5 min readJul 30, 2026 02:47 PM IST
It’s the seventh film Tom Holland is in as Spider-Man, the fourth as a solo superhero. And while the 30-year-old actor who began this a decade ago can still pass as just-past-teens, the Marvel franchise shows a tear in its spandex. Less Brand New Day, more New Branding Day.
Director Destin Daniel Cretton and old Spidey hands Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers could have actually made something of ‘been there, done that, and moving-on’. However, except for some mild stretching and a mention that he is no longer in high school, there is no suggestion that Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Tom Holland) needs anyone or anything.
That, in fact, is one of the premises driving Brand New Day – can Peter really continue as he insists he can, ridding New York city of crime and returning home to a garage-like room, only to fiddle with machines and science (he handles this too on his own), with no one to talk to but a virtual assistant, and nothing to entertain him but videos posted by old friends Ned (Jacob Batalon) and MJ (Zendaya).
Watch Spider-Man Brand New Day movie trailer here:
If you have been watching Holland’s Spider-Man universe closely, or even tracking Brand New Day’s recent publicity tour, you know that at the end of the last film, Peter erased Ned and MJ’s memories for their safety, and so they no longer remember him. His first encounter with them, especially watching MJ kiss a new boyfriend, is heartachingly conveyed by the expressive Holland.
However, the film doesn’t offer too many such moments, as Spider-Man gets constantly thrown into saving the government’s ominously named ‘Department of Damage Control’ from a threat posed by a being who can control people’s minds. Jean (Sadie Sink) hops from body to body for this, with each person succumbing to her powers with a jolt that surely is too much of a giveaway. After the first few times, it is just clumsy.
Bruce Banner / Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) gets hauled in for exposition of some gobbledygook science about building an m-RNA inhibitor involving one’s own DNA, foreign DNA and gamma radiation. Later, he is called upon to do some very impressive smashing, though all of it seems completely superfluous except to give the film an extra superhero to lean on.
Director Destin Daniel Cretton’s Tom Holland-Zendaya starrer Spider-Man: Brand New Day hit the screens worldwide on July 30.
Florence Pugh is in an equally thankless role as Black Widow, though if she is indeed logged into the world’s cyber secrets while lounging unclothed in a swimming pool, that is some power of Muskian dimension.
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Tramell Tillman is Metzger, the Director of the Department of Damage Control, who clearly relishes having dangerous characters with supernatural abilities under his lock and key, in many tall buildings across the city. Surely, a more discreet location would serve his purpose better.
Jon Bernthal plays Frank, Spider-Man’s on again-off again rival-friend. Who can remain angry for long with Peter Parker, though – and so you know how that goes.
Not the most obvious choice for this big-ticket project, director Cretton does well in the building-destroying, city-smashing, Ninja-ass-kicking fight sequences. Holland gets an ample range to perform, from the forlorn lover to the lonesome guy and science wizard, and from a superhero confused about his “changing” powers to a man embracing the arachnid side within him. His Spider-Man also keeps getting thrown about, thrashed and squished, bearing the bruises vividly.
Tom Holland plays the lead role in Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
However, there is one crucial element missing in this Spider-Man, which is at the heart of it a story about a boy: sheer fun. While Holland swings and swooshes, and has his web feature malfunction as he battles the changes within him, Brand New Day gets caught up (often literally) in the dynamics of it and never actually in the flying of it – the kind of flight where you can feel the rush in your ears and the wind in your hair.
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“With great power comes great responsibility” does get mentioned, but then Brand New Day offers a variation on what remains one of the movies’ greatest lines.
It does answer a question that many have wondered about: Yes, Spider-Man does not take his mask off even while drinking coffee.
Spider-Man Brand New Day movie cast: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Mark Ruffalo, Jon Bernthal, Sadie Sink, Tramell Tillman
Spider-Man Brand New Day movie director: Destin Daniel Cretton
Spider-Man Brand New Day movie rating: 2.5 stars
