Spider-Man: Brand New Day

★★★☆

Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026)

Runtime: 145 minutes

MPAA: Rated PG-13 for sequences of action/violence and some language.

What if everyone forgot who you are?

Picking up from where Spider-Man: No Way Home left, Destin Daniel Cretton's Spider-Man: Brand New Day finds Peter Parker (Tom Holland) living from the consequences of Far From Home and its immediate predecessor, where a chain of events ripple through what he has to deal with and accept. The revelation of his identity by Mysterio caused mass speculation, and a botched (and arguably contrived setup) spell by Dr. Strange caused things to turn chaotic, eventually forcing Peter to make Strange cast a spell that erased him from everyone's memories.

He visits a coffee shop, where MJ (Zendaya) doesn't recognise him. As the years pass by, he lives alone and anonymously protects New York City as the friendly neighbourhood Spiderman, all while constantly watching Ned Leeds' (Jacob Batalon) livestream as he and MJ go through university life in MIT. Simultaneously, a greater threat awaits in the form of mind control, possessing targets and jumping from one person to another to get to the Department of Damage Control in order to retrieve information about something named V-Max. Parker, who's working with the department, questions the director Bill Metzger (Tramell Tillman) about it, but he claims to have no knowledge of it.

I'm not even done here. As with the case in most films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), there are multiple subplots and side characters, including Frank/The Punisher (Jon Bernthal), whose ideologies frequently clash with Parker's despite them having the same intentions, Yelena (Florence Pugh in a strong and unintentionally funny Russian accent) who digs up information, and an interaction with Dr. Bruce Banner/The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), whom Parker approaches as he's recently been experiencing genetic evolution, giving rise to several undesirable traits that he wants to inhibit.

Brand New Day indeed juggles many themes and people, but the emotional core is the most important element of the film and it lands, thanks to Holland's performance and more focused writing in this aspect. Ned's friendship and MJ were integral pillars of Parker's life, and he's been in suffering from the intense loneliness since. He can only watch them from a distance and reminisce on the memories and connections he once had, as they move on with their lives. A scene where Parker enters Ned's housewarming party and sees MJ with a new partner is telling, so is a later scene where the current version of her doesn't reciprocate his romantic feelings towards her. It's potentially a weakness when the film leans too hard on the broader franchise to do the heavy lifting, but the relationships established earlier on add an aching layer of resonance as we can only look back at what's changed and how time has passed.

Sadie Sink plays a pivotal role, in which the narrative takes a predictable but sharp turn that flips the perception of good and evil in the picture. She challenges Parker's fractured identity and who he thinks he really is, a thematic thread that's somewhat sidelined as it takes increasingly more detours, before finally resolving it in shared grief over losing someone they loved. Like Parker, both understand what it feels like to be special, yet manipulated by people in power, with few or none to sit beside them and ask about the human in them. Whereas No Way Home leaned more into fan-service, Brand New Day is more grounded and less burdened by multiverses and villains that drive the film forward.

For the action, one would be surprised to find out that Brand New Day is remarkably more measured in the deployment of these scenes than expected. While it's a little frustrating that the side characters essentially get abandoned after fights, it's as reliably agile and cleverly shot as Spidey himself, with clear geography and meaningful tension that ramps up the excitement. In some way, it's not important who or what Spiderman fights, but finding an emotional center that matters in this ever-changing world.

If there's a noticeable flaw, it would be that its thematic aspirations can result in its reach exceeding its grasp. The chaotic midsection expands to government trust, moral framing and exploitation, something it touches then skims over. There's also a feeling that things are intentionally left unresolved, setting up more of what's to come. But then that's offset by the eagerness to find out how the stories of Parker and his allies will move forward from now on, centering on what we all relate to, in plain terms: life.