Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026)
BY MARCEL PETERSEN
August 2, 2026
Marvel Studios and Sony
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been on a down-swing since Avengers: Endgame (2019). Of the 16 post-Endgame movies, only 7 have made over $700 million at the worldwide box office, which include both of the previous Spider-Man movies. Brand New Day was all but destined to be a hit (and may even exceed $2 Billion worldwide)—but with great power comes great responsibility.
In addition to bearing the burden of some financial and critical failings post-Endgame, there’s also the feeling of disconnectedness in a universe that once promised and delivered on that promise of a shared universe. But the previous Tom Holland Spider-Man movies have been critiqued for doing just that, positioning Peter as an “Iron Man Junior,” with both Iron Man as a mentor for Peter and an origin for Peter’s foes (Michael Keaton’s Vulture taking up smuggling and resale of alien tech and wreckage after he’s dismissed once the job is taken over by Damage Control, a government agency for clean-up, storage, and utilization of dangerous and/or alien technology, which was at least initially founded with support from Tony Stark; or Jake Gyllenhaal’s Mysterio, a disgruntled former Stark Industries employee).
Overall, I think the connections to the wider MCU work in the previous Spider-Man movies—but doing so still de-centers Spider-Man, whereas the pre-MCU Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield movies feel purely like Spider-Man movies, in part because they are bound only to Spider-Man rather than dabbling with Iron Man (Homecoming) or Doctor Strange (No Way Home) or the Punisher and the Hulk (Brand New Day).
Marvel Studios and Sony
Brand New Day also had to reckon with the immensely popular Spider-Verse movies, which are not only in contention for the best Spider-Man movies, but also best super-hero movies. It’s clear the audience has really responded to and loves Miles Morales, but also just comic book movies feeling like comic books. We also now have three successful and popular Spider-Man video games from Insomniac Games on the Playstation 4 and 5, which are a fun time, with a full rogues’ gallery of Spider-Man villains and side-quests and B-plots. Brand New Day begins with a montage of Spider-Man fighting crime, featuring quick hits with Scorpion and Tombstone. Throughout the movie, Spider-Man also has a relationship with Detective Jean DeWolff, who plays a role similar to other police characters in the Insomniac games.
The inclusion of another character, played by Sadie Sink (you surely know by now, if you’re reading this, but I’ll leave this spoiler free), didn’t totally work for me, but what better property is there than Spider-Man to back-door pilot something, given the guaranteed financial success? Strategically, I understand why they did this, but it was also the weakest part of this movie. If they instead used one of the many Spider-Man foes, maybe Scorpion or Tombstone, to center the movie around, it may have been more satisfying as a Spider-Man story rather than an MCU story.
Brand New Day’s action is dynamic and engaging: we’ve got slo-mo for spidey-sense, we’ve got Spider-Man swinging through the city, jumping off buildings—it’s great stuff (and see it in 3D if you can!) The successful execution here should be no surprise, given Destin Daniel Cretton’s previous big-screen super-hero endeavor Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021), which may still be the best-choreographed action in the MCU (but Brand New Day is certainly a contender).
The emotional core, often an under-served part of MCU movies, actually mostly works here. While I’m still mixed on how the Aunt May death in No Way Home was handled, we are still left in the wake of that death in this movie, but more successfully and convincingly, we are left in the wake of everyone's memory loss—especially Ned and MJ. Peter has been going it alone since then, without his best friends. Peter’s relationship with Ned and MJ has been the strongest part of these movies, and while the memory of what was might put a damper on the movie tonally, it also makes us care.
Clearly this movie is for the fans of both the MCU iteration of Spider-Man and also fans of the other great Spider-Man media we’ve had, but it’s also part of a continued corporate effort to restore Marvel Studios’ reputation to its pre-Endgame days and back-door pilot a new set of characters. If you’re already poisoned on MCU Spider-Man, this movie will probably not win you over, but it certainly does its best to.
RATING: 3.5 out of 5 stars