After years of multiverse sagas and cosmic threats, Spider-Man: Brand New Day swings in like a rush of fresh air. A more grounded, mature story that signifies a clear break from the previous trilogy, the film solidifies Spidey as the best character in all of the MCU, which is why his solo franchise has been consistently popular throughout and has no end in sight. Peter Parker’s transition from reluctant hero to tragic hero has been gripping, fascinating, hilarious, and heartbreaking. This is a movie that is a different kind of fan service than the overwhelming Spider-Man: No Way Home; it honors the character and its legacy in all forms, while charting a new course that could carry the webslinger to even greater heights. The Tom Holland era of Spider-Man just keeps getting better.
Holland has grown as an actor just as we’ve watched Peter Parker grow into the role of Spider-Man. He’s so much better now, and can carry the complex emotions that come with playing the hero who lives by the code “With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility.” That responsibility meant unleashing a spell that erased him from the minds of everyone who ever knew him, including the love of his life, MJ (Zendaya), and best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon). Ever since then, Peter has been trying to do things on his own, and finding that being a superhero with no support system kinda sucks. But Parker did make a promise to find and protect his loved ones, which he continues to do even though the sight of seeing them move on without him, through college at MIT and into other romantic relationships, brings him pain.
Spidey isn’t completely alone in this. At times, Spider-Man: Brand New Day acts as a buddy comedy with Jon Bernthal’s Punisher acting as the ultra-violent straight man. The two heroes, if you can call Punisher that, couldn’t be more different in the way they handle a situation: it’s webbing versus bazookas, basically. But their humorous back and forth reminded me of the old Marvel Team-Up comics that paired them and remain some of the best stories Marvel has ever published.
There’s also a compelling mystery, centering around the secret character played by Stranger Things’ Sadie Sink. Obviously, I’m not going to spoil that here, but the reveal is huge and more than worth it. Her character can be anyone at any time and that is a power that Spidey isn’t really equipped to handle. She’s out for vengeance against the suspicious organization known as Damage Control, and the reason why makes for an unxpected introduction to a character that is going to have a huge impact on the MCU going forward.
Destin Daniel Cretton, who directed Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings previously, has always been a filmmaker who specializes in grounded, human stories of triumph and resilience. Just look at his incredible debut, Short Term 12, for proof of that. You can see the DNA of that film in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, as well. Peter is dealing with emotions so big that it’s unclear he’s equipped to handle them. The loss of Aunt May was one thing, but sacrificing his happiness for the safety of others, while also coping with a body that seems to be changing into something unrecognizable, is a lot for anyone to handle alone. He’s going to need the kind of help he’s been reluctant to ask for.
Because no Spider-Man movie is complete without some kind of mentor figure, Mark Ruffalo shows up as Bruce Banner, who has found a way to keep the Hulk side of his personality under wraps. He and Spider-Man have never been more in the same boat than they are now, which makes them more like equals than teacher/student. We get one of the coolest “Hulk smash” fight scenes yet, too, as Cretton’s handling of action has greatly improved. The action as a whole is smarter and way cooler, including an awesome fight with the ninjas known as The Hand, and I won’t reveal how they fit into this mess, either. Cretton isn’t shy in sharing his visual influences. The Raimi-era Spider-Man movies are clearly an inspiration, but also the Stan Lee/Steve Ditko comics that captured the excitement, the energy, and the angst of being a costumed hero in New York City. If anything, this film could’ve used a bit more of the latter. In particular, it felt like Peter and MJ still have a lot left unsaid between them. Maybe it’s being held for a later movie, but there’s a definite void where a conversation needs to be.
Repeatedly, it’s love and friendship that come to Spidey’s rescue when he needs it most. Spider-Man: Brand New Day is a smaller, more personal film, and it feels so good to get away from the tedious universe-spanning threats. I believe that’s the reason why audiences have stuck with this version for longer than any other. These movies have largely avoided the event-driven pitfalls of the larger MCU, choosing instead for a character-driven approach that has made us fall in love with Spider-Man over and over again. Spider-Man has made choices that have solidified him as the true heart and soul of the MCU, and that has never been clearer than with Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day opens July 31st.
