Spider-Man: Brand New Day

It may be a brand-new day in Spider-Man’s life, but he is still doing more or less what he has always done—swinging off buildings, fighting crime, nursing a broken heart and grappling with an identity crisis. The last two may be relatively new, but the core remains unchanged. Marvel Studios entrusted Destin Daniel Cretton, the director of the remarkable indie Short Term 12 (2013), with bringing a more human touch to the web-slinger, and that is perhaps the film’s only real novelty.

This past week, I’ve had a dull, throbbing ache in my head. It gets distractingly painful at times, and I was worried about the aftereffects of waking up early on Friday, heading out to the local cinema, putting on 3D glasses and watching Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Surprisingly, I felt about the same leaving the cinema as I did entering it. The only plausible explanation is that my body doesn’t differentiate between a MCU Spider-Man film and a dull, throbbing ache. Peter Parker (Tom Holland) is having headaches too. Some are literal. His new mutations, which give him enhanced powers but also make him snap into a less wholesome version of himself, are a physical strain. Some, though, are emotional, the fallout of Dr Strange’s spell at the end of No Way Home (2021), which protects the multiverse by erasing Peter from everyone’s memory. He now lives on his own, sadly keeping tabs on MJ (Zendaya) and Ned (Jacob Batalon) at MIT, throwing himself into crimefighting to such an extent that detective Jean DeWolff (Liza Colón-Zayas) is more worried than grateful for his help.

“I don’t have a phone. Do you mind taking me home?” At one point in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Zendaya’s MJ makes this request of Tom Holland’s Peter Parker. Without batting an eye, our boy leaps out of the window with her confidently clutching his arms, as if it were the most normal thing to ask and receive, like a faster alternative to the Uber she couldn’t call. Maybe for New York dwellers in the Marvel Universe, it is a common sight to see Spidey all over town, strolling around if he isn’t saving them from the constant rain of villains. This is where Destin Daniel Cretton’s film revisits a question that previous Spider-Man films have asked as well: can our superhero be vulnerable, too? Can he grieve his own tragic losses?

Near the end of Destin Daniel Cretton’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day, I was reminded of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2 (in my eyes the best Spider-Man film). It’s a scene where the superhero (Tobey Maguire) has prevented a train from derailing. Using all his might, tensile strength and will-power, he faints after the act. About to collapse, he’s caught by those inside the train. His unconscious body surfs over a sea of New York commuters, after which he’s carefully laid down. It’s the first time the city sees him without his mask. Similarly, in Cretton’s film, Spider-Man (Tom Holland) needs to be saved by the very city he’s spent his life defending. In a genre that thrives on an individual saving the world, I was touched to see a hurt, vulnerable ‘hero’ extending his hand (ever so briefly) to the city’s finest. It’s no surprise both scenes, championing community values, take place in films centred around the ‘friendly, neighbourhood superhero’.

‘फ्रेंडली नेबरहुड सुपरहीरो’ के रूप में दुनियाभर के लोगों के दिलों में घर कर चुका स्पाइडर-मैन जब भी पर्दे पर आता है, उसके चाहने वालों की उत्सुकता चरम पर पहुंच जाती है। इसका अंदाजा इस विश्व विख्यात फ्रैंचाइजी की ब्लॉकबस्टर पिछली कड़ी ‘स्पाइडर-मैन: नो वे होम’ की करीब 2 अरब डॉलर की रिकॉर्ड कमाई से लगाया जा सकता है। ऐसे में, ‘नो वे होम’ में अपनों को खो चुके स्पाइडर-मैन यानी पीटर पार्कर का आगे का सफर कैसा होगा, यह हर कोई जानना चाहता था और ‘स्पाइडर-मैन: ब्रांड न्यू डे’ उन्हीं सवालों का जवाब है। करीब 5 साल इंतजार के बाद पीटर पार्कर की बड़े पर्दे पर वापसी हुई है। भारत में मार्वल स्टूडियोज और सोनी पिक्चर्स की यह फिल्‍म बाकी दुनिया से एक दिन पहले 30 जुलाई 2026 को ही रिलीज हो गई है।

Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, the fourth Spider-Man film starring Tom Holland picks up after the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home. The world no longer remembers Peter Parker, who is now living a lonely life, dedicating himself entirely to being Spider-Man. But as he faces a mysterious new threat, he also undergoes a strange transformation that puts both his identity and the city at risk. The film also stars Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Jon Bernthal, Sadie Sink, Michael Mando, Tramell Tillman, and Mark Ruffalo.