Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026)
SHOULD I SEE IT?
YES
Tom Holland delivers his best Spider-Man performance to date.
Director Destin Daniel Cretton opts to ground the film in a more dramatic, emotional manner, which brings a humanity to the superhero, science-fiction storytelling.
Technically impressive - the visual effects, action sequences, and sound design ricochet all around you.
NO
The screenplay struggles to cohesively blend its action sequences with dramatic moments, leaving a film that can feel a bit too long, scattered, and out of balance.
There is humor at times, but the more light and airy feeling with the previous Holland-led Spider-Man films is largely missing here.
There are MCU fans who do not want to consider the isolation and loneliness of their superhero favorites and simply want more action and adventure. If that’s you, you might be a bit disappointed.
OUR REVIEW
For Peter Parker, a/k/a Spider-Man, the view from the summit has never been a lonelier one. A spell orchestrated by Doctor Strange at the end of 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home has led to his being forgotten among his closest friends and family. His best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon) and girlfriend MJ (Zendaya) have gone on to graduate from MIT and are still the best of friends, while Peter is an anonymous crime-fighting superhero saving New York City, in a partnership of sorts with the NYPD.
Superhero movies depicting superheroes as distant, depressed, and isolated are certainly not new. But they are new for Spider-Man, or at least in Tom Holland’s portrayal. Slipping into the spider-suit for a sixth time in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Holland understands both the immature and mature battling inside his character. He wants to be a legendary crime-fighter, making his city safer, but he still wants friends and relationships. Yet, as we return to Peter Parker after five years away, he has accepted his fate and resigned himself to forever living his life as “Spider-Man.”
The actor, much more confident and assured here than in his recent appearance in The Odyssey, conveys that struggle meaningfully, as anything he gets close to gets taken away. As such, he lives a life eating pizza and surveilling his city, while doomscrolling on social media. In that way, he’s like a lot of us I suppose. Director Destin Daniel Cretton does a nice job of presenting Peter Parker as a guy stuck and wondering his purpose.
As Cretton tries to illuminate a tortured mind, the film which surrounds our web-slinging superhero proves to be visually stunning. Key action scenes were shot for IMAX and, if you are not sensitive to possible vertigo, some moments make you feel like you are hurtling yourself over the edge of a building or flying through the air with Parker himself. The melodrama may not win some people over, but there are a great many action sequences and visual effect shots in the film that will absolutely impress most viewers.
The melodramatic moments, outside of Parker trying to re-establish relationships with his best friends, center on the introduction of an entity that uses mind control to move from one person to the next - essentially finding host after host to complete whatever it needs done. The Department of Damage Control (DODC) also makes an appearance, led by agency director Bill Metzger (Tramell Tillman). He seeks Spider-Man’s help in finding an individual who broke through DODC security. Interestingly, when Spider-Man crosses paths with the entity, attempts to infiltrate his mind fail, causing Parker to wonder why he appears to be the only individual immune to its efforts.
Unlike Holland’s previous Spider-Man films, Brand New Day largely stands alone, with only limited references to The Avengers. We do see Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), approached by Peter when his arachnid tendencies mutate, hoping to gain the scientist’s insight on how he was able to control his “Hulk”-like persona.
Florence Pugh pops in for a couple of comedic scenes, reprising her role as the new Black Widow. Unlike previous films, Parker is not trying to win favor with his superhero brethren. He does however find himself unwittingly partnered with the sarcastic, bull-headed Frank Castle, a/k/a The Punisher (Jon Bernthal), who arrives in this film after Bernthal previously played the character in a 2026 special on Disney+.
In addition to Bernthal’s arrival, Sadie Sink makes a strong first impression in her Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) debut, while Naomi Watts’ voice cameo as Peter’s A.I. assistant is pretty fun.
Though moments of humor exist, this is a more serious, mature Spider-Man movie, offering plenty of angsty emotion, ennui, and malaise. A significant new character (no spoilers) tied to the DODC storyline emerges, generating audible excitement among my colleagues. Though there may be fewer action sequences than audiences are anticipating, the ones that Cretton’s team delivers are quite fantastic. Plus, the film looks terrific with the robust sound design and score from Michael Giacchino ricocheting all around you.
Cretton’s efforts to humanize and ground Peter Parker can occasionally result in the film feeling anchored down, especially when we want it to take flight and deliver more of what works best. The director has started to find his way in the Marvel world with 2021’s underrated Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and the Emmy-nominated series “Wonder Man.” A skilled storyteller, this effort is a bit too long, suffering from a screenplay by Craig McKenna and Erik Sommer that feels scattered, repetitive, and a little out of sync at times.
McKenna and Sommer have written each Holland-led film thus far, making the film’s occasional missteps slightly surprising. Stripping away the boyish enthusiasm and winning smile from Parker is inevitable, but Cretton struggles to find proper balance between action and emotion. And for those who have appreciated the recent Spider-Man films’ ability to generate moments of comedy and lightheartedness as a buffer between the action and on display, there’s less of that than ever before.
But it remains hard to not come away impressed with what Holland has created now, with a decade of portraying Peter Parker. We have witnessed a wide-eyed boy become a hardened, world-weary man. We have watched him mature from having boundless youthful enthusiasm to being forced to understand loss and the realities of life. Parker now understands that the faith and trust you put into the world may not always be reciprocated. Holland allows us to see those lessons more clearly than we can on larger-than-life characters like, say, an Iron Man or Captain America.
Brand New Day reminds us why Holland has made Peter Parker relatable; a character who worries, questions himself, and keeps getting back up. The view from the summit may be lonely, but Peter Parker’s humanity remains one of the MCU’s greatest strengths.
CAST & CREW
Starring: Tom Holland. Zendaya, Sadie Sink, Jon Bernthal, Jacob Batalon, Tramell Tillman, Florence Pugh, Mark Ruffalo, Liza Colón-Zayas, Michael Mando, Eman Esfandi, Marisa Tomei, Marvin Jones III, Olivia Booth-Ford, Shannon Young Cho, Billy Clements
Director: Destin Daniel Cretton
Written by: Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers
Based on the Marvel comic book series “Spider-Man” by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko
Release Date: July 31, 2026
Columbia Pictures | Sony Pictures Releasing