‘Spider-Man Brand New Day’ Review: A Grounded Follow-Up To ‘No Way Home’

By Chad Kennerk - Review

Updated: 30 July, 2026

Readtime: 5 min

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Let’s face it, Spider-Man: No Way Home is a tough act to follow. A critically successful and commercial smash with a spectacular USD$1.9 billion take worldwide, the end of director Jon Watts’ ‘Home’ trilogy was a full circle moment for moviegoers. Uniting Marvel’s previous Spiders (Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield) with Tom Holland’s MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) Spider-Man for a massive, multiversal superhero crossover that concluded three generations’ worth of web-slinging.

In Spider-Man: Brand New Day, your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man returns to answer the obvious: what comes after you save the universe?

Brand New Day shows us a much more grounded Spider-Man | Image: Jay Maidment, courtesy of Sony Pictures

With Great Responsibility

Donning Watts’ web shooters, director Destin Daniel Cretton wisely sidesteps the temptation to go bigger and continues weaving No Way Home’s narrative web for a more contained, emotionally resonant look at life after the multiverse. Cretton is no stranger to the MCU, having previously helmed Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and the Marvel Disney+ series Wonder Man. Well-equipped to pick up the franchise, Cretton delivers a fun, earnest, and more mature chapter for Holland’s Spidey.

As the official Spider-Man of the MCU, Holland has already had quite a run. He’s not only the first Spidey to have a fourth solo outing, but Brand New Day also marks his seventh film overall as the wallcrawler. Now, a full decade after his debut in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, Holland is more integrated into the creative process, collaborating with the filmmaking team on Brand New Day before the script was even penned.

Zendaya’s MJ and Jacob Batalon’s Ned have no memories of their relationships with Peter Parker | Image: Jay Maidment, courtesy of Sony Pictures

Life After ‘No Way Home’

It’s been four years since we’ve seen Spidey swinging across the big screen, the same amount of time that’s passed since the world-altering events of No Way Home wiped the memory of Peter Parker from everyone on Earth-616, including the love of Peter’s life, MJ (Zendaya), and his best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon). Without the world-threatening events of the last outing, Brand New Day offers a look at a full-time Spider-Man fighting lesser evils like Tarantula, Boomerang, Scorpion, and Tombstone. Peter now lives in isolation, still reeling from the loss of his Aunt May, forced to watch the life he once had playing out across his friends’ social feeds.

Peter Parker has no choice but to watch from afar | Image: Jay Maidment, courtesy of Sony Pictures

Your Friendly Neighbourhood Nobody

The MCU finally got back on track after a messy multiverse-driven Phase 5 and diversions to Disney+ with Thunderbolts* marking a major return to form and the best use of the genre in ages. If Thunderbolts* proved Marvel could still tell emotionally grounded superhero stories, Brand New Day doubles down on the idea. Fantasy works best when it’s about something real, and Cretton wisely keeps the focus on the man behind the mask, asking what happens when the balance between the hero and the man shifts to one side. Spider-Man has never been compelling because of his powers. He’s compelling because of Peter Parker.

Parker’s isolation serves as the film’s major theme | Image: Jay Maidment, courtesy of Sony Pictures

The Parker Problem

This is easily the moodiest version of Holland’s happy-go-lucky Parker, but beneath all the emotional weight, the film sometimes skims over the realities that have always grounded the character. Peter’s financial woes were a defining part of his comic-book identity. He doesn’t get paid to be Spider-Man, so how is he paying for groceries and all that tech? Sam Raimi’s trilogy understood that missing rent could be just as stressful as fighting Doctor Octopus. And what born-and-raised New Yorker orders Little Caesars in a city with legendary pizzerias every other block?

As a lifelong Spidey fan, the classic ‘Six Arms Saga’ also seemed right there for the taking in Peter’s metamorphosis, but the MCU of it all does steal a little of the focus, shifting the overall storytelling to set up a new generation of heroes.

Jon Bernthal’s Punisher makes his big-screen debut in Spider-Man: Brand New Day | Image: Jay Maidment, courtesy of Sony Pictures

Excelsior!

Like Stan Lee’s famous sign-off, Brand New Day looks forward instead of backwards. It may not reach the impossible heights of No Way Home, and it occasionally slips into familiar superhero habits, but by bringing Spider-Man back to street level, Cretton reminds us why we love Peter Parker. The action sequences are vivid and the performances are solid. One of the enduring joys of Spider-Man comics has always been watching Peter bounce off other Marvel heroes, with those unlikely pairings revealing different sides of Peter’s personality. That’s brought to life here with Jon Bernthal returning as The Punisher, his big screen debut as the character he previously portrayed in Marvel’s Daredevil and The Punisher series.

Keen eyes will spot a cameo from Bero, Holland’s premium non-alcoholic beer, and those sticking around for the obligatory Marvel post-credit scenes may leave a little underwhelmed, with only a brief nod
toward Avengers: Secret Wars capping the credits.

Four stars ★★★★ | Spider-Man: Brand New Day is in cinemas now

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