Stubs - Spider-Man: Brand New Day

Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026) starring Tom Holland, Zendaya, Sadie Sink, Jacob Batalon, Jon Bernthal, Florence Pugh, Tramell Tillman, Marisa Tomei, Mark Ruffalo Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton. Screenplay by Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers. Produced by Kevin Feige, Amy Pascal, Avi Arad, Rachel O'Connor Run time: 145 minutes. Color. USA. Superhero

Note: This review contains spoilers for Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

It may seem like this is a little late in the run to be reviewing Spider-Man: Brand New Day¸ but there’s a reason for that. Brand New Day arrived at theaters with really big box office with hype to match. Sometimes, that can be kind of off-putting, and we had other things to do this summer.

The sequel comes five years since Spider-Man: No Way Home, and does and does not try to fill in the years that have passed. As you recall at the end of No Way Home, everyone, including MJ (Zendaya) and Ned (Jacob Batalon), has forgotten Peter Parker is Spider-Man (Tom Holland), and while MJ and Ned have gone on to college together, Peter has stayed behind and continued his vigilante crime-fighting. We see Ned and MJ’s lives through social media posts, but what Spider-Man has been doing is not so well documented, including run-ins with Mac Gargan / Scorpion (Michael Mando) and working with and against another vigilante, Frank Castle / Punisher (Jon Bernthal).

The main story revolves around Jean Gray (Sadie Sink), the telepath from the X-Men, who takes on everyone, including Spider-Man, to get revenge for the disappearance of her sister Sara (Olivia Booth-Ford) at the hands of the Department of Damage Control (DODC), run by Bill Metzger (Tramell Tillman). Spider-Man is at first ad ally of the DODC before he realizes what kind of an organization they really are.

Spider-Man (Tom Holland) changes his tune about Bill Metzger (Tramell Tillman), who runs the DODC.

MJ, though, is put in danger by Jean, who already knows Peter’s secret identity. Even though she doesn’t know who he is, MJ still trusts him, but when she finds the letter Peter has been carrying since No Way Home, she tells him the truth. What that is, I’ll leave for those who are even later to the game than I am.

The main three, Holland, Zendaya and Batalon, seem very comfortable in the roles they’ve been playing together since Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017). These are obviously characters they’ve grown up with as well, and while Spider-Man: Brand New Day is a somewhat more adult take, they all shine in their roles.

Frank Castle / Punisher (Jon Bernthal) is a different type of vigilante than Spider-Man.

We’re told, mostly through dialogue, about Spider-Man’s run-ins with Punisher, to the point that you might think you missed a movie or a TV series that explored that, and I probably did. That said, I really like Jon Bernthal in the role of the "shoot first, ask questions later" type of vigilante.

Spider-Man, for some reason, relies on the input of Black Widow from time to time. Florence Pugh, even in a smaller role, still has quite the presence on screen and she makes the most of her appearances.

Spider-Man and MJ (Zendaya) almost share a moment.

The film, with a budget of $225 million, has some very good production values, but the story has a few holes and tries really hard to make call backs to Spider-Man 2 (2004), especially when it comes to the relationship between MJ and Peter. There is a moment which tries to duplicate the most sensuous moment between Toby Maguire and Kristen Dunst from that film, but doesn’t quite make it.

Bruce Banner / Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) gets included in the scientific discussion, but the happy medium Banner and The Hulk seemed to have reached in Avengers: Endgame (2019) has somehow been lost in the intervening years and he has to use an inhibitor to keep the Hulk in check. Ruffalo is good, but he’s usually good and this seems like something he could do in his sleep by now.

Peter also doesn’t seem to have any means of earning a living, though he manages to have an apartment and some very expensive equipment. At least in the first Spider-Man trilogy, he was a photographer. Last time I looked, New York was an expensive place to live and while not having a job worked when he was living with his now deceased Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) while going to high school, you’d think he’d have to do something to bring in a little money.

Still, the film has emotion, which nearly brought me to tears near the end of the film, as Peter makes amends with Frank and tries to reconnect with his forgotten friends.

While the hype has been that this is the best Spider-Man film, I won’t go quite that far. It is definitely the best of the Holland years, but I would still rank it somewhere behind Spider-Man 2. Unlike this film, which I would say has a mushy sort of ending, Spider-Man 2 had an energy to it that even extended into the songs in the credits. You were revved up for the somewhat disappointing Spider-Man 3, but you were charged at the end of the film. Here, not so much. Having heart isn’t the same thing.