Oddly this is the first time I’m reviewing a new Spider-Man movie on the blog. No Way Home came out like a month or two after I started this but I wanted to avoid spoilers. What a young blogger I was… Anyway, let’s get Spider-Manning! It’s a Brand New Day!

Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026) stars Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Sadie Sink, Jon Bernthal, Mark Ruffalo, Michael Mando, Tramell Tillman, Liza Colón-Zayas, Eman Esfandi, and Marvin Jones III. It was directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, and written by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers.

Quick Plot Rundown –
SPIDER-MAN SAD! SAD AND ALONE! NO FRIENDS! NO AUNT! HE SPIDER-MAN ALL THE TIME NOW! BEEN FOUR YEARS SINCE LAST MOVIE! FRIENDS GO TO BOSTON! FRIENDS BACK FROM BOSTON! STILL NOT REMEMBER HIM! SPIDER-MAN FIGHT VILLAIN WHO BODY JUMP! IT CREEPY! WHO IT BE? I KNOW! I WATCH MOVIE! ALSO PUNISHER AND HULK HERE! IN MOVIE!

John’s Movie Experience –
So I live in Washington DC now, as you may know, I think I wrote about it in a previous blog post. And the main movie theater I go to now is the Regal Cinema in Chinatown, (Shoutout to them, it’s a great theater) which is nowhere near where I live or where I work. But I got to the area around 4:40, which plenty of time to park and get to my seat before trailers started at 5:00. But I couldn’t find the usual spot where I park because I was coming from an entirely different direction and I’m still new to the area.
And while I was trying to get there, in rush hour, I accidentally got back on the freeway multiple times and then finally, around 5:12, managed to find one of my spots. But the parking app and kiosk kept telling me I couldn’t park there during rush hour. Which isn’t advertised anywhere by the way. So I had to spend $24 to park in a ramp, and then raced to the theater and got to my seat as the theater’s pre-movie ad for sodas and not being on your phone stopped playing. So the nick of time. I had to pee for the whole movie but I arrived in time.
As a movie, it washed over me in a good way. Good vibes, good happy times. I was in a theater with a bunch of people who love Spider-Man and they were gasping and making knowing noises when plot reveals happened, and someone was really concerned about Spider-Man being okay throughout it all. But it wasn’t all too loud or annoying. I had a good time. And I walked out, after a movie set in a big city where people love Spider-Man and there’s a lot of positivity, into my own big city. I had some nice conversations with some people at the theater about the movie. The weather outside was really nice and someone was playing “Gimme Gimme Gimme” by ABBA on a shop speaker and I just felt very zen. Very nice. This is aside from my thoughts on the movie.

General Non-Spoilery Thoughts –
This is a pretty solid movie. I don’t really know how I feel about it, honestly? My reaction was essentially mixed to positive. I’m like Peter Parker, in a way. I want to be a regular guy who just enjoys movies for what they are and doesn’t have constant nitpicks for no reason. Just like he wants to be a normal guy hanging out with his best friend and girlfriend. But he’s always making his life much harder than he needs to. I do that, but much less dramatically. And just like he has the power of a spider, I have the abilities of a neurotic fanboy. And I’ve been in a mini war with myself about this movie. I really like about 75% of this movie, and there’s about 25% of it I don’t like or even understand, and I can’t separate that from the parts I enjoyed.
There’s some really good stuff in this. And there’s some baffling stuff also. Like the villain decision, which I’ll get to in spoilers. That’s the bit I hate, or at least am baffled by. I can understand the critiques of this movie. I even agree with most of them. It’s a very interesting one to take in. Because I think, except for a few crucial elements, the stuff in this that works and is interesting was already done in other Spider-Man movies, and sometimes in better ways.
It feels like this movie is meant to be a lot like Spider-Man 2, but it lacks some pretty crucial world-building elements that leaves this movie feeling a bit lost, and also Spider-Man 2 has a pretty undeniable villain performance anchoring the film. This does not. Because the villain is depression! Sort of. Not like in Thunderbolts* though. The issue as well with not having an undeniable villain performance is that this movie can feel kind of lost and meandery without one, and also episodic and uneventful.
Which is a pretty big mistake considering it’s a follow-up to a movie where he met other hims and fought all his villains. Plus we don’t know if Peter has a job. He seemingly doesn’t, which doesn’t make sense, because he has to pay rent somehow to afford the tech he uses. And that’s another thing, there’s some brand deal they made with Samsung so everyone has a brand new crappy Samsung phone. Peter is living in a crappy apartment and he has a post-it on the door asking for rent but he has a weird Samsung smart phone that folds like it’s a flip phone. And Ned has some phone that folds out into a big rectangle like it’s an iPad. These phones look so stupid and they will definitively age this movie for the worse, I guarantee you. Such a bad idea. But generally the good stuff outweighs the bad. Except for the phone thing. That’s the worst part of the movie.
And the good stuff is Tom Holland, Zendaya, and Jacob Batalon just interacting and having great chemistry. Tom and Zendaya obviously, they’re husband and wife now, but the movie also highlights Ned in a big way which I enjoy. And as far as we know, Ned is no longer magic, which is good, because that was lame.
There’s some good action and some good camera work. Destin Daniel Cretton was an excellent choice to direct this and I hope he’s here to stay. They didn’t ruin half of his movie like they did last minute with Shang-Chi, so that’s good. This is, I think, the best Spider-Man costume we’ve gotten onscreen so far, and it should maybe just be the last one. I don’t see how you can improve on it. It’s nice that it’s clearly modeled after the other Peters he met also. I did kind of miss the wacky high school movie vibes of the first two movies and first third of No Way Home. But more on all that later! It’s movie time!

Characters –
Peter Parker AKA Spider-Man – Tom Holland
I feel bad because I feel like I don’t give him credit for being very good at this, but there’s always a part of me when I watch Tom Holland play Spider-Man that thinks “Man, I wish Andrew Garfield were here”. And I did him no favors because I rewatched No Way Home before seeing this and that man fucking steals that entire movie with his charm and his hair, and he makes it look effortless. I want to marry Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker. He is so perfect.
Anyway, Tom Holland is pretty good. I’m kidding, he’s great. What’s interesting though is that he doesn’t have any big scene in this where he breaks down and talks about how sad he is and how he’s screwed up, which I think he does in every other movie. And I think that’s coloring my perception of his performance because it’s mostly just him looking sad and lonely and then looking at Zendaya with the most desperate eyes. Also, I wish I didn’t feel these feelings, but… THE MAN IS TOO SHORT TO PLAY SPIDER-MAN. HE’S EITHER MY HEIGHT OR SLIGHTLY SHORTER AND IT’S WEIRD. GOOGLE SAYS GARFIELD IS ONLY TWO INCHES TALLER BUT IT FEELS LIKE TWO FEET.
But yeah, he’s always good. I just want him to be able to branch out and do other more fun roles. He’s good in The Odyssey. And I think my favorite part of his performance in this is that it seems like Jon Bernthal’s presence made him crank the New York accent up like ten notches. There’s some very “I’m walkin’ here!” line readings. Also, Holland’s just got great chemistry with everyone. Good for him, man.

MJ AKA Michelle Jones – Zendaya
Awesome. Love it. Her best performance yet. Because she’s given some great stuff to work with. Most of which I can’t get into here. Her character in these movies is very interesting, because she’s basically different in each film. The first movie she’s just a funny side character, than she instantly becomes the fixation of Peter’s horny hormonal fixations, and then she’s MJ, she’s the love of his life, even though Peter’s been dating her for like a week maybe. I guess there’s a montage of time passing in No Way Home though. I think this is a really good evolution of her character that takes all of those previous, somewhat different interpretations and also takes into account the passage of time and the fact that she has no real memories of Peter, and she’s been through four years of college. Also, and this isn’t important obviously, is the most attractive she’s been as MJ in this movie. Well, she’s always attractive. I think it’s her best hair, at least. Holland is certainly looking good too.

Ned Leeds – Jacob Batalon
I have one major gripe with Ned’s portrayal in this movie. I’m a big fan of Ned overall, I think he’s a great addition to these movies. He’s great in this, and they emphasize, almost moreso than with MJ, how much not being friends with Ned anymore is hurting Peter. But. At the beginning of the movie we see a montage of Peter watching social media videos from Ned and MJ, documenting their time in college, and Ned slowly becomes a hipster style guy. He briefly has a goatee. He finds his friends like people in college always do. But he’s left his fedora days behind. And that sucks, you know? I love a fedora. Oh, and this is in the trailer, but Ned is obsessed with finding out who Spider-Man is and he’s developed a Spidey tracker app that looks like an old video game. I think that’s cool. He wants to thank Spider-Man for saving his life so many times in high school. There’s also a fun throwaway bit that Ned, assuming Spidey is someone he went to school with, has narrowed his suspects down to Flash Thompson (Tony Revolori) and Mr. Harrington (Martin Starr). The idea of Martin Starr, as that character, being Spider-Man, delights me.

Frank Castle AKA The Punisher – Jon Bernthal
So… Hmm. I’ll get this out of the way. Jon Bernthal is great. No question. There’s a bit where he’s taken over by the “villain” who takes over bodies, and he gives a slightly sassy affectation to his body language. It’s great. I like him in this movie and think he’s doing exactly what the Punisher should do. Until I don’t. And then a decision is made that I do not agree with. It’s not much of a spoiler. I’ll say it here. The movie ends with the Punisher and Spider-Man being all buddy buddy and Frank calls them friends. No. Wrong! Bad. They are not friends. They should not be friends. They will reluctantly work together, but one of them kills and the other has a code that actively upsets the other. So don’t make the Punisher a goofy bestie all of a sudden. Bad idea. I buy an aspect of what they’re going for in that scene. But certainly not that. He talks about how brave Spider-Man is and implies he did the bravest thing he’d ever seen. You fought in Afghanistan and Iraq, Frank. This is the bravest thing you’ve ever seen? He has superpowers. He can do a lot of shit without worrying about death!

Bruce Banner AKA The Hulk – Mark Ruffalo
It’s been a minute since we got real Hulk and not the amalgamation, so that was a fun treat. They even start to show the transformation onscreen, which they haven’t done in a while. His little fight with Spidey which is mostly in the trailers is good. I liked it. I also liked that Bruce Banner is teaching a college class, and there’s a fun detail that his students mostly care about Avengers stories and one guy always shows up with his face painted green and says “Hulk smash”. That’s good stuff. And that a student asks the question many have before, why didn’t Thanos double the resources rather than halve the population, and Bruce clearly has no answer for her. All good stuff.

William Metzger – Tramell Tillman
Hmmm. Most of my issues with this guy will have to wait, but I’ll say again, Tramell Tillman can do no wrong, and I can’t wait for him to win every award and become the greatest actor of all time after his wonderful work on Severance. But. Fuck this character. Bill Metzger was in one six issue X-Men comic twenty years ago, and he’s never showed up again. He’s a very weird character choice. I like Tramell Tillman a whole whole lot. But it does feel like he was told to do Mr. Milchick but with zero intensity and no sauce.

Mac Gargan AKA The Scorpion – Michael Mando
So. He’s barely in this movie. I feel like Michael Mando has been short shifted again. But at least he’s in the costume this time and he is definitively Scorpion. I should watch Better Call Saul.

Detective Jean DeWolff – Liza Colón-Zayas
Incredible. I love her so much. I didn’t realize she was playing Jean DeWolff, so that’s fun. I’m pretty sure she gets killed in the comics though. She was a great choice for this movie because she has the exact energy you want in a movie like this. She’s a police detective who helps Peter but also acts like his mom. So she’s a pretty good replacement for Aunt May.

Score/Soundtrack –
I don’t have all that much to say, the score isn’t super prominent this time because Giacchino has, understandably, made something less bombastic than the last few movies. So I don’t have much to say about that. There’s some good songs in the soundtrack, too, I feel, but the vibe change of the franchise means that this movie doesn’t have the great kinds of fun songs I love that were in the others. I miss The English Beat and The Talking Heads.

Spoiler-Man,

Spoiler-Man,

Does whatever a spoiler can!

Can he spoil from a blog?

No he can’t!

He’s a spoiler!

Look out!

He’s a Spoiler-Man!

Spider-Man: Brand New Day Spoiler Review
Okay. So. Sadie Sink, whose role was kept secret but everyone pretty much knew who she was, is Jean Grey. And in the trailers when everyone’s being taken over, that’s her. But she’s not really the main villain. But she is? At the beginning of the movie a tank is driving through New York City to get to Damage Control headquarters, where they’re about to transfer Scorpion, one of the villains Peter’s put in jail over the last four years. Because all the villains he fights in the trailer, those shots that look like they’re in a montage, they’re a montage. None of them show up again except for Scorpion. Some of them filmed more scenes apparently, but it all got cut.
Anyway, the tank was driven by a random lady who was taken over by Jean, who currently can only body hop, and she can only do so from a distance of 33 feet or something. So she drives the tank into the building, blows shit up, and then takes over the Scorpion and uses him as a minion to bust shit up. She’s trying to find V-Max, which is the only clue she has to the whereabouts of her sister, who was kidnapped by Bill Metzger and Damage Control. They wanted to do experiments on her to use her powers or something. It’s vague. I thought he was supposed to have an anti-Mutant vibe but I don’t think he does?
Jean does do some villainous shit, by the way. She takes over MJ to fuck with Peter and pretends that she’s remembered who Peter is just to tear this guy’s heart up. Because she’s found Peter’s note explaining who he is and what happened. And Peter takes MJ to the Punisher’s weird boathouse lair in the harbor or something, where he leaves his note on the table and MJ reads it while he’s off fighting the Hulk. So she knows who he is and what she means to him. But she doesn’t remember him or love him. Though she invites him up to her and Ned’s apartment and he gets to hang out and build Legos and it’s this super lovely scene where it’s just great chemistry and good dialogue.
And then Peter realizes he’s been lied to by Damage Control because he helped them capture Jean Grey after she set the Hulk on him and took over the Punisher. Oh, and Peter just casually creates a universal inhibitor that turns off powers for any Mutant or hero. That’ll have consequences later down the line for sure. He does it because his powers are in overdrive and he’s becoming more Spider than man, he has organic webbing like Tobey Maguire. It’s funny because this is almost an adaptation of The Other, a comic book they made because Tobey had organic webbing and they wanted that to be the case in the comics also. They undid it eventually, but it’s a very snake eating it’s own tail scenario.
So Peter goes to rescue Jean but she’s learned how powerful she is and freezes half of New York, including Tramell Tillman, who again has nothing interesting to do. She realizes that V-Max, the last message her sister got to her, is just a faded label for the air vent in the Damage Control cell they had her in. And that’s where she died. That’s really good writing, I think, that’s a good subversion. Peter takes off his inhibitor and fights some mind controlled members of the Hand, who’d been working for Damage Control up to this point. He gets to Jean, and uses his memory of Aunt May to tell her things will be okay but she needs people in her life.
But the Punisher was already prepping to end things and shoots Jean from across the city, only Peter steps in and takes the bullet. The Punisher races him to the hospital in critical condition, while Jean keeps him alive by hopping into his body and keeping him breathing for weeks. I’m confused how she did it, if he was already dying I assume her breathing for him wouldn’t work? But I guess he’s stronger so he wasn’t going to die easily.
The movie ends with Peter taking life a little easier. He runs into Ned at a bodega and introduces himself. Earlier in the movie he met him at the house party, and again as Spider-Man, but he says “Hi, my name’s Peter”. And then they do their friend handshake, out of instinct and muscle memory. And Ned says “Peter!” Like he remembers him. Maybe. The last shot is Tom Holland showing relief and pure joy. It’s a wonderful moment. Total catharsis. Maybe my favorite part of the film. Oh and there’s an implication that MJ is starting to remember or that she will. I hope she does.

Best Bits
– I haven’t even mentioned possibly the best part of the whole film for me that may admittedly be reshoots added in late by a studio that’s finally trying to tie things together. Yelena Belova is here, played by the world’s greatest person, Florence Pugh. I love her so much. Basically Peter goes to her to get New Avengers help on his case and she doesn’t really care, it’s too “small potatoes” but she’ll help him with some info. He just has to meet her at her office, which is a Russian bathhouse. And she insists he take off his clothes and get in the water with her. It felt very Moaning Myrtle. He keeps the mask on, as I predicted. She’s also over zoom in another scene and she’s still in the bathhouse. She probably filmed her scenes in a day. Here’s the thing. I don’t care if it exists to connect movies, or if these were reshoots. I love her in this movie. I love her in all her other Marvel movies and show appearances. She may be the best actor currently working for Marvel and I think someone there knows this, which is good. I rewatched Thunderbolts* the other day and she’s so damn good in that movie. I can’t get over how much I love Florence Pugh. I am bummed Kevin Feige just went out and spoiled that she was in it ahead of time.
– In the Punisher/Spider-Man/Hulk fight, the Punisher is so incredibly outclassed but he still keeps yelling and shooting at the Hulk, which obviously is how it should be. There’s one bit where he shoots the Hulk directly in the butt. That’s good stuff.
– There’s a throwaway gag about Ned being addicted to some Five Hour Energy style thing called “rhino juice” or something that sounds completely radioactive. There’s probably a collective minute committed to that bit, and I just appreciated that that made it in to a movie that definitely feels cut down.
– Punisher’s base has lots of unnecessarily intense traps that involve crushing people with massive boat propellors, which is how it should be. And when MJ meets the Punisher she is not phased by his vibe and basically calls him on his bullshit and intimidates him into helping Peter. Also how it should be. Good choice.
– There is a scene where Peter is working on his inhibitor chip to regulate his powers and he’s behind a curtain talking to MJ and they’re settling back into their natural chemistry and it’s just a nice scene and at one point I thought “It’s nice that they’re married now. That’s cool”.
– When Peter is testing out his organic webs and navigating that, he just ends up shooting them out like a firehose he can’t turn off. Another good gag. I’m surprised they didn’t do that before.
– At the end of the movie, all of New York is outside Spider-Man’s hospital room to say how much they love him and Frank says “Don’t worry, your costume’s all torn up but I got a plan” and then he puts Peter’s mask on and stands in the window and waves so Peter can walk through the crowd. I’m conflicted on whether this is too goofy for the Punisher. I can appreciate that they’re kind of putting his appreciation for a “true hero” that he usually has for Captain America onto Spidey. Don’t know if it works though, still. But it’s worth it for a shot of Bernthal in the Spidey mask doing those grunt screams he does as the Punisher all the time.
– In that same scene there’s an equally great moment, that’s simple and obvious but will pretty much work every time. Peter sees a kid in the crowd who’s looking at him and probably knows he’s Spider-Man because kids are smart. They do thwipping hands at each other. And then Peter disappears into the crowd while the camera just stays on this kid looking happy and hopeful and chanting Spider-Man with everyone else. That’s good stuff.
– I think I mentioned the costume. It’s probably the best one. I’ll say it again and again. It’s just really good, and as Tom Holland said, they used the last movie as an excuse to narratively justify stealing the best aspects of Maguire and Garfield’s costumes. I think Garfield’s ASM2 costume is pretty hard to beat but this one is so blue, and I really like this shiny blue.
– I didn’t really talk about Sadie Sink but she’s great. She’s always great and even though I think she’s too obvious a choice for Jean and I’ll have to listen to Stranger Things/X-Men jokes and references and theories for years to come and I already hate it, she’s kind of the only choice that makes sense. Now the rumored casting of Cooper Hoffman as Cyclops? That I’m less on board for. Doesn’t fit, in my mind. Good actor though.
– That handshake just really rules. It’s a wonderful way to end a movie. Never underestimate the power of bros!

Is this the best Spider-Man movie?
No. Not really. My favorite is Far From Home. Favorite live-action. The two Spider-Verse movies are clearly the two best. And like I said, the movie would need a stronger main villain than some vague kidnapping dude and a woman who will be a main protagonist going forward and just wanted to rescue her sister. I do think it has some of the best Spider-Man moments in it, in terms of taking advantage of the status quo they set up in the last movie. And the movie, largely, looks really good. The action isn’t super memorable I think?
But there’s nice touches, like when he fights the Hulk and defeats him by tying half the building to him with his webs. And there’s some fun fighting as one stuff in the fight with the Hand. I’d like to see the next one do more with the interpersonal stuff and spend less time on plot and universe setup. I mean the only thing this really sets up is that Jean Grey exists and Peter Parker has ruined life for all Mutants before they can really get started. But that shouldn’t be the focus. My dream is to see Spidey fight a really bulked up menacing Kraven.
Nobody cares about or remembers there was a Kraven movie. Just do him again. Mr. Negative would be good too. Or a movie where he’s facing all the Marvel gangs, but not just in a throwaway montage. Any actual Spider-Man villains being the focus of the movie, that would be lovely.
Does this set anything up for the future of the MCU?
Mainly Jean Grey. It’s interesting, since we’re about to see the X-Men again, the old ones, that they chose to make a definitive step towards introducing the first MCU X-Man before Doomsday and Secret Wars. I’m a little lukewarm on the idea that she’s a younger Jean Grey just starting out.
I realized towards the end of this film that it’s likely they’re going to do the original lineup. Jean, Cyclops, Beast, Angel and Iceman. And I just don’t know if I can take that. I understand the thinking, because we’ve never gotten that film. But I don’t really want to do it again. The X-Men are most interesting when there’s decades of continuity and hundreds of characters to choose from.
I want Multiple Man, for God’s sake. Oh, and because Jean mind controls the Hulk, she fries his device that allows him to be in control. In this film he clearly says he’s only able to choose to be Bruce or Smart Hulk because of that device. I’m confused what’s going on with all that. I think there’s been some miscommunication and some misunderstanding of how that’s meant to work.
Because originally Smart Hulk wasn’t the result of a device, Banner and Hulk had reached some sort of harmony or understanding. Then he fried his arm and he showed up as Ruffalo with a sling in the credits of Shang-Chi. In She-Hulk he had a device preventing him from transforming into the Hulk until he was able to use his Cousin’s blood or something to balance him out? Because if he transformed something bad would happen?
But in this he’s back to being Banner, and he’s a Professor, and I’m just realizing there’s no reference to his son. So I assume Marvel just wants us to forget Skaar is a thing. But yes, I get the device controls his transformations, but it feels like the presence of the device ignores that he was in control. Because he is Smart Hulk for a bit in this and then he becomes Savage Hulk.
I thought he figured all that out, though! This is the issue with that character in particular reaching the narrative conclusion of his arc. Savage Hulk is way more interesting and fun. But it’s a bummer that the movie ends with Banner’s peace being broken and him being taken to a psychiatric hospital. That’s a funny aside, also. What psychiatric hospital is equipped with the facilities to take care of the Hulk? Maybe it’s Ravencroft. That’s basically Marvel’s Arkham Asylum.

Who was the villain?
I guess it was Jean Grey. She did do villainous things. But it was more about generic scheming from Tramell Tillman, really. It’s interesting, he’s supposed to be an anti-Mutant guy and he was based off a real life white supremacist, according to Joe Casey, who created him. So clearly Marvel just took a random name. Bummer. But in a way, isn’t society the villain for not letting telepaths be telepaths? Sarah Grey was also a telepath, if I didn’t mention. Both telepaths. I do think if Tramell was playing an actual Spider-Man villain like the Jackal, I would enjoy this movie way more. Even if it’s the same performance. I hate that it’s just some guy. Boo.

Closing Thoughts
Marvel Should make more movies about main characters struggling with depression. If you add the best scenes from this and the best scenes from Thunderbolts*, you’ll get a bunch of scenes from two different movies that don’t work together but are still fun and well-written. And some of the best stuff Marvel’s done maybe ever. The handshake really got me.

Overall Rating – 7.8/10 (I said it a few times before. The great stuff is really really good. The less good stuff is either a confusing choice or something missing that should be here. Either way? A pretty solid movie.)
Rudd Rating – .5/10 (Why didn’t Peter take his questions about genetics and mutating cells to former cat burglar Scott Lang instead of renowned scientist Bruce Banner?!)

Spider-Man! I’m glad people like this and it’s making money. Please do more good things and less bad things, movie studio. I’d appreciate it. Since I have to watch these. But in terms of my blog, something is coming soon! I definitely know what!