SPIDER-MAN:BRAND NEW DAY (2026)

When we last left Peter Parker (Tom Holland) in 2021 (Spider-Man: No Way Home), he was stripped of his shared history, his friends and his high-tech Tony Stark safety nets in order to protect his loved ones. And so it’s a lonesome existence and a devastating clean slate for our hero as the fourth instalment Spider-Man: Brand New Day kicks off, and rather than immediately rushing to fix the tragedy, director Destin Daniel Cretton forces our Peter to live in it. The result is the most emotionally authentic and refreshing Marvel entry since Logan (2017). It’s a story that values character growth and fortification over more cinematic universe setups, well…for the most part. We’d argue there are perhaps a few too many cameos, not Florence Pugh who is as scary as she is soft and a Black Widow upgrade, but more notably it’s Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner who’s gracious grandiosity has been swapped for faux humility and its our opinion that it’s time for Ruffalo to go. Thankfully, Holland’s approach to Peter Parker stands firm at self-effacing and the laughs and gut-wrenches ensue. This premise allows Parker to shed most of his boyishness, giving us a weary and yet fiercely independent Peter Parker. Instead of the multi-verse clutter that has dominated the M.C.U. in recent years, it’s a deeply human chapter that still scratches the action itch with a greater emphasis on practical stunt and wire work shot in actual New York locations. Now Spider-Man is always growing up a little with each instalment, but Brand New Day feels different. It’s not his self-inflicted isolation that leads to great change, but the grief from his losses in No Way Home. He comes into the film a man and doesn’t so much as change over the course of the film, but learns how to fuse with the pain that has already changed him. 

WATCH OR NOT: WATCH