Spider-Man: Brand New Day, 2026.
Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton.
Starring Tom Holland, Zendaya, Sadie Sink, Jacob Batalon, Jon Bernthal, Tramell Tillman, Michael Mando, Mark Ruffalo, Liza Colón-Zayas, Marvin Jones III, Eman Esfandi, Zabryna Guevara, and Keith David.
SYNOPSIS:
A forgotten Peter Parker lives alone as a full-time Spider-Man until mounting pressure triggers a dangerous change and a powerful new enemy emerges.
Lately, across both the MCU and DC (both universes), studio heads, screenwriters, and directors have forgotten the old adage that the stories are often only as good as their villains. There is no such shortcoming here. Director Destin Daniel Cretton’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day has a worthy antagonist played by Sadie Sink, a character whose traumas and motives fit right in alongside Peter Parker’s eponymous superhero Spider-Man (Tom Holland) and Jon Bernthal’s revenge-fueled vigilante Frank Castle aka The Punisher, who goes about fighting crime extremely violent that is toned down here to PG-13, but without skipping a beat on his distinct personality. That’s another aspect that works more than it should, since the film (courtesy of a screenplay by series regulars Erik Sommers and Chris McKenna) is often just as concerned with the thematic parallels and juxtapositions to these characters as it is with webshooting spectacle.
Picking up where Spider-Man: No Way Home left off, everyone’s memory is wiped of the friendly neighborhood spider’s identity alongside their connection to Peter Parker. This makes way for a roughly four-year montage where he fights crime with Michael Mando’s Scorpion emerging as an arch-nemesis, alongside plenty of villainous cameos that succinctly serve the function of depicting the webslinger isolating himself to be a responsible hero while his ex-girlfriend MJ (Zendaya) and best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon) continue with their studies.
There is a new wrinkle in embodying Spider-Man in that his spider-hormones are tipping the scales in the makeup of his DNA, causing unannounced organic webbing, overwhelming spidey-senses, and a general loss of command over his abilities. The web shooters also no longer mingle with Peter’s body. For as silly as this sounds (I never expected I would type the term “spider-hormones” on the job), it does feel scientifically plausible and paves the way for a continuation exploring identity beyond physically knowing Spider-Man’s face.
This is a way into the fallout from No Way Home that asks not necessarily if it was the right decision, but the downside of only existing as a reclusive, lonely Spider-Man (something Tom Holland taps into with convincing stress and humor). It brings a question of balance into play while also offering the superhero some variations and upgrades to his abilities. At one point, an MJ who no longer knows who Spider-Man is but inevitably becomes wrapped up in his latest major crime-fighting endeavor queries why he is attempting to suppress these changes (Peter Parker seeks out the assistance of Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner for scientific advice on how to accomplish this).
As for that mission, it involves working together with Detective Jean DeWolff (Liza Colón-Zayas), his Jim Gordon-like point of contact in the New York City Police Department, to pick apart the motive behind a series of raids on the Department of Damage Control facilities, a seemingly government-adjacent agency led by Bill Metzger (Trammell Tillman) with the goal of reverse engineering whatever technology comes from the villains Spider-Man puts away, putting their abilities to what they perceive to be a more productive and noble use. It’s another situation that pits Spider-Man up against Scorpion, while also introducing an unseen mystery character capable of possessing anyone from within a certain range of the previous person they took control of. This dynamic also becomes personal when that villain goes after Peter Parker’s friends, making for a first act that sometimes takes on the DNA of a horror movie (there is one scene where this trick mentally deceives him into emotional devastation), with another terrific score from Michael Giacchino capably underscoring that element as much as the emotional beats.
Damage Control’s existence also plays into identity, as in whether someone is heroic or villainous, maybe only they should be allowed to wield their abilities. This is also where that previously mentioned adage comes into play, as everyone with a grudge against the group has a valid reason, which is mined for thrilling third-act drama. The antagonist has complicated motivations depicted through an upsetting flashback, one that calls to mind the trademarks of Peter Parker and Frank Castle having lost loved ones, pushing forward with similar goals but drastically different execution.
Considering that Marvel and superhero movies in general sometimes fill up a cast without rhyme or reason, mostly fixated on fan service, it’s a refreshing surprise that every major character here serves a purpose in both Peter Parker and others deciding who they want to be. It’s less about throwing characters into a blender for fan service and more about depicting this cinematic universe organically as a world populated with several superheroes who find themselves interacting. Hell, the film also goes to great lengths to portray New York City as a lived-in place. Not even the usual wonky CGI on The Hulk (seriously, how doesn’t someone realize how bad this looks yet) or that much of this also feels like Marvel reversing course on the events of No Way Home takes away from such thoughtfulness here and the seamlessly shared universe.
Destin Daniel Cretton, who also directed Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (underappreciated on the action front for its practicality and stuntwork, deserving of a sequel based on that alone), also knows how to stage a fight scene, with Spider-Man: Brand New Day ironically building to a set piece that would have been right at home there. Sure, it still involves plenty of web abilities (elevated to what can only be described as what it’s like when you fully upgrade these abilities in one of the recent video games, and rendered as exciting as that sounds visually), but it also pushes Tom Holland to his physical limits, partaking in the new style of combat and pulling off something balletic alongside his opponents.
He is also being challenged on an emotional level, especially when accounting for that a good portion of this 2 1/2 hour film involves expressive and sometimes nuanced character work; one hopes that Tom Holland also understands that he doesn’t have to be Spider-Man all the time (the pressures are tied to the role just as much as the character itself). However, for as much as he deserves the flowers he will get for the performance in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, it is Sadie Sink who arguably makes a bigger imprint. Long before the end of this brand-new day, it’s the character work driving the action and future intrigue.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder
