Spider-Man: Brand New Day is a Love Letter to Spider-Man Fans

Courtesy of Sony Pictures Entertainment

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is finally out nearly five years after Spider-Man: No Way Home, this time directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and starring Tom Holland, Zendaya, Sadie Sink, Jon Bernthal, Jacob Batalon, Tramell Tillman, and Mark Ruffalo. Four years after being forgotten by the world, Peter is alone, spending most of his time being Spider-Man. Despite making New York City safer than it’s ever been before and gaining the love and support of the city, Peter misses his friends, and when they return to New York, his powers start mutating. He also takes on a new threat that bounces from person to person. It’s hard to believe this December will be the fifth anniversary of Spider-Man: No Way Home, a movie that fans loved and brought back big crowds to movie theaters after Covid-19 hurt the industry. For a while, fans wondered how the next Tom Holland Spider-Man movie would go. Holland said he would only return if the story was worth it. What direction do you go from here?

Spider-Man: Brand New Day has what fans have been waiting for in an MCU Spider-Man movie. He’s alone, going through the typical Parker luck. It’s a much more grounded story fully in New York City. He has to rely on his own tech and wits, making his own suit instead of relying on Stark Industries. He’s taking on villains while at the same time still being a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Scenes and montages look and feel as if they came right from a comic book, with nods to certain pages and covers to certain Spider-Man comics. Spider-Man is interacting with other heroes in New York, yet it never takes away from the focus of Spider-Man and telling a Spider-Man story. He’s in full costume talking to people of authority like Detective Jean DeWolff, an ally of Spider-Man’s in the police force, and head of Damage Control Bill Metzger. The feel of the people of New York celebrating and supporting Spider-Man feels genuine, on par with the Rami Spider-Man movies and Amazing Spider-Man 2, where the strong element of those movies was the people of New York rallying for Spider-Man, which has been an element that has been missing for quite some time. The movie does miss the element of having J. Jonah Jameson rambling on how Spider-Man is a menace, but it doesn’t hurt the movie.

While Spider-Man: Brand New Day does feature Bruce Banner, who transforms into the Hulk, the Punisher, and a few other MCU characters, some of which are new to the MCU, it never feels like the movie has too many characters or too many plots to follow. It feels more like Captain America: Civil War, where despite having multiple Avengers and introducing Spider-Man and Black Panther to the MCU, it still felt like a Captain America movie. One notable change to Brand New Day is the director. Destin Daniel Cretton does such an amazing job taking over for Jon Watts. The cinematography looks like the best in the post-Avengers: Endgame era and less reliant on green screen. Spider-Man’s suit is by far the best in a Spider-Man movie, including Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s suits. The swinging scenes are by far the best in the MCU Spider-Man movies.

They could have easily undone the damage of Spider-Man: No Way Home in this one, but they don’t. Peter has been alone, and his friends lived on without remembering him and the toll it takes on him and his powers. The consequences of his choices and not having Aunt May in his life are felt. Heck, Tony Stark and Happy Hogan aren’t even mentioned. This feels like a fresh start for this version of Spider-Man. He does have his own AI, which maybe was one Stark influence kept on, but Peter’s not over-reliant on the AI. The action is the best in not just the MCU Spider-Man movies, but some of the best in the MCU. The tone was the right balance of serious moments and humor where nothing felt overshadowed.

Tom Holland gives his best performance as Spider-Man, and this is the most we’ve seen him in the costume. We finally get the miserable Peter Parker fans wanted, where life is just beating him up. He still does his usual quips and all, but Holland captures how lonely Peter is and the effects that loneliness and trauma have had on Peter. His banter with Jon Bernthal’s Punisher is the highlight of the movie. They have excellent chemistry, and this is by far the best character dynamic he has with another MCU character so far, even better than his dynamics with Tony Stark and Dr. Strange.

Bernthal as Punisher is so good and proves that an R-rated MCU character can still succeed and steal the show in a PG-13 MCU movie. I honestly wouldn’t mind if Spider-Man and Punisher were in more projects together, and here’s hoping that maybe the next MCU characters Spider-Man interacts with are Daredevil or Deadpool and Wolverine. There is great symbolism of how Spider-Man could become Punisher if he keeps going about this alone.

Mark Ruffalo, while not in the movie as much as the trailers suggested, gives his best performance as the Hulk in quite some time. Savage Hulk is back and gives an amazing fight between him, Spider-Man, and the Punisher later in the movie. There is another familiar MCU character that appears that I won’t spoil, but they also have great chemistry with Holland’s Spider-Man and were in the movie more than I expected. Liza Colon-Zayas plays Jean DeWolff, a police ally of Spider-Man’s, and their dynamic, while only showing a few times in the movie, was nice and didn’t feel like a Batman and Commissioner Gordon rehash. DeWolff cares about Spider-Man despite not knowing who he is under the mask and even encouraging him to take it easy at times.

One of the concerns fans had going into this movie was Zendaya and Jacob Batalon’s return as MJ and Ned. Would they remember Peter too soon, and are they unnecessary? Their roles are handled well, showing how they’ve grown since going to MIT while still feeling like the same characters. Ned feels tamer in asking questions yet still has plenty of funny questions to ask. There are some powerful, emotional scenes with Spider-Man and MJ done so well. Sadie Sink is in the movie, and her character plays a key role not just in this movie but in what will happen in the MCU going forward. Tramell Tillman also plays Bill Metzger, who will likely play a big role in the MCU going forward, especially regarding mutants.

Spider-Man: Brand New is the best post-Avengers: Endgame movie, but has a few flaws. Fans will be divided on the villains and how they were handled. For fans hoping for a ton of action involving Michael Mando’s Scorpion, something they’ve waited nine years for, they will likely be disappointed as he only has a couple of scenes in the movie. While I had no issue with the nearly two-and-a-half-hour runtime, not everyone will like that. The post-credit scene is already sparking a ton of theories and likely ties into the upcoming Avengers movies.

Overall, Spider-Man: Brand New Day is the brand new fresh start not only Spider-Man needed, but the MCU needed. For fans of Spider-Man comics, this is a love letter to them done right. The storyline is one of the best in a while for an MCU movie. The acting performances are some of the best in an MCU movie. The action and emotions do not disappoint. This is the first time in a while I have felt optimistic for the future of the MCU. My final grade for Spider-Man: Brand New Day is an A. It may not have the level of fan service No Way Home had, but it has a stronger storyline and is the right balance of a grounded Spider-Man movie with MCU themes and characters in it. It’s a top 10 MCU movie that shows so much range and love for its source material.

If you’re a Spider-Man fan, go see this movie! If you’re a comic book movie fan, go see this movie! What are your thoughts on Spider-Man: Brand New Day? Let us know in the comments below.