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Tom Holland’s Spider-Man crawls his way back to the big screen
DESTIN Daniel Cretton’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day is a strong return for the wallcrawler and Tom Holland really gives it his all this time. It took four solo films but his Peter Parker finally feels like his own Spider-Man.
Holland is no longer playing an inexperienced teenager who needs an older hero to guide him through every problem. He has been Spider-Man for 10 years now, so this growth is long overdue.
His physicality occasionally recalls Tobey Maguire, while his personality and style carry some of Andrew Garfield’s energy. At the same time, Holland finally stands apart from both of them.
Spidey in motion
Cretton clearly knows how to stage action after Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021). Spider-Man flips, jumps and swings through fights with the speed and flexibility the character should have always displayed. Every action scene is exciting to watch, with plenty of credit due to Cretton and the stunt team.
New York also feels grounded and alive. The film gives proper attention to the concrete jungle, its streets and the people living below Peter’s webs. Even the credits highlight the city’s unique environment and the people living in it.
The film often reads like a comic book through its pacing and dialogue. A montage pays tribute to past comic covers while showing Peter fighting several villains. It looks great and establishes the heroics that have happened offscreen, although it does leave one wishing each villain had received more than a few seconds.
Alone and apparently jobless
Peter is still dealing with the aftermath of everyone forgetting him. His best friend Ned Leeds and girlfriend MJ no longer know who he is, leaving him alone, friendless, girlfriend-less and possibly broke. Plenty of people can probably relate.
He is also far more careful with his identity, which is good because he used to reveal it to almost everyone he met. This Peter has learnt from his mistakes and understands what happens when his personal life and superhero identity become tangled.
Zendaya has fewer scenes than expected but that makes sense because Peter believes he must stay away from MJ. When she does appear, her acting is excellent and the connection between them remains convincing. Brand New Day also marks the second blockbuster featuring Holland and Zendaya this year after The Odyssey.
MJ forgetting Peter is clearly connected to One More Day written by Joe Quesada, the widely hated comic storyline in which Peter and MJ give up their marriage to Mephisto to save Aunt May. The impact of that story has affected almost every piece of Spider-Man media since.
The film also never explains what Peter does for a living. He has his own apartment, groceries, flowers every week and plenty of high-tech equipment. He could be resourceful and build things from dumpster diving, while Aunt May may have left him some insurance money but that cash cannot last forever.
Most obvious reveal ever
Sadie Sink’s character may be the most obvious reveal Marvel has attempted to hide. A red-haired, green-eyed teenage telepath appears in the Marvel universe and the film expects audiences to wonder who she could possibly be. Come on, who else was it going to be?
Sink plays the villain well and her powers produce some interesting scenes. Her motives have potential, although the writing could have given her more nuance. It is also obvious that Marvel is preparing her for a future project.
Jon Bernthal’s Frank Castle seems cheerier here, although he is hardly walking around cracking jokes. Bernthal also gives him more personality than simply being a traumatised Marine veteran killing criminals.
His good cop, bad cop routine with Peter is funny but Spider-Man should hate The Punisher. The man is a serial killer. Even in the comics, Frank respects Spider-Man even if he considers the no-kill rule naive, while Peter despises almost everything the Punisher represents.
Where was everyone?
Liza Colon-Zayas appears as police detective Jean DeWolff and begins the film as an ally to Spider-Man. She then more or less disappears during the middle and final acts. Bruce Banner receives more attention but nobody mentions the son introduced in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022).
That leads to the MCU’s much bigger consistency problem. What was Spider-Man doing during the Void attack in Thunderbolts* (2025)? Where was he when Wilson Fisk became mayor and outlawed vigilantes in Daredevil: Born Again (2025)? Why is the Department of Damage Control not desperately hunting every superpowered human as it does in Wonder Man?
The MCU used to feel connected, particularly before Avengers: Endgame (2019). Now its movies and television series often seem to take place in separate worlds until the story suddenly needs a cameo.
The ScreenX presentation is also underwhelming. The expanded side screens can become distracting during busy scenes and rarely add anything essential. Some viewers may enjoy the wider image, but the format is not for everyone.
What was Jon Watts cooking?
Honestly, Brand New Day makes one wonder what Jon Watts was doing throughout the first trilogy. He had three movies to deliver a complete Spider-Man adventure, yet repeatedly held the character back.
Homecoming (2017) was fine but never great, Far From Home (2019) was ugly as sin and No Way Home (2021) clearly suffered from its pandemic-era production and overcrowded writing. Web-swinging was kept to a minimum, while Spider-Man’s physical fighting abilities were rarely allowed to shine. Cretton rectifies those problems almost immediately. What was Watts cooking?
There is one post-credit scene hinting at either a multiversal adventure or something in space. It most likely leads into Avengers: Doomsday, although a Spider-Verse connection remains possible.
Overall, Brand New Day is a pretty spectacular web-slinging adventure. Marvel needs more movies of this quality after Thunderbolts* and The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025). Doomsday, meanwhile, already looks rough.
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