SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY (2026) REVIEW

Joshua Lightfoot

8/6/26

145 minutes

‍ We are now at the 4th Spider-man movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Tom Holland returns as the heroic web slinger, ready to tell crime to shut up. I had high expectations going into this latest installment. It’s no secret that Marvel has been in a major slump for some time now. I can’t even remember the last MCU movie I watched that I actually enjoyed. But Spider-man almost always knocks it out of the park on the movie screen, especially when Marc Webb isn’t in the director’s chair. So what did I think? Can Spider-man restore my faith in the MCU?

I must admit, I didn’t do my homework going into Spider-man: Brand New Day, and I could tell this is already a bad sign. If you want to be up to speed with what is exactly going on here, you will need to revisit the previous movie Spider-man: No Way Home. The people most important to Peter Parker have forgotten who he is. This includes his best friend Ned (played by Jacob Batalon) and his girlfriend MJ (played by Zendaya). It all comes after a spell that was put in place by Doctor Strange, I assume to protect them. We are reminded of another recent loss in Parker’s life, that is his Aunt May (played by Marisa Tomei in a few flashback scenes). Parker is trying desperately to overcome these massive losses in his life recently, but depression seems to be getting the better of him.

‍ ‍Depression makes our hero lose control of his powers. A plot point used in Sam Raimi’s Spider-man 2 back in 2004. Filling in these losses temporarily are Bruce Banner aka The Hulk (played by Mark Ruffalo), and Frank Castle aka The Punisher (played by Jon Bernthal). Together they must put a stop to Jean Grey (played by Sadie Sink), who has the power to telepathically jump inside a person’s mind, read their thoughts, and make them do things; usually bad things. Think of it as The Hidden (1987) meets Scanners (1981), minus the exploding heads. Jean uses her abilities to get close to Spider-man and hurt the people he cares about the most. But these shenanigans run much deeper as we learn Jean’s backstory and what is transpiring these events.

Let me talk about the good things first because my overall opinion of Spider-man: Brand New Day is quite mixed. This is a much more grounded superhero movie than what we are used to. The movie works best showing deep emotion and feelings. Overcoming loss, sense of belonging, the need to get back what is lost. It works so well. We feel Peter Parker’s frustrations, and by the end of the movie we feel Jean Gray’s as well. It’s surprisingly heavy and relatable. We want Peter to reconnect with his friends, but we understand that he can’t. We know what he is going through with the loss of his Aunt. There’s something here anyone watching can connect with.

I was also impressed with Jon Bernthal as the MCU’s new Punisher. He looks and fits the role perfectly. It might be a little disappointing seeing his first on screen appearance is a PG-13 rated movie, so much of what he is capable of is dialed back. But not only do I hope we see more of his character in the MCU moving forward, I would definitely pay to see him in his own movie. The MCU could use another R-rated hero alternative to Deadpool. Especially now after the cancellation of Blade. Is Bernthal the best Punisher we have had onscreen? I say yes! However, I have a friend who might make an argument for Dolph Lundgren.

Now for the bad. Actress Florence Pugh returns as Yelena Belova aka Black Widow. An addition that reeks of Producer Kevin Feige throwing his weight around. I’ve failed to mention many more characters in the story and believe me there’s too many. Black Widow is here to tell Spider-man things he could have just figured out for himself, drop a few lame jokes, and attempt to impress us with her shoddy accent. I’m sure Pugh got a good paycheck out of it, but this just creates more obnoxious homework for the audience watching. Nobody is going back and rewatching Black Widow or Thunderbolts, Kevin. Read the room. This is a lousy attempt to keep the recent Marvel characters that nobody cares about still relevant.

‍ The narrative shifts, we focus on Jean Gray, a villain named Scorpion shows up, we have the Punisher, here comes The Hulk, what does the Department of Damage Control want, who is this mystical ninja group known as The Hand? This movie has a serious problem tying its bloated script all together. But I think the thing that disappoints me the most is how little I still care about anything Marvel at this point, even after seeing a new Spider-man movie. It’s been a never-ending parade of mediocre Marvel movies for some time now. I don’t even bother with the TV shows. The “good enough” attitude just isn’t going to cut it. Spider-man: Brand New Day might be better than Fantastic Four, Thunderbolts, The Marvels, Quantumania, and Brave New World but it’s not quite a home run.

‍ ‍OVERALL

‍ Spider-man: Brand New Day might have a lot of heart, but it fails at restoring my faith in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Some of the action scenes are cool, but nothing memorable. There’s too much story, too many characters, not enough surprises. This comes just a few short months before Avengers: Doomsday in December. Spider-man: Brand New Day doesn’t even rank in my top 5 Spider-man movies, and my interest in the next Avengers film has been quite low for some time now. I found this to be just an okay piece of entertainment.

RATING

*** out of 5