Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026)

Synopsis

With the world having forgotten about him, Peter Parker (Tom Holland) continues protecting New York City as Spider-Man. Unfortunately, his commitment has made him a recluse so he can protect others from getting hurt because of his actions. This extends to his old friend, Ned (Jacob Batalon), and his ex-girlfriend, MJ (Zendaya), both of whom don’t remember him. Peter’s conflicting emotions are manifesting in his powers mutating further, giving him organic web shooters and heightened senses. He goes to Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) for advice, which leads him to create an inhibitor to control his powers. While this is happening, a mysterious being is using telekinetic powers to control people and spread chaos across the city. Peter makes an uneasy alliance with vigilante Frank Castle, aka The Punisher (Jon Bernthal), to figure out what’s going on. It’s a brand new day for our favorite web-slinging superhero!

Review

After how massive and world-changing the last installment was, Spider-Man: Brand New Day is refreshingly small-scale and more interpersonal. While it’s definitely your standard MCU superhero movie, it also works as a character drama about dealing with loss. The film still manages to include some humor that mostly works, but the more serious tone dominates the runtime. Sure, there’s the usual fan service, ties to other MCU movies, and future installment setups, but they’re not as overt. Though Jon Watts is missed, Destin Daniel Cretton does a great job balancing the drama with the action. Cretton gives the film a very lived-in, urban quality that reflects the characters’ turmoil, such as Peter’s ramshackle apartment. There are also some inventive camera angles and editing techniques utilized that make the film much more dynamic. Despite pacing issues I’ll touch on later, the action is never boring and always has you on edge.

While he was good in the other movies, Tom Holland gives his best performance as the titular webslinger here. He delivers the quips and jokes you’d expect from Spider-Man, but he also shows a real inner turmoil. You can tell that he’s still clinging to the past and wanting that life back while trying to move forward. Even if they’re no longer a couple in the film’s universe, Holland and Zendaya still have great chemistry together. Jon Bernthal completely steals the show as Frank Castle, and his back-and-forths with Spider-Man are gold. A great addition is Liza Colón-Zayas as Detective Jean DeWolff, acting as a new mother figure to Spider-Man. There are a few other performances I’d like to highlight, but that would require spoilers. Suffice it to say, everyone in the cast, no matter how big or small their role, does a terrific job.

As I mentioned earlier, one of the film’s biggest flaws is the pacing, which drags considerably in the second half. Again, without spoiling, a large portion of the film is devoted to character development that goes on for too long. Not saying that character building is bad, but they could’ve gotten to the point much sooner than they did. Also, this movie doesn’t need to be nearly two and a half hours long; that is excessive. Sure, Avengers: Endgame was three hours long, but that had enough story to fill out its runtime. The filmmakers could’ve easily trimmed this down to a lean two hours and wouldn’t have lost anything. Those issues aside, this is still a promising new entry, and I’m excited to see what comes next. Overall, much like its protagonist, Spider-Man: Brand New Day is broken but has tons of heart and great action.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is in theaters.