Spider-Man: Brand New Day review: The best Spidey movie since Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 2

Published Jul 28, 2026, 9:00 AM EDT Destin Daniel Cretton can do no wrong Image: Sony There are two types of Spider-Man fans. People who think Tom Holland can do no wrong and his “Home” trilogy is the epitome of spider-cinema, and people who think those movies are fine but kind of cringey due to their reliance on Marvel quip comedy and a refusal to let Peter Parker fight crime without an Avengers-sanctioned babysitter. Up until last night, I fell in the first camp, but after watching Spider-Man: Brand New Day, I’m ready to admit that the previous three movies were kind of rough — at least by comparison to this grounded, emotional, and expertly crafted addition to the Spidey canon. It’s not that those previous movies are terrible. I still like them a lot; it’s just that Brand New Day raises the quality level in almost every way. From the action to the drama to the superhero cameos, this is a more mature Spider-Man with smarter storytelling and a more satisfying payoff. Brand New Day isn’t just the best Holland-Spidey movie, either. It meets or maybe even surpasses the extremely high bar set by Sam Raimi’s first two Spider-Man movies. Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Wonder Man) with a script from Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers (who co-wrote the last three movies), Spider-Man: Brand New Day picks up pretty much exactly where 2019’s No Way Home left off. Peter Parker is alone and intentionally forgotten by his friends and loved ones thanks to a spell cast by Doctor Strange. He's withdrawn into a life fighting crime, and the closest thing he has to a friend is a strictly professional relationship with NYPD detective Jean DeWolff (The Bear's Liza Colón-Zayas) or his superhero frenemy Frank Castle, aka The Punisher (Jon Bernthal). An early montage shows Spider-Man cleaning up the streets of New York as he takes on classic villains like Scorpion, Tombstone, and The Hand. Meanwhile, Cretton cleverly shows several years fly by through Peter stalking his former best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon) and ex-girlfriend MJ (Zendaya) on Instagram as they enroll in college, make new friends, graduate, and move back to New York. But just when Peter appears to be on a collision course with the life he once abandoned, he's sidelined by a pair of new challenges: bizarre bodily changes that seem to be transforming him into an actual man-spider, and a mysterious, body-hopping villain determined to access top-secret information held under lock and key by the Department of Damage Control. Image: Jay Maidment/Marvel/Columbia Pictures/Everett Collection I can't say much about the latter without breaking a million spoiler embargoes, but I'll note that Brand New Day delivers just the right amount of twists and turns without ever feeling too predictable or too tricky for its own good. Sadie Sink, who plays the mystery villain at the heart of the movie, carries the audience through some of those biggest twists with ease, and I'm excited to see more of her character in future Marvel movies. (I can say that, right?) Meanwhile, Peter Parker's physical changes aren't quite as central to the plot as some early trailers suggested, but they still do play a pivotal role in the movie. Most importantly, they let Holland level up his version of Spider-Man with natural webbing and enhanced senses. Cretton leans into these new elements by borrowing liberally from the Sam Raimi movies, both in the way he depicts Peter discovering his new powers like a boy going through adolescence (with some light body horror vibes) and through a well-placed slow-motion sequence that's nearly identical to the one where Tobey Maguire fights Joe Manganiello in Spider-Man (2002). In addition to Bernthal's Punisher (always a violent delight, and mostly unencumbered by Spidey's kid-friendly appeal here), Brand New Day also brings in Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/The Hulk. But if you're worried that this is Marvel once again giving Spider-Man a babysitter, worry no more. The dynamics between these characters all feel much more natural here. It's not young Peter seeking out mentorship from yet another Avenger, it's just one superhero teaming up with another when they need help. In that sense, Brand New Day is the most realistic depiction of what the Marvel Cinematic Universe should be, especially in a city like New York that's teaming with heroes. It's a shame this kind of thing only really happens when Sony's calling the shots (or when it's an Avengers movie), but I'll take what I can get. Finally, let's talk about the action. When I interviewed Cretton earlier this month, he told me that some scenes in Brand New Day were inspired by moments from the Insomniac video games. This becomes extremely obvious when you watch the movie, and I mean that in the best way possible. The recent Spider-Man games capture the sense of what it feels like to be Spider-Man better than almost any other form of media ever has, and Cretton translates that back into cinema with creative, fluid action that shows a version of Peter Parker who's clearly a pro at fighting with his webs. However, the director also manages to kick things up a notch in several sequences that go beyond anything a video game has to offer, especially one stunning moment involving the ninja clan, The Hand, where Brand New Day suddenly resembles the gravity-defying aerial combat of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Image: Jay Maidment/Marvel/Columbia Pictures/Everett Collection But what makes Brand New Day so great isn't any one of these things, it's all how they work together to tell a streamlined story that's truly about Spider-Man. The franchise has finally figured out what some fans knew all along: The best way to make a Spider-Man movie is to make a movie about Spider-Man — and leave behind anything and everything that doesn't serve that one specific purpose. Spider-Man: Brand New Day swings into theaters on July 31.