Film Review: SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY (2026): An Energetic Entry in an Unpredictable Superhero Movie Franchise

Spider-Man: Brand New Day Review

Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026) Film Review, a movie directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, written by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers and starring Tom Holland, Zendaya, Mark Ruffalo, Jon Bernthal, Jacob Batalon, Sadie Sink, Liza Colón-Zayas, Tramell Tillman, Marisa Tomei, Naomi Watts, Michael Mando, Keith David, Marvin Jones III, Florence Pugh, Olivia Booth-Ford, Eman Esfandi, Lean Phillips and Billy Clements.

Filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton gives the latest Spider-Man picture a very distinct New York City quality that differentiates it from other films in the hugely successful franchise. Spider-Man: Brand New Day marks a return to the comic book style superhero movie that marked some of the earlier Spidey movies that starred Tobey Maguire. While Cretton’s efforts aren’t always directed in a way that serves the franchise right, the new picture offers plenty of surprises at every turn and is unpredictably enjoyable to behold as a summer movie blockbuster.

As the film begins, Spidey (Tom Holland) is communicating with a detective, Jean DeWolff (Liza Colón-Zayas) about the culprits stirring up trouble in New York City. Spider-Man is a defender of all five boroughs and, lately, his spider senses have been acting overtime and frustrating him. It turns out someone is possessing random people to communicate with Spider-Man and our hero must get to the bottom of what is going on and why people seem to be speaking our villain’s words to our Spidey.

In a surprising twist, Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) from Black Widow appears in a spa. She wants Spider-Man to take off his clothes and join her. So, Spidey takes off his clothes but refuses to take off his face mask. This scene didn’t go anywhere exciting and if not for the presence of Pugh (who always turns in interesting work), this sequence would have fallen completely flat on its face.

A major asset of this new picture, however, is the presence of Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle/The Punisher, a character whose life Spidey saved on Staten Island, of all places. That fact about Spidey saving Frank’s life is humorously repeated a couple of times throughout the movie to reenforce that Castle thus owes our hero a favor and he should carry through on that as the film progresses.

Eventually, Mark Ruffalo shows up as Professor Bruce Banner who wears a device that will supposedly prevent him from becoming the Hulk in full force again. Knowing these types of movies better, one can easily predict the Hulk will eventually be smashing things up again in all his glory.

MJ (Zendaya) seemingly has no recollection of Spidey as she has a new boyfriend in her life. Spidey aches inside over this fact but does what he thinks is right to help fight crime under some unfortunate circumstances where his love life is concerned. When Holland’s Spider-Man front, Peter Parker, appears, there is a funny scene where Peter takes some laundry from a female neighbor to wear when he finds himself outside, pretty much naked. This is another humorous part of this otherwise serious movie.

Sadie Sink becomes the film’s most valuable player as she brings the character of Jean Grey into the equation. Sink is especially vulnerable in the film’s most quintessential role. Ruffalo may steal scenes when he becomes the Hulk, but it is Sink who adds complex emotions to her character. Sink is strong enough to make the movie much better than it would have been with a less talented actress in her role.

Marisa Tomei reprises her role from Spider-Man: No Way Home in the new picture in a creative way. Tomei gets some scenes to shine and makes her rather small role in the proceedings count in a major way through the sensitivity she brings to the part.

This film’s story line needed to be re-thought out in certain arenas. It runs in too many different directions and that becomes a major problem here. We have Spider-Man bouncing around New York City and confronting characters like Tombstone and Scorpion, but these characters don’t feel too threatening in the mix even when Spidey loses some of his alertness and his Spidey senses steer him wrong.

Holland is good for the part and brings the requisite talent needed to pull off this role to the table. We see Peter’s true admiration for MJ and Zendaya of course, remains true to this unique part she’s, admittedly, played better before. Zendaya is reliable in this role and carries home a few stellar scenes thanks to her decent performance here.

Bernthal is the real scene-stealer here as his character and Spidey have an interesting like/hate rapport. This film delivers whenever it can, save for Ruffalo who was expected to go for broke in the actor’s latest The Hulk performance but fairs just moderately well overall.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day has its big action set pieces set in and around the Big Apple, but Sadie Sink becomes the movie’s best asset by default despite the quality of those major action sequences. Sadie Sink wins by default, as stated, due to her excellent performance when she finally appears in the film and she ultimately does her role so very well. While Spidey goes looking for answers, he tries to figure out what motivates the main villains here and he tries to figure out those criminals’ specific uncertainties.

Action scenes are first-rate here. When the Hulk isn’t bashing things up and Spidey isn’t fighting individual baddies, there’s still some nice character development and the movie’s heartbeat will be felt by viewers even though the film is 2 and a half hours long.

Despite its great cast members, Spider-Man: Brand New Day is just a very good film, not a great one by any stretch of the imagination. Still, audiences will like the relatability and the reliability of the main characters the movie possess.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day will entice fans of the franchise with its interesting plot developments. This film’s after-end credits scene is a bit disappointing, though, but never mind. This new movie will have viewers looking at Spider-Man in a whole new way. There’s a lot to dissect here, but the action scenes are what drives the movie home.

Rating: 7.5/10

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