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Just a little over a month away from the release of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, fans were finally treated to a second trailer on Wednesday. The film is being helmed by Dustin Daniel Cretton and will be Tom Holland’s fourth solo adventure as the web-slinger. However, the trailer, as well as the rumor-mill surrounding the film, don’t make it seem like much of a solo-story at all.
The last time we saw Spider-Man on the big screen, he was swinging through the streets of New York to fight crime after Doctor Strange cast a spell to make everyone forget his secret identity. He had no family left, no friends, no MJ and for the first time since joining the MCU in Captain America: Civil War (all the way back in 2016, can you believe it?) Peter Parker was completely alone.
Fans were ecstatic about this change in status-quo, as many believe that Spider-Man is a character that is doomed to suffer. As a lifelong fan of Spidey myself (as evidenced by the picture below from my mother’s photo album), I too was excited to see what Feige and his goons had in store for Peter Parker.
As more information has come out about the film over the past year, I can’t help but question: is Spider-Man: Brand New Day going to fall into the same trap that Raimi’s Spider-Man 3 and Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2 did? Is this movie going to try to do way, way, too much? Will it be overstuffed?
The Precedent and the Evidence
Spider-Man is a character with an extensive history; there are over 65 years of stories to pull inspiration from for adaptations. The issue arises, as it did with Raimi and Webb, when the creators allow too many stories to influence the production of a singular piece of media. It’s the classic issue of there being too many cooks in the kitchen; a melting pot of ingredients can only be good if they’re all cooked properly. A film can only be good if its individual storylines have enough runtime to be fleshed-out.
Let’s run through the many ambitions Brand New Day is seemingly attempting to fulfill.
Peter Parker and Spider-Puberty
After losing everything at the end of No Way Home, Peter is truly at a low-point. He isn’t letting anyone into his life, and the trailers are implying that his spider infused DNA is being impacted by his loneliness. I find this angle interesting, even if it’s a little unclear what direction Cretton is choosing to take here. Are they setting up Peter getting the symbiote suit in Secret Wars? Or are they taking the more unconventional route and adapting the Man-Spider storyline from 1984’s Marvel Fanfare #2? Considering the MCU’s hit-or-miss track record with CGI for the greater part of a decade, I kind of hope it’s not Man-Spider; I don’t really have faith they’ll make it look good.
New Mentor(s)
One of the reasons fans were so excited about the ending of No Way Home is because it implied that Holland’s next Spider-Man movie would not feature another hero in a prominent role. All 3 of his other films featured another hero that would provide Peter guidance (Iron Man in Homecoming, Nick Fury in Far From Home and Doctor Strange in No Way Home).
However, it seems Peter will have multiple familiar characters helping him out in Brand New Day, and I don’t know how they’re going to balance screen-time between all of them. Mark Ruffalo returns as The Hulk for the first time since 2022’s She-Hulk, looking more rageful than ever. John Bernthal is making his MCU film debut as The Punisher, butting heads with Peter.. Also, it’s been heavily rumoured amongst fans since the first trailer released that Daredevil would make a cameo, but that’s unconfirmed.
The Sadie Sink Piece
It was announced over a year ago that Sadie Sink would be starring in this movie in an unconfirmed role. We still have no idea who she’s playing. Well, okay, I won’t say we have no idea who she is, all signs point to her being the MCU’s Jean Grey. I’m very curious as to why Marvel is deciding to introduce Jean in a Spider-Man movie; they’ve never really had a direct connection in the comics. Also, she appears to be playing a villain in the movie. Whatever, I’ll buy it.
The Villians
Speaking of villains, I’m just going to quickly run through all of them who are confirmed, or have been rumoured, to be in this movie
- Whoever Sadie Sink is playing
- The Hand (feeding into the Daredevil theory)
- Scorpion played by Michael Mando
- Boomerang
- Tarantula
- Whoever Tramell Tillman is playing
- Whoever Keith David is playing
- Tombstone played by Marvin Jones III (Rumor)
Yeah, that’s a lot. Also, if you include the huge Spider-Man v. Hulk action set piece that’s shown in the new trailer, that’s a lot of fights for one movie.
New AI
Cretton and Holland have both made it abundantly clear that they are confident Brand New Day will be the greatest Spider-Man movie yet. Cretton, specifically, was so confident that he released the first few pages of the movie’s script back in April. In the script, it is revealed that Peter has created his own new AI named “EV”. EV will replace Friday, Peter’s previous AI companion that was invented by Tony Stark.
MJ and Ned
Oh yeah, Zendaya and Jacob Batalon are reprising their roles as MJ and Ned, too. They don’t remember who Peter is and seemingly live in the same building as him. MJ has a new boyfriend, and Ned is obsessed with trying to figure out who Spider-Man is (cute).
What’s Next?
Something I’ve always found annoying about the MCU is that I’m already wondering how this movie will lead into Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. I haven’t even seen it yet!
Tom Holland has not been confirmed to be in the cast for Doomsday, which comes out in December. But I would be shocked if he doesn’t have a big role to play in Secret Wars. Brand New Day is the only film in Marvel’s slate from now until Doomsday. And since they haven’t had much of a chance to truly set up Doomsday, I’m sure that there will be a few key Doomsday plans that are set into action here.
Yeah, that’s a lot! Overall, there are parts of the trailers for Brand New Day that do have me pumped. Cretton does seem to be very passionate about the source material, I like the typical dynamics between the trio of Spider-Man, the Hulk and the Punisher, I’m intrigued by Jean Grey’s inclusion, and certain shots look colorful and vibrant. However, I still have my concerns; the precedent of overstuffed Spidey films being generally disappointing was set in Spider-Man 3 and TASM 2. I do think that there’s a way that Cretton and Holland can pull it off. But, I think it’s important to manage your expectations, especially when it comes to a billion-dollar franchise like the MCU.
