If I told you that Spider-Man: Brand New Day was the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind of Spider-Man movies, that would set expectations far too high. Still, Brand New Day does nicely build on the final moments of Spider-Man: No Way Home, in which Peter Parker (Tom Holland) chose to wipe himself from the memories of friend Ned (Jacob Batalon) and paramour MJ (Zendaya), rather than put them at risk of being targeted by his enemies. For Peter and MJ in particular, this opens up Eternal questions of identity, allegiance, independence, and betrayal, all nicely played by the two actors. If the first three Holland films were high-school movies, Brand New Day jumps past the college years and explores the anxieties of your 20s, including changing relationships and uncertain futures. Four films in, after all, this Spider-Man had to grow up (thematically echoed in a subplot involving changes to Peter’s arachnid DNA). The problem is, his movie keeps growing. We also get a fair amount of Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), which brings us back into MCU “punchplosion” territory. More deadening is the MCU film debut of the gun-crazy antihero Punisher (John Bernthal), a character I have less and less patience for with every wannabe who slaps a white skull decal on his car (inevitably right next to a Blue Lives Matter flag). More elegantly handled is Spidey’s showdown with the red-robed ninjas of The Hand, a balletic cage match in a fenced atrium that reminds us director Destin Daniel Cretton also helmed one of the superior MCU entries, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. If Shang-Chi, like the refreshingly tingly Spider-Man: Homecoming, had the luxury of a tight, focused narrative, Brand New Day continues to balloon, using its final third to open yet one more branch in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We’re multiple multiverses in and this thing continues to metastasize.
(7/30/2026)
