There’s been something intangible missing from the Marvel Cinematic Universe since Avengers: Endgame in 2019. It’s not Spider-Man movies, since there have been two of those even prior to this new one. It’s not cross-pollinations of MCU characters in each other’s movies, since we’ve had a number of those too. It’s not team-up movies, as Thunderbolts was a prime example of that Marvel trope. It’s not even movies with big ideas, as this seven-year period has seen the larger franchise delve into the notion of the multiverse like never before.
No, it’s that Spider-Man: Brand New Day – beyond returning the beloved Tom Holland to the title role for his fourth time leading a Spider-Man movie, seventh time overall – gives us the sense of building momentum toward something massive on a storytelling level, something that fuelled our love for the original Avengers saga, and something that’s been sorely lacking from the largely standalone-type films that have populated the MCU in the past seven years. Telling you how Brand New Day, in the lead-up to Avengers: Doomsday later this year, does that would be a violation of our contract with Kevin Feige et al not to reveal spoilers, because it involves characters you’ve heard of but may not know were about to appear. But let’s just say this: The feeling suffuses the movie, and it’s a return to form we welcome.
Above all that, we always welcome the still baby-faced Holland as Peter Parker, who has now been playing the role for ten years, and reached the ripe old age of 30 last month. But just to make sure our love hasn’t dimmed, they’ve given his character a soft reboot here. What we can tell you, because it occurred at the end of the last instalment No Way Home in 2021, is that the world has forgotten about Peter, the result of a spell cast by Doctor Strange as a necessary part of saving this and all universes. Don’t fact check that reason; it doesn’t matter.
The point is, his best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon) and love interest MJ (Holland’s real-life wife Zendaya) are strangers to him, at least on their side. They’ve gone on to MIT as they always planned, and he’s watched from afar on social media during their entire university career, still fighting crime in New York – and still mourning the loss of his beloved Aunt May (Marisa Tomei), which also occurred in No Way Home. As if this Spider-Man needed more angst. He’s written a letter that will function as his reintroduction to MJ, but he’s been too scared to deliver it, because her safety was one of the original inspirations for going incognito via Doctor Strange.
Of course, there also has to be a larger mission du jour, which is that there is a mysterious new foe who is capable of jumping from body to body. Spidey discovers this while pursuing a tank barrelling through downtown Manhattan, which is also being pursued by fellow New York based crime-fighter Frank (Jon Bernthal) – who Marvel fans will recognise as the Punisher, even though that superhero name is never evoked. (No, that’s not a spoiler – Feige et al are willing to give you that one.) When the driver of that tank is ultimately revealed, it’s not the sort of person any of them would expect. And soon the animating force behind that person jumps into another person, which transfers the familiar taunting look of a supervillain to the eye of the next host. This entity, whatever it may be, is in search of something called Vmax, and won’t stop jumping bodies until it finds it.
Vmax, whatever it may be – probably not the name of a high-tech cinema auditorium with a larger screen and louder sound – is being guarded by the Department of Damage Control, fronted by Bill Metzger (Tramell Tillman). The entity tried to jump into Peter’s brain, but he repelled it, so now Peter may be key to protecting these big secrets that may once again involve the safety of this and all universes.
It’s hard to overestimate the amount of charisma Holland has brought to this role, which has been key to it being one of Marvel’s most successful internal franchises, and which suggests the Spider-Man movies could blow past the natural endpoint of all other Marvel franchises. They’re now competing with Avengers in terms of MCU longevity, but Avengers, by its very nature of bringing characters together, should get an asterisk in that competition. In any case, Holland specifically, and his chemistry with Batalon and Zendaya generally, continue to take these movies far. So even if various storytelling details may feel pedestrian, various fights interchangeable, the underlying ingredients of a Spider-Man movie remain top notch.
And the storytelling and fights are actually quite good here, generally if not in all cases. Brand New Day is the first Spider-Man movie not directed by Jon Watts, and Shang-Chi director Destin Daniel Cretton has done a great job continuing to shepherd this franchise. The Spidey skirmishes are clever, in one case involving an old MCU friend (again, no spoilers), in another case featuring a group of red-robed ninjas called The Hand (that one’s all over the trailers). Bernthal’s Frank Castle is part of most of these, and the New York attitude he contributes is another great foil for Holland. (It’s a bit of an Odyssey reunion for Bernthal with Holland and Zendaya.)
While “giving us the goods,” Brand New Day also ups the emotional ante for its characters. Holland’s performance of the emotions roiling in Peter is always convincing and can be quite touching, and his inevitable reunion with his original crew has some unexpected pitfalls along the way that keep the sentiment engaging from moment to moment.
There’s a lot more stuffed into this movie than I’ve been keen to spoil here, but as discussed earlier, that’s what gives this movie a sense of being greater than. These exact stories and conflicts may not continue to play out in Avengers: Doomsday this December, but Brand New Day functions as a very appetising amuse bouche for what’s coming next – while also giving us another happy reunion with characters who have dwelled in our hearts for a decade now.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day opens today in Australian cinemas.