching their lives move on without him. Meanwhile, a new force threatens the city and Peter’s personal life (since I already said I’m spoiling things… it’s Sadie Sink playing Jean Grey. More on this later.) and his powers begin to evolve. Is there maybe a little too much going on story-wise in this movie? Probably. But I feel like that’s the case with most superhero movies these days (see last summer’s Superman). It’s kind of the name of the game when you’re building these interconnected universes with tons of characters; they all need a little time to shine, but does that leave time to get deeper with any of them? Brand New Day proves that, yes, there is room for both.

The Peter we find in this movie is sad and lonely and more introspective than the version of him in past films. Producer Amy Pascal told Deadline, “We knew we couldn’t go bigger than three Spider-Mans [referencing the world-breaking appearance of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, reprising their Spider-Man roles, in No Way Home], so we had to go deeper with Peter Parker.” And while the reason behind Peter’s loneliness, isolation, and angst are unique to him, the feelings are incredibly relatable, especially in this day and age. Who hasn’t sat home alone and watched other people on social media having fun without them? Amy Pascal also explained that it was this thematic direction for the character of Peter that led to the inclusion Jean Grey in the film: “We didn’t pick Jean Grey because she was part of the X-Men; we picked Jean Grey because [director] Destin [Daniel Cretton] came in and said, ‘If you guys want to do a movie that is about the way people feel isolated, even more today than ever, because of our technology and everything else, and not just young people, but everybody. But it has afflicted young people so much. If we can do a movie that is about how reaching out and making a connection to someone is the most important thing that you can do, then I understand how to do this movie.’ And he was the one who said, ‘I really think it would be great if the villain could be a teenager,’ instead of all the monsters we’ve done in the past. Because the other truth about Peter Parker is that the best stories are when the villains have the same problem that he does: anonymity and feeling isolated. It just seemed like the right story to tell for today, because it’s something that we can all relate to,” (Deadline). 

It’s the sense of loneliness that Peter and Jean share that leads to their struggles with identity throughout the movie. Jean is both a mystery to herself and to us as an audience on a meta level. She has these powers that she doesn’t quite know what to do with or what the full extent of them is. Does she want to be a villain or a hero or neither? Peter is having a similar identity crisis. It was always easier for him as an introverted, nerdy guy to be Spider-Man. In the first film in the series, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Peter cries to his mentor, Tony Stark, “I’m nothing without this suit!”, to which Tony replies, “If you’re nothing without this suit, then you shouldn’t have it.” Over time, Ned and MJ helped him be more comfortable as just Peter. But now that no one remembers Peter Parker, the pull of just being Spider-Man all the time becomes that much stronger. He has nothing as Peter while Spider-Man is hailed as a hero. The more he starts to lose himself in Spider-Man, the more Spider-Man begins to literally take over his DNA, making him more spider than human. Jean constantly probes him throughout the movie to figure out who he is and who he wants to be, asking, “Do you know who you are?” “Are you Peter Parker or are you Spider-Man?” The Spider-Man story is often an allegory for puberty, but this older version of his evolution is more a metaphor for emotional growth instead of physical change. It focuses on the period of time in your 20s where you go from teen to adult and figure out how that affects your sense of self, purpose, and relationships. Sean Fennessey on The Big Picture called it “Saturn return Spider-Man”, referencing the astrological term for when Saturn goes back to the exact spot it was in the sky when you were born and is considered a time of self-discovery and reevaluating one’s priorities. It’s often described as an initiation into adulthood and occurs around ages 27-30 (although I think, in reality, it applies to most of your twenties). Or, if you don’t believe in astrology, some people also call it a quarter-life crisis. Whatever terms you want to use, it’s a real thing that many people can relate to. Spider-Man’s physical evolution and the fight that Peter and Jean both face to suppress who they truly are is a literalization of this search for identity and purpose in that specific period of our lives.

Many fans have been praising the movie for “finally” giving us what they consider to be a “comics-accurate” version of Peter Parker/Spider-Man. He’s alone (no friends, no family), doing it all on his own (no Tony Stark to give him fancy nano-tech suits or Avengers to play sidekick to… okay, he actually does have a little bit of help…), and no space or time travel or multiversal storytelling. It’s connected to the wider MCU in the sense that other characters from the universe show up, but the movie isn’t weighed down by the plot of the other 37 movies and various TV shows. This is the most grounded, street-level, depressed Spider-Man we’ve gotten from Tom Holland and people are really loving it. Amy Pascal told Deadline, “The key is for all of us who work on these movies together is to really focus on telling a story about Peter Parker and not telling a story about the end of the world or things that none of us can really relate to. The wonderful thing about Peter is he’s just a kid with no money and no girlfriend and no game. That’s what makes him such a heroic character and such a mythic character for people, because all he is is a good guy.” This is an idea I come back to over and over again with these superhero and sci-fi properties: the stakes matter. I wrote about this in my review of Stranger Things season 5 where I said, “It’s counterintuitive, but saving the world is actually a less exciting story than saving a select few people or a specific place. When the gang needs to find Will or protect Eleven or even save Hawkins, we care more because we know those people and that place. We can connect emotionally. The whole world is harder to visualize and understand. When the scale is smaller, the stakes feel larger. So bigger actually isn’t better. And I hope we can start to move away from these stories about the fate of the world and back to ones that feel more intimate and human.” That’s exactly what Brand New Day tries to do and what makes it more successful than some recent Marvel attempts. This isn’t a story about the planet or the universe or the multiverse or anything else audiences can’t picture in their minds. It’s a story about a sad boy trying to save his city, but mostly trying to save his friends. Yelena outlines exactly this to Spider-Man when she tells him that his purview is the “small potatoes” stuff while she and the New Avengers focus on the “big potatoes” problems. Does that worry me for the future team-up movies where the main plot is the “big potatoes” problems? A little bit, yeah. But I’ll try not to judge it before I see it for now.

The movie also felt indebted to the comics in its filmmaking. No offense to Jon Watts, I do like all of his Spider-Man movies, but there is a noticeable level up in the cinematography (done by Brett Pawlak) and action choreography in Brand New Day. The fight scenes were awesome, particularly one where Spider-Man fights The Hand (an order of evil ninjas) that allows Destin Daniel Cretton to pull from his work on his first MCU movie, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. The choreography of the fights is incredible, giving Spider-Man some new moves, and is paired with tons of camera tricks like flipped shots and canted angles that elevate the scenes. A very comics moment many have referenced is a fight scene including Spider-Man, the Hulk, and Punisher that has a slo-mo, almost freeze-framed shot that mirrors a splash page in a comic book (a full-page image highlighting an important or dramatic moment with striking artwork). The way characters’ powers were portrayed as well was visually dynamic. I loved the look of Spider-Man’s eyes turning black as his DNA mutated, the effect they use for his “spidey sense”, and the sound and editing to show his overstimulation. The depiction of Jean’s powers was also really cool. There were many moments throughout the film where I just thought, “Yeah, that’s sick,” and that’s exactly what you want from a movie like this. Also, getting Tame Impala and Bad Bunny on the soundtrack really upped the vibes. 

I know everyone has opinions on who they think the best or their favorite Spider-Man is and I think mine is Tom Holland. I just think he’s particularly great in the part and Brand New Day allows him to go to new emotional places while still providing the humor and humanity of Peter Parker. Tom wasn’t sure he’d return to the role again after No Way Home but, when he decided to come back, he took on a much larger role in the behind-the-scenes process of the film instead of just his on-camera part. He told LADbible, “What’s been really fun about this most recent movie is designing the suit and being a part of that process and understanding what we wanted to try and achieve. I have been actively sifting through the internet and trying to best understand what it is that the fans want from a ‘Spider-Man’ movie, and that’s been my driving force in these pitch meetings. I think the producers, at times were like, absolutely sick of me, but I think it’s really important, because we make these movies for [the fans].” I don’t think it’s always the best course of action to give the fans everything they think they want, but it does seem to have worked in this case to bring this more comics-accurate Spider-Man to life. Tom’s due diligence also shows how much he cares about this part. And this has been the most successful role of his career, more so now with the wild achievements of this latest installment. So what does that mean for Tom going forward? How much longer can he play Spider-Man (he’s already 30) and how much longer will he want to? Tom previously went down the path other MCU actors have fallen victim to: they don’t want to be defined by this one superhero role so they leave to do “more serious” work and, when that is inevitably unsuccessful, they come back to the MCU. It happened to Chris Evans. Robert Downey Jr. won an Oscar and still came back. Tom Holland also (almost) left and returned already. I really like him in this role and want more Spider-Man movies with him, but I also don’t want him to get stuck in this part and not be able to do anything else. The closing credits confirmed that “Spider-Man Will Return” although Tom Holland has not yet confirmed if he will continue in the role. Not that he’s asking me for career advice (or needs it because he starred in two movies in the same month this summer that grossed over $1B at the box office so I think he’s doing just fine), but I would love to see him make one or two more Spider-Man films while also trying some totally different kinds of parts and then eventually passing the mantle onto a newer, younger, Spider-Man. Just a thought!

As much as the MCU and Spider-Man will always get people to the theater, Tom Holland and Zendaya and their real-life relationship have also become a huge draw for Brand New Day. Zendaya is an undeniable star on her own, but people really love her and Tom as a couple (people is me). Their adorably sweet and loving real-life relationship lends itself to great onscreen chemistry that deepens the audience’s emotional connection to the story. The Peter and MJ relationship is a big focus of this movie, even including some flashbacks to the previous films where they look so young but also tracks the offscreen development of their romance. Sorry not sorry but I cannot be normal about them. I just really love them together and no couple is doing it like them right now; both starring the same billion dollar movies this summer while also getting married and being insanely attractive and happy… we haven’t seen a power couple moving like this since Taylor Swift won Album of the Year at the Grammys and a week later Travis Kelce won the Super Bowl back in 2024. Also a huge draw for this movie, Sadie Sink and the mystery of her character. Her casting helped bring in a newer, younger, Gen Z audience. The marketing really made a big deal of creating intrigue around who she would be playing just for it to end up being the most obvious and commonly theorized answer. I think Sadie is a really talented actress and I love this role for her, becoming the third actress after Famke Janssen and Sophie Turner to play Jean Grey. I’ll be curious to see where her character goes in the MCU. We know Jean will return in the upcoming X-Men movie in 2028 but Sadie has said she can’t reveal how many Marvel movies she’s signed on for (Variety). I’ve never been a huge fan of Jon Bernthal’s Punisher, but the use of him in this movie really worked for me. This is another case within the movie of real-life relationship dynamics strengthening the onscreen chemistry of characters, as Tom Holland and Jon Bernthal have been friends for many years. Their banter and buddy-cop energy is so funny and entertaining but also has a real emotional core. As previously mentioned, my beloved Yelena Belova makes a brief appearance in Brand New Day. I’m always thrilled to see her and Florence Pugh is never anything less than pitch perfect in the role. Rounding out the cast, from popular TV shows, is Liza Colón-Zayas as police detective DeWolff (Tina from The Bear) and Tramell Tillman as head of the Department of Damage Control, Bill Metzger, (Mr. Milchick from Severance). Spider-Man and DeWolff have a nice Batman/Commissioner Gordon relationship where they work together to fight crime and have a direct line to each other. I really like Tramell Tillman but his character was one of the weaker points of the movie. Someone on Twitter said you shouldn’t cast Mr. Milchick if you want that character’s reveal as a bad guy to be a twist. The Spider-Man franchise not only benefits from its star-power, but also from deep-seated relationships (some of which we’ve seen grow onscreen before our very eyes) that make us feel emotional connections in a truer way.

The first movie to ever cross $100 million at the box office opening weekend was Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man back in 2002. The first movie to cross $150 million opening weekend was Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3 in 2007. The first movie to cross $200 million was the first Avengers movie in 2012. And the first to $300 million was Avengers: Endgame in 2018. So it makes sense that this franchise would continue to up the ante. Spider-Man: Brand New Day hit $360 million, breaking the all-time record for the largest opening weekend in North American history. It also became the second film ever to cross $1 billion globally in just 6 days (after Avengers: Endgame). Currently, the movie stands at over $2 billion globally. I know I’m throwing a lot of numbers at you right now but it’s hard to overstate how insane this is. Expectations were high for Brand New Day on many fronts, and at a time where superhero movies are no longer a guaranteed success (last month’s Supergirl made just $126.3 million worldwide), the movie not only delivered but also proved that this franchise continues to improve upon itself. 2019’s Far From Home earned $1.1 billion on the heels of Avengers: Endgame and 2021’s No Way Home reached $1.9 billion worldwide. Brand New Day’s record-breaking $2 billion gross proves a point made by analyst Jeff Bock of Exhibitor Relations, “Superhero fatigue is real, but Spider-Man fatigue is not,” (Variety).

I think the constant success of Spider-Man comes from the fact that there are so many different elements to like about these movies. But, at the same time, it means your mileage may vary when the balance shifts from film to film. If you’re here for the high school friendship dynamics or the Peter and MJ romance, this probably won’t be your favorite film in the series. If you prefer a comics-accurate Spidey or good, old-school superhero movie, this is the one for you. In terms of balance, I think Brand New Day does it pretty well. It doesn’t reach the highs of No Way Home (I don’t know if anything could come close to the electricity of seeing the three Spider-Mans (Spider-Men?) on screen together) but the lows also aren’t as low. I’m not sure if it’s my favorite of the Tom Holland Spider-Man movies but I had a great time watching it and I’m really curious to see where the story goes next for everyone involved as the film left it very open-ended for all the characters. The next movie to come in the MCU is Avengers: Doomsday in December. Will Spider-Man make an appearance? Will Jean Grey? Who knows? But what I do know is, for the first time in a while, I’m excited about the direction we’re heading with Marvel. If they can keep making movies like this, getting the best out of existing stars like Tom Holland, adding new and exciting talent like Sadie Sink, giving us action that is thrilling and innovative and not just a CGI mess, and going deeper on emotion instead of bigger on scale, then we might just get back on track.

2026 Count: 57 movies, 38 seasons of television, 1 special