Spider-Man: Brand New Day

A Solid Spidey Entry, Buried Under Continuity

Superhero fatigue is all but confirmed at this point. Supergirl (2026) flopped, Wonder Man (2026) barely registered in TV viewership, and both Thunderbolts* (2025) and Captain America: Brave New World (2025) severely underperformed. Audiences now turn out only for stories that genuinely intrigue them, or for specific characters they've already taken a liking to, as they did with Deadpool & Wolverine (2024). That theory, that a shrinking handful of characters still hold sway in this genre, is about to be tested on arguably the most likeable superhero of them all: Spider-Man.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026) is the 38th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the fourth standalone Spider-Man entry in this live-action iteration. After the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) erased Peter Parker (Tom Holland) from the world's memory, our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man now operates in complete anonymity, resisting the temptation to reconnect with his old pal Ned (Jacob Batalon) or his former flame MJ (Zendaya) for their own protection. That hard split between his two identities is put to the test when a mysterious new mind-controlling foe begins terrorizing New York and Peter's powers start evolving in ways that both enhance them and strip him of control.

Thirty-eight films deep, the interwoven continuity that made the MCU feel revolutionary in the 2010s is increasingly difficult to hold together. Anyone who has managed to keep pace with recent Marvel output across both TV and film will start spotting inconsistencies and contradictions in Brand New Day almost immediately. It's an unfair burden every new Marvel film now carries, where the obligation to wink at and set up a dozen other characters and narratives threatens to consume the runtime and leave little room for the story actually being told. Brand New Day, to its credit, manages this better than most.

Cretton finds his own groove and rhythm even inside that crowded narrative. This is no surprise: he also delivered one of the few genuinely satisfying and wholesome post-Endgame Marvel entries with Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021). Here, he grounds his hero by leaning on the Peter-versus-Spider-Man dilemma (admittedly a well-worn theme for this character) to dig into the personal side of things. And the shape of an individual story does emerge from beneath all the nudges and cameos (Hulk! Yelena! Scorpion!): a flawed villain, some genuinely intriguing supporting players who enrich Peter's journey, and, crucially, the warmth this Queens-born hero has always carried, whether in his smallest quips or his most magnanimous sacrifices.

Cretton and screenwriters Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers, who co-wrote the previous Holland Spidey films as well, find real moments to push the character forward while still servicing fans. The film would have been better served by cutting some of those interconnected nods and giving its central story more air; the way it handles the memory wipe is by turns intriguing and extremely convenient. As it stands, the finished film feels slightly overstuffed at nearly two and a half hours.

Holland continues to demonstrate a grasp of and genuine care for this character that have made him the longest-serving Spider-Man cinema has yet produced. He plays Peter as enormously likeable while never hiding his flaws, particularly a self-sabotaging streak and a familiar hero's dilemma. The supporting cast is strong too, especially the players who aren't simply there for a cameo, though they get short shrift overall: only Jon Bernthal's Punisher and Zendaya are given room to show any real depth. The villain suffers from the same problem. I won't name them, since the marketing kept their identity secret, but that secrecy comes at a cost. Because the reveal is held back so long, the motivations and backstory arrive rushed, and the performer never gets enough screen time to sink their teeth in.

Cretton showed a real love for physical, tangible aesthetics in Shang-Chi, though that film still carried the inevitable CGI-heavy feel of any superhero blockbuster. With New York as a backdrop here (ironically, the film was shot almost everywhere but), it's disappointing how often the greenscreen shows and how shoddy some of the CGI looks, leaving several sequences feeling closer to a video game than to live action.

That video-game quality bleeds into the narrative structure too. Brand New Day mirrors the recent PlayStation Spider-Man games in its mission-to-mission rhythm rather than committing to a cleaner, more focused cinematic shape. Yet even hauling all that MCU baggage, which increasingly reads as a liability rather than an asset for these films, Brand New Day still lands as a fun, solid entry in this Spider-Man run. Holland keeps making the case that he's the definitive screen version of the character, and he keeps you rooting for more adventures with your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

7.6/10