With Sony Pictures & Marvel’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Tom Holland enters elite company—joining only Christopher Reeve and Chris Hemsworth as the third actor to headline four solo superhero films as the titular character. Go ahead. Count it. Homecoming, Far From Home, No Way Home and Brand New Day. 

But while Hemsworth’s Thor seemed to have lost steam in Thor: Love and Thunder, Holland appears to have caught second wind with Brand New Day as Peter Parker swings his way through the crowded streets of New York, more confident and self-assured than ever. Picking up almost directly from where No Way Home left-off, Brand New Day encapsulates all the teachings, wisdom and crime-fighting skills Peter acquired so far as Spider-Man. As oft-mentioned in the promos leading up to the movie’s release, spiders have three life cycles with each being represented in the first three movies. Brand New Day is the immediate result – us witnessing a fully grown, full-fledged Spider-Man.

Oh, The Tangled Webs We Weave…

Without spoiling anything, the movie explored the fallout and ramifications from Dr Strange’s memory-wiping spell which deemed Peter Parker a nobody in the eyes of even his closest friends. It also expands, overlaps and carries on storylines laid out by other MCU TV shows and films, most notably The Punisher, 2025’s Thunderbolts and anything related to The Department of Damage Control which appeared in countless MCU storylines.

While Sadie Sink’s character in this movie has been the film’s largest open secret for the longest time, a surprise cameo appearance of an established MCU character (no, we aren’t talking about The Hulk) was definitely refreshing. Albeit brief, it effectively serves as a linkage between MCU’s street-level, “small fry” crime busters with the “bigger fries” dealing with armageddon-level threats.

Speaking of street-level, if the inclusion of Frank Castle/The Punisher in this movie is Marvel’s move to make him likeable to the casual MCU follower – it’s working. It won’t be long before people start asking for a proper standalone The Punisher movie starring John Bernthal. Or at least more cameo appearances in other MCU projects.

Like cobwebs linking branches on a tree together, the film acts as a crossroad for many New York-based heroes. How it serves as the jumping point to December’s Avengers: Doomsday and other MCU projects (present, to be released and unannounced) remains to be seen. But what is certain is how it solidifies Spider-Man’s position within the MCU. The heart of the franchise in spite of the presence of dimension-bending cosmic entities and literal Gods.

Holland shines as the titular character to easily lay to rest any doubts on who perfectly epitomises Peter Parker on the silver screen. In previous movies, Peter always operated with a solid emotional support around him. Tony Stark, MJ, Ned, Happy Hogan, Aunt May and of course, both Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield as Spider-Men. But in Brand New Day, Holland’s acting chops were pushed to another level, brilliantly portraying a broken man trying to keep things from falling apart; physically and mentally.

It is no secret that parts of the script were reminiscent of the Maguire’s Spider-Man 2 movie, where Peter lost full control of his spider-powers. However, with a modern twist and inclusion of a certain green monster into the mix, Brand New Day explores on the issues related to loneliness and dissociation. Themes of coping with loss and moving on were briefly yet effectively touched on and we cannot help but dole heaps of praise on the on-screen chemistry between Holland, Jacob Batalon and Zendaya.

We cannot talk about an MCU movie without touching on the action scenes and dare we say it? Brand New Day has now overtaken The Amazing Spider-Man movies (the ones with Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker) in terms of Spider-Man’s web-swinging scenes. Spider-Man’s combat moves and usage of his environment were fluid, natural-looking and if you’ve played any of the PlayStation 5 Spider-Man games, you would quickly recall some familiar combo chains.

Brand New Day is exactly what it says on the tin. Spider-Man gets a fresh start after a clusterf*** chain of events, now ready to tackle whatever is laid before him. Of all of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man movies, we can confidently claim that Brand New Day is our new favourite. As for how the film affects the MCU as a whole, we can only speculate, but we have a strong feeling that a certain technology introduced in the movie may be the precursor for something much more sinister down the road.

Casual movie-goers will enjoy it. Spider-Man fans will love it. MCU fans would go crazy for it. In short, amazing like its protagonist.

Final Score: 90/100