Recovery, growth and a brand-new Spider-Man [Review]

Spider-Man hurls himself into the open air again today, chasing down criminals across an endless New York skyline. His workaholic dedication has earned the city an unlikely distinction: the lowest crime rate in the country. But at the end of each grueling day of pursuit, combat and capture, what awaits your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man is solitude. Only then does Peter Parker (Tom Holland) remove his mask — retreating into a cocoon of isolation that only he can enter, living out a lonely existence.

Much has changed. Four years ago, Peter erased himself from the memories of everyone he loved in order to protect them. Along with those memories went every thrilling future he had once imagined alongside his friends and his girlfriend — gone entirely. He watches Ned (Jacob Batalon) and MJ (Zendaya) living their happy campus lives through a phone screen, swallowing his longing in silence. "With great power comes great responsibility." Spider-Man steadies his wavering heart by holding on to Aunt May's final words.

One day, while struggling to stop a tank barreling toward the Damage Control detention facility, Spider-Man comes face to face with a being that knows his true identity. This mysterious entity — capable of moving freely between the minds of others — threatens the life of Peter's former girlfriend MJ to achieve its ends. As if that were not enough, Peter's body begins to surge out of control, driven by a sudden spike in his spider DNA. What is this mind-controlling entity? And can Peter overcome the uncontrollable physical changes overtaking him and protect the people he loves again? This is the return of the MCU's (Marvel Cinematic Universe) signature hero — "Spider-Man: Brand New Day."

Peter refuses to remove his mask even in the bath, convinced that revealing his identity could put the people he cares about in danger. He carries the weight of every sacrifice — including Aunt May's death — as though it were his burden alone, living like a monk on a path of self-imposed penance. With dreams, happiness, joy and friendship stripped from his life, Peter's hollow existence stands in cruel contrast to the full, experience-rich lives of Ned (Jacob Batalon) and MJ (Zendaya). He knows that burying himself in work will one day bring regret, yet he has long forgotten how to take off the suit and simply connect with other people. The headaches that accompany each repeated battle signal just how relentlessly he has been pushing himself.

Change and growth come with pain. And to bring Peter — who has shouldered every burden alone — back into a world where "together" is possible, and to carry the MCU's signature hero beyond his days as the Avengers' scrappy youngest member into a true hero reborn, the film is meticulously constructed around a single mission from start to finish: Spider-Man's physical and emotional growth.

The film finds its answer to a central problem — how to recalibrate a Spider-Man who has drifted into a world of his own and return him to the path toward the next MCU-style finale, where heroes unite against a massive threat — within Spider-Man himself. It does so by mapping the natural principle that "a spider passes through three life cycles" directly onto the narrative, announcing the birth of a truly "brand new" hero.

What the film ultimately shows is the story of Peter enduring his most vulnerable state between those cycles of growth. Viewers expecting the light, buoyant Spider-Man of earlier films may find the sight of a hero slogging through a period of anguish and confusion — a kind of molting — unfamiliar and heavy.

The film also handles with care the organic connection between the physical chaos of Peter's surging spider DNA and his psychological isolation. When Peter tries to suppress the "bad side" of his spider DNA, Dr. Bruce Banner (the Hulk) advises him: "It's never easy to decide what's the good side and what's the bad side." Is deliberately suppressing something painful that is meant to emerge really a wise choice?

Peter's decision to build a "universal inhibitor" to block the mutation mirrors his long-standing choice to forcibly conceal and suppress his own identity. The key to resolving the fractures and pain created by Peter's selfless unilateralism lies in the process of realizing and accepting that what he believed to be bad was in fact exactly what he needed all along.

The film also dutifully carries out the large-scale universe-consolidation work needed to continue the Avengers series. Jean Grey, the mutant-world heroine who has joined the MCU family, makes an appearance, and following Matt Murdock's (the protagonist of Marvel Comics' Daredevil) surprise cameo in "No Way Home" (2021), the Punisher now steps in as a key supporting character, broadening the film's connections to the Defenders — the band of heroes who protect New York.

Black Widow (Yelena Belova), who takes only "big potato" cases, also appears, completing the film's link to the New Avengers. It is further evidence that "Brand New Day" is not merely the coming-of-age story of one Spider-Man, but a preparatory chapter for the large-scale team-up of the MCU's next phase. With this, the MCU has successfully completed its groundwork for "Avengers: Doomsday," where a blockbuster coalition battle will unfold at the tail end of the Multiverse Saga.

The entertainment value remains intact. The film's signature high-altitude web-swinging action — threading Spider-Man through a forest of skyscrapers with breathtaking precision — is enhanced by dynamic camerawork that makes it feel as though you are genuinely flying through the streets of New York. Scenes of Spider-Man plummeting from the tops of high-rises seem to pull the audience's own sense of gravity right out of their seats. The heightened sense of space and depth, and the dizzying thrill it delivers, are reason enough to see this film on the big screen.

One could speak endlessly of past glories. "Avengers, assemble" once struck every viewer to the core, and the tears shed over their courage and sacrifice are already seven years in the past. Perhaps that is why "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" carried such heavy expectations — the task of reigniting a spark of revival for an MCU widely regarded as having passed its peak. Rising to meet that burden, "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" proves within 145 minutes exactly why it is the franchise's undisputed flagship, and leaves audiences eager for the stories still to come. It is a reminder, again, that amid the tangled multiverse mythology and the sprawling cast of characters, what ultimately shines brightest is the most human story of all. Rated for ages 12 and older.