Let me start by saying that Spider-Man: Brand New Day is a good movie. My inner child, whose favorite Marvel superhero is still Spider-Man after all these years, was quite happy with it. I feel the need to note this given some of what is to follow. All of which, it should also be noted, is SPOILER FREE.

Despite liking the MCU Spider-Man movies to date, I do agree with the complaint that Tom Holland’s Spider-Man started out as the cinematic incarnation of Peter Parker least like his comics counterpart. Spidey has always been defined his working-class roots. At a time when most superheroes were independently wealthy (or at least held a steady day-job) Peter was operating on his aunt’s savings and whatever money was leftover after paying the rent selling pictures of himself to The Daily Bugle.

For all that Tom Holland captured the intelligence and humor of the character, making his Peter Parker Tony Stark’s protege and giving him easy access to Avengers’ resources seemed to miss the mark. With that being said, I do think Spider-Man: Brand New Day offers us the truest adaptation of Peter Parker in any movie ever. However, that is just one of the many things Brand New Day tries to do and one of the few it nails outright.

After a brief interlude set shortly after the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home, we are speed-run through the last four years of Peter Parker’s life. The good news is that he’s probably the most respected superhero in New York City and he’s also acquired contacts like the new Black Widow (Florence Pugh) and NYPD Detective Jean DeWolff (Liza Colón-Zayas). The bad news, however, is that his life outside of being a superhero is non-existence. He’s cyberstalking his best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon) and ex-girlfriend MJ (Zendaya), still working up the courage to approach them after all memory of their lives together was magically erased.

A complication arises in the form of a mysterious new villain (Sadie Sink) who seems to wear people’s bodies like puppets. Thankfully, Spider-Man seems to be immune to her power for some reason. This revelation gives Peter the blessing of Department of Damage Control Director William Metzger (Tramell Tillman) to deal with this strange threat. The problem is that Peter’s powers are becoming unstable and he fears he’s becoming something more spider than man. This sends him to Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) who knows a bit about containing the beast within.

The screenplay by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers has a lot of moving parts. Unfortunately, some of them get short-shrift and one is largely abandoned, existing only to add complications as needed. The irony is that despite all the cameos by other superheroes, Spider-Man: Brand New Day stands on its own far better than any Marvel movie in recent memory. In fact, it’s almost disturbing how many Disney+ series it seems like it should be referencing but doesn’t.

Chief among these is Daredevil: Born Again, which was built around the troubles Kingpin caused the city’s superheroes as Mayor of New York City. We don’t know precisely when Spidey got the key to city in the movie’s opening montage, but its still a big enough issue it feels like it could have gotten a nod. It’s also unclear just how The Punisher (Jon Bernthal) has remained at liberty. But if he were not, we wouldn’t have the odd friendship that develops between Peter Parker and Frank Castle given their shared status as vigilantes driven by the loss of a loved one.

In terms of action, Spider-Man: Brand New Day is satisfying and well-directed by Wonder Man director Destin Daniel Cretton. There’s a little bit of dodgy CGI, but that’s par for the course with most action movies in 2026. The performances are solid across the board, with Tom Holland capturing the soul of Peter Parker. Indeed, the movie’s strongest scenes are those involving Peter rather than Spider-Man, which is fitting given the story is ultimately more about Peter than his alter ego.

More than that I cannot say, save that if you can see this movie on the big screen, you should do so.