Brand New Day

Vampire Owl: Even Spider-Man needs a brand-new day?

Vampire Bat: Even Superman and Supergirl are new these days.

Vampire Owl: But the actor has not changed to be brand new.

Vampire Bat: Which is why Marvel is still doing better than DC in many aspects.

Vampire Owl: You are missing the earlier Superman and Supergirl.

Vampire Bat: Everyone would miss the earlier Wonder Woman and Batman too.

Vampire Owl: I was a bigger fan of Black Adam.

Vampire Bat: The dark world of DC used to so interesting.

Vampire Owl: Just like we enjoyed the Marvel combination of humour and sentiments.

Vampire Bat: Thunderbolts worked so well with the same.

[Gets a poori masala and three cups of Ooty tea].

What is the movie about? :: A few years have passed after Doctor Strange’s spell erased his memory from the minds of everyone he loved, and Peter Parker (Tom Holland) lives in a small New York City apartment, continuing to be the friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man while cooperating with the police in capturing the criminals. Peter tracks his former lover Michelle Jones-Watson a.k.a. M J (Zendaya) and former best friend Ned Leeds (Jacob Batalon) who have graduated from MIT and moved back to the city. Ned who admires Spider-Man whom he remembers to have saved his life many times even developed a mobile app called “Spidey Tracker” to follow the superhuman sightings, even though he had forgotten the man under the mask completely. As he is disturbed by M J falling in love with someone else and as he keeps pushing his body to the brink of exhaustion with him capturing almost every gangster in the city, Peter finds himself with frequent headaches and discovers that his powers are starting to mutate.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: Peter finds out that his senses heighten to a terrible and agonizing degree rendering it worthless, and organic webbing keeps coming off from his wrists. Things seem to get further out of control as Frank Castle a.k.a. Punisher (Jon Bernthal) almost causes collateral damage while trying to stop a stolen battle tank, and Peter just manages to stop the vehicle, only to find it driven by a person under mind control. He soon finds out that mind control keeps shifting through different people, and the dreaded villain Mac Gargan a.k.a. Scorpion (Michael Mando) is freed from Department of Damage Control (DODC) prison. The person is just not able to enter the mind of Peter and is pushed out and leaves. Peter visits Yelena Belova a.k.a. Black Widow at her bathhouse office hoping to find any leads, and she welcomes him into her pool, but asserts that it is not a job for the Thunderbolts turning into the New Avengers and dealing with big threats of a higher level.

And what more is to happen as the world seems to embrace further twists? :: Yelena further informs Parker that different DODC facilities have been attacked by someone searching for “V-Max” while wondering why he enters the bathhouse pool with her while wearing the mask and warns that he will know his identity anyway from seeing his belly button in the pool. DODC director Bill Metzger (Tramell Tillman) denies any knowledge of “V-Max” and reiterates that only Spider-Man can do something about these attacks and save the world from something big which is to come, as the place holds many secrets and different evil superpowered humans and aliens. Now, not in control of the spider mutation, when the mind-controlling telepath Jean Grey (Sadie Sink) attacks another DODC facility after possessing the Scorpion, Peter loses control of his new stronger spider abilities and brutally beats Gargan, even injuring a police officer in the process, and retreats to his apartment in remorse. He seeks answers to his mutation and ways to control it, and seeks help from Bruce Banner a.k.a. Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), but with his secret identity revealed through connected minds, time keeps running out for him.

The defence of Spider-Man: Brand New Day :: The movie has Peter Parker out of that overhyped Stark-world and multiverse crossovers which has the focus on some real grief, isolation and real friendly neighbourhood level heroics and has Tom Holland evolving to come up with a highly vulnerable performance which has us rooting for him more than ever, that too with a heavy emotional attachment. Placing Jon Bernthal as the Punisher here also makes the tale get a level higher, and Mark Ruffalo as Hulk becomes another welcome addition. Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova remains too good even when she appears less, and she brings the much-needed humour to the film. The idea of organic evolution powers by mutation has its own charm here, and the feelings of loneliness and abiding sadness keep running through the movie along with regret which also stays at the core. This might be one of those movies in which we feel the most for the characters, as it remains quite a sad world with less hope for redemption, unlike the usual superhero world in which there is so much relief in the end.

Positives and negatives :: Unlike the earlier Spider-Man movies, this one is rooted in human emotions, making this one level up as the movie of the Spidey. This might be the first time when the audience would be really feeling for the main characters, especially those played by Tom Holland and Zendaya, both of them having their best superhero movie till date. Still, it is Sadie Sink as Jean Grey who steals the show, and we now have the best X-Men telepath depiction of all-time as she turns this one to someone special and more human even with grand powers. Yet, we feel that there is no true antagonist in here, and that missing can be felt between the emotions running strong. The lack of addition of romance would make one wonder, but that is rather a welcome change as Spider-Man needed to move on to evolve and become something more than that silly teenager who was often irritating in the earlier stages. The battles might not feel that big on screen compared to the usual Marvel stuff, but works very well considering the situation.

How it finishes :: Spider-Man: Brand New Day has risen the level of the tales of man-spider, reaching on par on sentiments with The Amazing Spider-Man series of movies, which had the best emotional connect among the different versions. The grand multiverse cameos now make way for simple emotions, feeding on loneliness and regret, as the true weight of loss, guilt and perseverance is reflected on the main character. With characters who live outside his movies all around him, Spider-Man is at his best when he has the least to rely on, and characters like Jean Grey, The Punisher, Black Widow and The Incredible Hulk looking for their own movies will also agree. The satisfying return to form for Spidey with heart and soul at the right place has interested right from the beginning, and whenever the big action refuses to come, it shows the richness in emotions and a perfect journey of the soul. In the end, one can say that this version has found its into our homes, and home is indeed where the heart is, and Spidey would not have to say that there is no way home ever again.

Release date: 31 July 2026
Running time: 145 minutes
Directed by: Destin Daniel Cretton
Starring: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Sadie Sink, Jacob Batalon, Jon Bernthal, Tramell Tillman, Michael Mando, Mark Ruffalo