By Sophie Robinson, Third Year, Film & TV
I think one of Marvel’s biggest issues is how convoluted it has become since the introduction of the multiverse. While plenty of people are still interested in Marvel’s recent projects and what’s coming next, I’ve personally had no clue what’s been going on within the MCU since the release of Spider-Man: No Way Home in 2021.
That’s where Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026) does well for itself. No one wants to watch a film feeling as though they should have done homework beforehand just to understand the basics of what’s happening and, with the premise that four years have passed since the world forgot Peter Parker because of Doctor Strange’s spell, the film is able to provide something of clean slate for a character with a lot of history. And clearly people enjoy it: BBC reports that the film had the “second biggest opening weekend ever” behind Avengers: Endgame (2019), having brought in $937m (£687m) from global ticket sales. Brand New Day delivers a New York-centric Spider-Man story, with Peter Parker adjusting to a new way of life himself while protecting the city from a handful of comic book criminals.
The New York City feel in the film is honestly kind of unexplainable, but something worth praising. For a character born and raised in The Big Apple, the MCU’s Spider-Man hasn’t been given the opportunity to show off the iconic imagery of him swinging from building to building, day and night. The comic book cover recreation montage of Spider-Man fighting New York’s criminals, such as the Scorpion and Tombstone, is the perfect way to acknowledge the characters’ origins and get some classic Marvel fan service in the film early.
The Spider-Man we see in Brand New Day is far removed from the previous Tony Stark-ification of the character seen in Tom Holland’s six other appearances within the MCU. In this film, Peter creates his own technology in his dingy NYC apartment and there’s evidence that he repairs his suit with a sewing machine, all contributing to the ‘friendly neighbour Spider-Man’ that has been missing thus far. Instead of being overshadowed and dictated by what Tony Stark had created for him, Peter Parker has matured into a version of Spider-Man that is definitively his.
Leah Pollard
Warning: the following section contains spoilers for the film
However, cameos from Yelena Belova/Black Widow (Florence Pugh), Bruce Banner/Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) and Frank Castle/The Punisher (Jon Bernthal) keep Spider-Man tied to the wider universe and set him up for future Marvel projects. Peter and Frank’s dynamic is one of the film’s highlights and cements Holland and Bernthal as a duo of July 2026 with them also appearing alongside each other in The Odyssey.
Overall, the film was quite an emotional rollercoaster. Peter, having been forcibly separated from his now ex-girlfriend MJ (Zendaya) and his best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon), is left to watch them live their lives through social media posts. It is only when the film’s villain, Jean Grey (Sadie Sink), threatens to harm them that Peter reintroduces himself into their lives. Following much secrecy over who she was to play, Sade Sink delivers an amazing and emotional performance as Jean Grey: a girl who just wants to find her sister and is taken advantage of for her abilities.
Whenever Peter and MJ were on screen together, I found myself clinging on the tiniest shred of hope that that their love would overcome Strange’s spell. Heartbreakingly, that is not the case. Although the prospect of them rekindling their romance seems fairly diminished for now, Peter and Ned’s iconic handshake right at the end shows that there is some hope for the trio.
The film highlights the importance of reaching out to people and not living in isolation, manifesting itself in a physical evolution. The development and subsequent conquering of his new organic webs demonstrate Peter’s ultimate character development in the film. Despite going to see Brand New Day not fully knowing what the current state of the MCU is, I really enjoyed the film and thought the 145-minute runtime was a breeze to sit through.
Featured image: IMDb / Spider-Man: Brand New Day
Did this new Spider-Man film win you over as well?
