Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026) Review
THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
I think it goes without saying that Spider-Man will be Marvel’s crown jewel of beloved heroes because everytime he’s onscreen, we’re not truly disappointed. 10 years and counting since Tom Holland gave his iteration in the MCU and not once does he feel like a misfire. That opinion remains as is in his return for Brand New Day.
PLOT
The 2026 film takes place over four years after the events of No Way Home. Peter Parker has been on his own without the same resources as before due to requesting Doctor Strange to cast a spell where everyone forgets who he is to save the multiverse from collapsing. This would include not reconnecting with best friend Ned Leeds and girlfriend Michelle Jones Watson for their protection. While he still visits the grave of his late aunt May, he still fights crime as Spider-Man and has earned the trust of detective Jean DeWolff. After preventing vigilante Frank Castle/The Punisher from crashing a tank into a Department of Damage Control prison, he notices that someone is using telepathy to possess people one by one and in this case does so to break out ongoing rival Mac Gargan/Scorpion. Peter gets intel from Yelena Belova/Black Widow, leader of the New Avengers, who shares that multiple DODC facilities have been targeted by someone searching for ‘V Max’. He then goes to the department’s Director, Bill Metzger, who not only now has ninjas of ancient organization, ‘The Hand’, hired for security, he denies any knowledge of V Max. When he finds out Ned & MJ have moved into an apartment in Queens after graduating MIT, he visits their house party without telling them who he was to them. He does express being impressed of Ned having a ‘Spidey Tracker’ app meant to monitor his sightings, which he made just to meet him and thank him for saving his life so many times. However, Parker would be heartbroken to see MJ with a new boyfriend. The next day, he’d find himself with his senses heightening and legit web fluid coming out of his wrists like his Peter 2 variant that blocks where he’ll use his web shooters. When he confronts Scorpion who was possessed by the same telepath, he loses control of his enhanced abilities and inadvertently injures another officer, resulting in DeWolff to tell him to lay low until he can figure out his dilemma before he repeats such a mistake. So he reaches out to Bruce Banner on how to make an inhibitor that’ll help him suppress what he thinks are the bad aspects of his powers, much like how he suppresses the Hulk. As he tries to test his own inhibitor, he encounters the telepath from civilian to civilian and while he deduces the possession only has a 33 foot radius, the same person has already figured out his identity by breaking into his apartment and finding the personal letter he wrote for MJ, which in turn has her discover his identity. He does rush to protect the woman he loves and almost assumes she remembers him as they share a kiss, but it’s only the telepath possessing her too in the form of a taunt. He saves her from falling and once she’s free from possession, he’s able to get visual ID, spotting the telepath to be driven away. As he is able to take her to Frank’s hideout, he confirms the telepath’s identity to be Jean Elaine Grey. Once he completes his inhibitor and a universal one to defeat Jean, thanks to Frank having enough supplies and MJ helps him make them, he tracks Grey to be at the Manhattan HQ for DODC. Without Scorpion, she instead controls Banner in his Smart Hulk persona now that she destroyed his inhibitor. Frank tries to assist Spider-Man in stopping Jean, but she uses him to get to Metzger who she believes knows what V Max is. Although Bruce would be free of her control, he’d lose control all over again and have his first savage hulk out since facing Thanos. Spider-Man would do his best in defending himself with a confiscated Shocker glove, but Hulk eventually stops himself after Peter reveals his identity. Regretting that he hurt someone, he lets go and falls into the rubble. When turning back to Banner, he gets institutionalized as a result of all the damage he caused. Spider-Man still gets the jump on Jean by putting the universal inhibitor on Jean, giving Metzger a chance to tranquilize her. Before she goes unconscious, she says a name, ‘Sara’. When the web crawler asks Metzger if he’s familiar of the name, he claims it’s an old colleague of his and that Jean must’ve known that name from possessing him. When returning to Frank’s hideout, MJ has found Peter’s letter and confronts him of being so secretive. He does admit he was keeping his distance for so long just to protect her after losing his aunt and that he still loves her. However, MJ admits the spell did work since because she doesn’t remember him, she doesn’t love him back. When he takes her home, he does get to bond with Ned while still in disguise. During this bonding moment, MJ does share she doesn’t remember anything when Jean possessed her, which makes Peter quickly deduce Metzger lied to her of Sara. He contacts Yelena again asking any DODC intel on Sara and she confirms she was Jean’s older sister who was taken from her by said government for experimentations. Realizing Metzger is doing the same on Jean, Spider-Man rushes to the Roosevelt Island facility where he said he’d take her. When strapped down, she realizes V Max was the weathered label of air vent in the cell, the last thing Sara saw as she died communicating with her. As this angers her deeply, she summons a psionic field far past the 33ft radius that it freezes everyone within except Peter. When he reaches Roosevelt Island, he removes his inhibitor to defeat the Hand controlled by her. When he gets to her, he’s able to stop her from killing Metzger by letting him into his mind. She sees a memory of May that helps her understand there are consequences to let grief define your actions. Just when both reconcile, Frank shoots at a long distance and Peter takes the bullet for her. In shock, she drops the field and uses her power to breathe for him while he recovers at the hospital Frank takes him to. When he wakes up, Jean has already gone far away from New York and Frank shows remorse for what happened. He returns the favor by keeping his identity secret, wearing his mask while the public doesn’t deduce who he is while leaving. When visiting May’s grave again, he vows to stop doing everything alone compared to how he’s been acting for the past four years since near death. He proves this by skipping a robbery investigation and allow DeWolff to handle that while he recovers. With Jean gone, Metzger disappeared as well and it has led to DODC going under investigation. The film ends with Peter greeting Ned again and reveals himself when doing their secret handshake they used to do before Strange’s spell. The film ends in a post credit scene where they Spidey Tracker detects Spider-Man somewhere off world. THOUGHTS
The expectations were quite high given that Destin Daniel Cretton was gonna take over directing duties from Jon Watts. Knowing how well made Shang Chi and Wonder Man were in two different mediums, a movie and a show, I knew we were in for something special. The moment I saw this opening weekend, it exceeded my expectations big time. This was so great of a movie that I felt like I was in a trance of something so transcendent and not every movie can put me through that. Cretton did his best aiming for practicality and it worked very well for the web swinging and choreographed fight scenes before the VFX dubbing it. Like the opening tank scene and Roosevelt City fight with the Hand were well paced for sure, but I had most chills when we got to see the Incredible Hulk in his savage form again. I haven’t been this terrified of him since he chased Natasha and fought Thor in The Avengers. And the production design for New York feels more stellar than before. That alone is what helps make Brett Pawlak’s cinematography so stunning and Michael Giacchino give another energetic score. The fan service even delivered early into it with the montage of Tombstone, Boomerang, Ramrod & Tarantula (Marvin Jones III, Frederick Meyers, Billy Clements, & Anton Miguel Rodriguez) being the various villains Spider-Man has faced besides Scorpion wearing an impressive comic accurate suit with a missing mask. It was even cool to hear Keith David have a narration of a spider documentary that is used in the first teaser and Naomi Watts playing Peter’s new AI EV is so fitting given that the actress first worked with Holland in 2012’s The Impossible. This movie is its own bar because Cretton gets the message that connection is stronger than survival. The more you push people away for whatever intention, it only makes life harder for you instead of busy because one man army isn’t for everyone. Holland’s iteration of Parker copes with this because he doesn’t want to repeat any more feeling of grief after what he’s already lost. We know starting over would’ve just been harder for him, so keeping the letter while keeping a distance was his reminder in why he was doing it anyway. He even switched apartments to avoid bonding with a neighbor for crying out loud. Doing things on his own has helped him defeat many villains overtime, but it’s not something done overtime and he has to rebuild trusting new and old acquaintances. Jean DeWolff first appeared in Marvel Team Up No. 48 where she sparked an alliance with Spider-Man & Iron Man to defeat another villain called the Wraith. This makes her appearance here very fluent as Liza Colón-Zayas is able to bring the right amount of maternal support he misses from his aunt. Since she too is a mother, it makes sense for her to pass that on to a hero that cares so much. Considering this movie takes place during the 14 month gap before the epilogue of Thunderbolts*, it makes sense he would also interact with Yelena at some point. Florence Pugh was another bright spot going on because while blunt with how she has to balance every problem based on longevity and compare them to potatoes, she still has enough pragmatism to pass. I mean that’s quite obvious when you feel her empathy the moment she finds out of Sara because she knows what it’s like to lose a sister. In turn, Jon Bernthal returning as The Punisher was genius not off of past chemistry he’s built with Holland thanks to Pilgrimage and The Odyssey, but the fact he’s the kind of character that makes Parker appreciate what he still has. Having seen the previous shows he’s appeared in, I got pissed when Pete tried dismissing MJ by saying he’s like Frank when that is nowhere near true. Peter chose to wipe out her and Ned’s memories for the greater good while Frank had no control over the loss of his wife and two kids. And because of that, I know he’s not lying when he said he wouldn’t hide if he got to see them again. Having said that, the latter still gets to learn that his way doesn’t have to be the only way. He was valid to shoot Jean because he couldn’t tolerate her getting in his head, but not anticipating Peter taking the bullet for her proves he needs to think things through more. He won’t admit Spider-Man saved his life back in Staten Island because that’s how tough he chooses to be, but he is undoubtedly returning the favor when saving him. When he was recovering and saw him unmasked, I’m sure he saw his son in him. And yes, I was stunned to see a recreation of the Civil War frame of Frank rushing him to the hospital. Now I did think it was funny for Frank to be visibly afraid of the Hulk when facing him up close, but that gets topped of him still grunting in the hospital while everyone outside thinks he’s Spider-Man. At the same time, I had my first emotional smile when Peter bonds with a kid fan pretending to shoot a web. It’s a great moment that says heroes are there when you’re not looking hard enough. Now since it’ll take a millennium for another Hulk movie, it’s always a pleasure to see Mark Ruffalo as my favorite green character. Seeing him wear the inhibitor again after Thaddeus Ross’ hulk out in Brave New World, it would make sense he’s doing it to not let anyone worry about him and that’s proven valid when Jean take advantage of him before Frank. Like past heroes, he gives Peter the right advice to know the roots you want to balance. That is what helps him beat the Hand at Roosevelt City in epic fashion. Looking back at their fight, it does look complicated for Hulk to stop when he hardly remembered Spider-Man. In my opinion, I believe sharing a battlefield against Thanos and being at Tony Stark’s funeral is enough for him to stop the madness he was responsible for. It becomes a bigger shame for him to be institutionalized for something he wasn’t at fault this time but by the time we see him in Doomsday, that’s only the beginning of new problems. With such respected protagonists Peter surrounds himself with, it makes sense they inspire him how he chooses to slowly reunite with who he missed. Zendaya brought the most maturity as MJ because her observance is still intact and is all about moving forward rather than look back. She is in the right to not immediately go back to Peter because there’s no point to be with someone she doesn’t remember yet. It did hurt to hear her said she doesn’t love Peter, but it’s better than being let on. I think she is starting to remember now after Jean’s psionic field otherwise she wouldn’t still have the Dahlia necklace and go to the same rooftop they used to go to during No Way Home. Jacob Batalon is still a delight as Ned because hes not exactly obsessive, but is full of gratitude with the life he has thanks to Spider-Man and just wants to give thanks. When it came to that handshake, I am in the ballpark where the muscle memory is a factor to remembering and he said Peter’s name because he had to remember how MJ said it first by accident. Peter may have not gotten the girl back, but at least he got his best friend back and that’s enough for him at this point. Ironically, he would’ve not gotten to be this path had he not encountered an unlikely threat. I give a lot of praise towards the marketing for not straight up revealing who was the central opponent for Spider-Man until it was released because it’s better when you don’t know everything. I was impressed seeing Michael Mando return as the heavy hitter Scorpion is known to be, but he was obviously not a strategist. Ironically, an epic theory comes to fruition with Sadie Sink being revealed to play the MCU’s official Jean Grey, the first official X-Men character after Namor confirmed he’s this continuity’s first mutant in Wakanda Forever. What some fans would forget, it is that Sara does exist in the comics but without powers. Her sharing the same telepathy does develop their stronger they had before separation. From a single flashback of her played by Olivia Booth Ford, that is enough to understand why Jean would become all the more aggressive in her quest for vengeance. It doesn’t validate everything what she does, but it explains where she’s coming from. Had she not met Spider-Man, someone who knows what loss is better than anyone else, she would’ve not been able to let go of that hate, hence saving him after he saved her first. The second she saw May in his memories, she realized she was overdoing it and it was sweet to see Marisa Tomei again. When we see Jean again, she’s got a long way to go to redeem herself. Because Bill Metzger first appeared in X-Men: Children of the Atom No. 1 as an anti mutant militia leader, the true enemy was hiding in our very eyes and Tramell Tillman fooled us all as manipulative as possible. With him fleeing, there is no doubt he’ll be an ongoing problem for the X-Men and overall mutant community should we see him again in the 2028 X-Men reboot or after. With all that being said, it’s quite the given that everytime we see Spider-Man, it is an emotional journey and after this one being no exception, Doomsday & Secret Wars will sure raise the stakes significantly. This movie works so much in everything it has going for, but there’s so much in between that doesn’t make sense on a rewatch. Like I want to continue being happy of the Netflix shows being canon, but who is running the Hand now after their five leaders were killed in The Defenders and how did Frank not get confronted at the hospital after checking Peter in? Frank is still a wanted vigilante, so it’s quite surprising we don’t see anyone call the cops while Peter is taken care of. None of this makes more sense compared to how we never saw him collect his family photos before burning his house down during his original debut in Daredevil. That too surprised me more than him reaching to the hospital in time. And you know what, he and Peter shouldn’t be under the impression that they don’t back up resources, as in Frank having another gun on him while Peter has enough webs to get through the day during the tank chase. Moving on, Jean shouldn’t even be giving a grin if she’s not supposed to be the villain. The same can be said with nearly having an officer fall to his death before Peter saves him and causes another trash man to be struck by a car. And why does Jean go out of her way to control a janitor to run the tank when she could’ve just relied on a professional that actually knew how? She’d likely get better results if so. She is smart trying to get to MJ just to get to Peter, but if she knows she’s only got a 33ft radius in how far she control anyone for that matter, she should’ve not picked someone taking a helicopter. And if she didn’t want to reveal herself to him at all, she could’ve worn a mask too because a hoodie clearly isn’t enough. She also could’ve jumped from person to person employees of DODC to eventually Bill rather than Bruce to narrow down V Max even if it would be a dead end. It even feels like her luckiest guess that through Hulk she deduced what Peter’s chip was. And you know what? Yelena could’ve told Peter on the phone that a local threat like Jean is more his problem than the global stuff she now deals with as an avenger. Weapons programs and launch codes definitely aren’t small potatoes the more you think about it. Especially when the hulk got involved, she should’ve been concerned when Peter reaches out to her again. And just because she thinks her problems are bigger than Peter’s doesn’t mean he couldn’t try to have the new avengers instead of Frank watch MJ until he found Jean. I like Frank, but he’s really not the last resort of help. Hell, no one notices Peter fall five stories into the alley after being caught in his own web fluid. If they can acknowledge a dr strange portal in the middle of a park, you can see that shit too. I don’t even get why can’t the web shooters be planted in another aspect of his arm to use the same time as organic webs since the former is still independent. Also, I don’t see the point of Peter using Ned’s name as an alias to Bruce. He doesn’t remember him, so it’s not that much of a risk of him to share his actual name. It’s even on Peter to fall for Jean’s trap. If she’s looking at the camera before entering the DODC building, then she is clearly baiting you. Next thing, I don’t even get why EV didn’t sense Hulk was there in the building if she can detect villains like Scorpion. I can think it’s a whole other miracle MJ remembers seeing Peter get coffee only once but of all the mistakes Bill makes, it’s telling Peter the truth of where Jean will be held. Lastly, what the fuck kind of job does Peter have to afford his apartment and all his equipment? We don’t see J Jonah Jameson this time so if he’s doing freelance photography elsewhere that’s not Daily Bugle or doing part time work at Delmar’s, we need a big clarification here man because he’s volunteering with DeWolff. Other than that, this is still a really good time of a film. In conclusion, Spider-Man: Brand New Day is a sensational superhero movie that gets it right in being an ecstatic and emotional joyride, earning its billion dollar success at the box office. If you’re still onboard with the MCU at this point, see this now.
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