We all know that with great power comes great responsibility, but it must also be known that a great Spider-Man movie requires a heartbreakingly sad Peter Parker. I was teary-eyed for nearly the entire two and a half hours of Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026), and it was fantastic.
Spider-Man is a superhero beloved by many, and while I’m a fan of all three Spider-Men (Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and Tom Holland), I think Brand New Day might just be the best Spider-Man movie yet. Maybe that’s nostalgia talking, since I grew up with Holland’s Spider-Man.
I remember being a teenager going to watch Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) and Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), and steadily growing into adulthood for Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021). Now, in my 20s, very close to the age Peter Parker is in Brand New Day, I felt a deep connection with him.
While it is a superhero Marvel movie, Brand New Day feels like a coming of age story. Its emphasis on navigating young adulthood hit really close to home, especially in the way some lessons can only be learned through experience. Brand New Day feels like a gut-punch and a bone-crushing hug rolled into one; I don’t think any superhero except Spider-Man is quite capable of evoking such feelings.
The plot is executed with care, as the events of No Way Home carve out the path for Brand New Day. Peter Parker is utterly alone: Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) is gone, and his wish to erase himself from everyone’s memory has come true. He exists at the edges of his old life, watching who were once his best friend, Ned Leeds (Jacob Batalon), and his girlfriend, MJ (Zendaya), from a distance — holding himself back from the life he used to share with them, because he has to.
Loneliness and isolation are an integral part of the plot, as we witness Peter navigate a fractured sense of identity. After everyone forgets who he is, Peter becomes consumed by the Spider-Man side of himself, dedicating his days and nights to helping New York.
I think Holland has been a consistent and great Spider-Man; he captures the strength and light-heartedness of the character, but Brand New Day is his best performance yet. He truly found his stride with this one.
While Spider-Man’s character deals with loss and longing, he’s still an unmistakably silly character. The heaviness of grief is prevalent throughout the movie, but it’s perfectly balanced with jokes, side-plots, and Spider-Man’s dynamic with Frank Castle/The Punisher (Jon Bernthal).
What’s remarkable about this project is its insistence that things are never just black and white — that villains and heroes can have overlap, and that someone like Frank complicates the very idea of what a “hero” looks like.
And it’s within that complexity that Peter’s defining trait becomes clear: he wants to protect people, no matter how morally grey they may be. Spider-Man highlights that if we don’t save — or take care of — people first, how do we expect them to change for the better? He doesn’t necessarily take revenge on his enemies, instead he tries to help them. That, to me, symbolizes a beacon of hope that makes a hero profoundly super.
Brand New Day feels like it’s captured a deep truth about being in one’s 20s: life can be scary and hard, and we may feel the need to isolate ourselves to cope, but the best thing we can do is reach out — that asking for help isn’t a weakness, but its own kind of strength.
Besides the heartfelt message of the movie, it’s incredibly fun. The shots of Spidey swinging around New York made me feel like I was along for the ride with him which isn’t too surprising since elements of the film were inspired by the video games. The dialogue is serious, but it’s also hilarious, and those needle drops gave me chills — Tame Impala, Bad Bunny, Steve Lacy — what else could we ask for? Brand New Day is an absolute treat.
I think that I, alongside many others, needed this particular movie at this time in our lives. And until the next project featuring Spider-Man arrives, I’ll try my best to be as selfless and brave as him.
