Spider-Man: Brand New Day review

 Is the new Spider-Man movie really worth the hype?

Photo by Sony Pictures Entertainment

Scarlet Baumann, Sports Editor

Warning. Spoilers ahead.

If you are a Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) fan, you would know that the release of "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" is a movie we have been waiting for for five years. 

I've been an MCU fan for as long as I can remember. I have watched every movie and could tell you everything about every character. After finishing "Spider-Man: No Way Home" in 2021, I was eager to see when the next movie would be in theaters because, leaving 2021 with a cliffhanger so big, fans all around the world, including myself, were eager to see what would come next.

When the news broke that a new Spider-Man movie would be coming out in 2026, I was speechless. Everything every fan had been waiting for would be here in just a short amount of time.

Starting from the point where "Spider-Man: No Way Home" ended, Peter Parker is debating whether to read the letter he wrote to get MJ and Ned to remember him. When he didn't end up reading the letter and the theater screen went black, I was in denial. I was discouraged. I wanted everything to stay the same, but that never happens in MCU movies. 

I think that is why I was so excited for "Brand New Day" to come out. I was anxious to see if he would go through with trying to get his best friends back. If he couldn't do it the first time, how would he do it any other time? He saw that they were happy and doing amazing things without him. I believed he did not want to hurt them again the way he did previous times. 

The day finally came. July 31, 2026. I sat down in theater one with a blanket and popcorn, thinking that I would walk out with everything fixed and living the life they always wanted. I was wrong. Obviously, any MCU fan would know that movies can end in happiness only after there are multiple challenges and unexpected events that can happen.

The movie begins with a nine-month jump, and we are now in the middle of 2025. Peter is living in a tiny apartment and finds the letter he was going to read to MJ. In my opinion, this was a sign. A sign that he needs to go and give it his all to get his best friend and girlfriend back. While he visits Aunt May's grave, he sees updates of Ned and MJ heading off to MIT, finally starting life at their dream school. 

Instead of college, Peter fully commits to being a superhero and fighting crime in New York City. Even though he dedicated himself to street life, he spends his downtime studying and working on his General Educational Development (GED). Now, when he devoted himself to being a full-time superhero, I was happy because he didn't have to worry about school and college. At the same time, since he wanted to continue his schooling, I thought that he was doing it in the best way: in private, with nobody knowing. As the movie continued, we are now watching Spider-Man fight Scorpion, Tombstone, and ninjas from The Hand. The movie continues, and he collides with Frank Castle, better known as "The Punisher". This point shows exactly why everyone loves this movie. When Scorpion and Frank are revealed, I was thinking to myself, "Oh my goodness, they mixed the movie and comics together." Both Scorpion and Frank are from Marvel Comics, and in my opinion, the director introduced them in a way that no other movie has. 

While Spider-Man and Frank are fighting a tank that came bursting into the Department of Damage Control, a telepath is jumping from person to person. Now, I wasn't sure who the telepath was and what they wanted, which made it even more riveting. During all of this chaos, Scorpion escapes prison and hints that the telepath is after a secret project from DODC called "V-Max". It got confusing because, with so many things happening, I didn't know whose side the telepath was on, how Scorpion broke out of prison, and why there was a secret project everyone was after. Peter then receives police contact from Jean DeWolff and visits Yelena Belova, who is the current Black Widow for intel. Now, when the camera panned to Belova, I was ecstatic. I love how they incorporated other MCU characters in every movie. 

Under the stress of everything happening in the city, Peter's powers begin to mutate. His senses sharpen, his strength spikes, his eyes turn fully black, and his webs are now shooting out of his wrists. At this point in the movie, I was so excited to see what happens next because they are mixing all of the Spider-Men together. In Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man movies, the webs shoot out from his wrists, and in Andrew Garfield's, his senses are extremely quick. I think that this part was my second favorite; even though Peter was nervous he was becoming a monster, I was thrilled to see what would happen.

While nervous, Peter goes to see Bruce Banner, better known as "Hulk". He questions his inhibitor and eventually makes one for himself to suppress his new mutations. While building the inhibitor, he also builds a second device to neutralize the telepath's powers, who we learn is named Jean Grey, played by Sadie Sink. As someone who loves movies, I think that casting her for this role was perfect. She is a natural redhead and portrayed the character perfectly and brought it back to life.

After finishing the inhibitor, Peter gets a lead that someone tied to V-Max gave a speech at MIT, the school that Ned and MJ attend. Peter heads to MIT strictly for the investigation and runs into them at a party, trying to find the person who gave the speech. They don't recognize Peter at all, and we find out that MJ has a new boyfriend. This unexpected meet-up devastates Peter, knowing he has been completely erased from their lives. I really thought that at some point in the movie, they were going to remember him, and I felt like an unexpected visit would've been perfect. That scene left me disappointed but still hopeful that if they ran into each other again, something might happen and give Peter a reason to keep going after losing everyone in his life.

After being devastated by his best friends, Jean Grey gains possession of Scorpion during another DODC attack. Peter then tracks him down and because of his mutations, he has the strength to beat him in the New York streets. After beating Scorpion, Peter obtains more information about V-Max, a powerful project connected to DODC operations. I was a little jumbled at this point in the movie because we learned that everyone is untrustworthy. Everyone lies to one another and nobody knows who to believe.

In the final minutes of the movie, Peter faces Jean and learns the full truth about V-Max. This makes Peter sacrifice everything. The final battle forces him to balance his powers, and he realizes that his responsibility is the city. In this battle, he is fighting "The Hand", a ninja clan. Now remember when I said my second favorite part of this movie? This fight was my favorite. Parker fighting at least 20 members. He uses his newfound powers and defeats them and risks everything to stop the threat. Eventually, he saves New York and Jean after Frank tried sniping her from afar. Peter jumps over her and he takes the shot. I remember feeling extremely nervous and scared when this happened. The entire theater went silent. Clearly the movie couldn't end like this. Fast forward, Peter is in the hospital and ends up being fine after all.

After recovering, Peter is in a coffee shop and sees Ned on his computer. He gets the courage he didn't have before and walks up to him. He says nothing and just starts their handshake they made years ago. Ned face turned from confused to the biggest shock he's ever had in his life. The screens turn black. The credits start. I was in shock. There is no way that movie just ended. The movie I've been waiting five years for, another cliffhanger. 

Overall, I rate "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" a 9/10. Throughout this entire movie, I felt frustrated, excited, confused, overwhelmed, and nervous. A movie that can give you all of these emotions when the credits begin, is a movie that is one of a kind. Yes, I did hope that the movie would end where MJ and Ned remember him, but we always can't get what we want. There were happy moments and sad moments that balanced out the disappointing ending of the movie. I am anxious yet eager to see what will come next in Peter Parker's story.