Tom Holland swings into action again as pop culture’s top webslinger faces new threats—and a world that’s forgotten who he is
Spider-Man: Brand New Day
Starring Tom Holland, Zendaya & Jon Berthal
Directed by Destin Daniel Kreton
Rated PG-13
In theaters Friday, July 31, 2026
Packed with loads of action, gobs of heart and pantheon of familiar faces, Brand New Day will thrill Spidey fans—and spike Tom Holland’s stock as the Spider-Man of the “modern” era.
Hot off the heels of his other recent movie (a not-so-little IMAX thing called The Odyssey), Holland is now back in the swing for the fourth time as Peter Parker and his crime-fighting alter ego. This time around, he’s grappling with what happened in the previous movie, No Way Home, in which the only recourse for a multiverse Dr. Strange spell gone wrong was erasing everyone’s memories of Peter. And like that, whoosh, Peter Parker effectively ceased to exist.
Now, with all his past relationships gone, Peter buckles down on fighting crime as Spider-Man, using a wall of computers and a highly advanced AI assistant he calls Evie, to track transgressors. (A brand new day, indeed!) But it’s a lonely, angsty world, especially when it comes to his old love interest, MJ (Zendaya) and his nebbish best bud Ned (Jacon Batalon), who have moved on with their lives.
Things get further complicated when Peter’s arachnid hormones—remember, he became Spider-Man after being bitten by a radioactive spider—start spiking, giving him some startling new super-abilities. And there’s all those Big Apple baddies to deal with, like Scorpion (Michael Mando) and Tombstone (Marvin Jones III). Plus a new threat, a telekinetic power that can take over minds or unleash waves of destruction.
Part superhero saga, part love story, part detective-yarn mystery, it’s all Spider-Man facing a “brand new day” of reckoning with who he is, what he is and what he’s destined to become. If you’ve been following all the previous Spider-Man flicks, you won’t have any trouble keeping up with all the plotline of bread crumbs, the in-jokes and the winks and nods to characters and events in the past. But if this is your first Spider-Man movie, you may find it more challenging—especially when fanboys around you start laughing at something that flies, like Spider-Man, right over your head.
Fans debate who’s the best Spider-Man: Holland, Tobey McGuire or Andrew Garfield. Brand New Day may move Holland to the top of the pack; he’s pitch-perfect as a young man confronting the challenges and changes of adulthood, and the curveballs of life itself.And he and Zendaya, a couple in real life, have an easy, natural spark as Peter and MJ gradually re-discover their relationship. There are other characters pulled from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the franchise built on comic-book stories largely from the ‘60s. No spoilers here, but one’s big and green, and another is a femme fatale operating from an unlikely office, in a spa pool. Marisa Tomei, who plays Peter’s late beloved Aunt May, appears in flashbacks. Stranger Things’ Sadie Sink portrays a brand new character, one pivotal to the story.
But it’s Jon Bernthal who practically steals the show as Frank Castle/The Punisher, an underworld street tough who becomes Peter’s unlikely ally.
The action sequences are top-notch zing and zap, thrilling integrations of digital razzle-dazzle and whiplash editing, whether Spider-Man is swinging between skyscrapers, bouncing off buildings or battling a group of ninja assassins, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon-style.
But it’s the movie’s softer, beating heart that sets it apart from most other Spider-Man flicks. It’s about the isolation of being gifted—or “special,” unique with powers no one else has—and how relationships are integral to everything. It’s about how men can become monsters, and vice-versa. It’s about growing up, as Peter Parker does, with mental and physical changes (as most of us also discover) as he finds, and claims, his place in the world.
And it’s about a movie franchise built on comic-book pulp that’s become one of the most successful film properties in the world, now part of the Disney empire. Over at the House of Mouse, it feels like this explosively entertaining and engaging new Spider-Man adventure will be another “brand new day” at the bank.
And if you wonder where it’s all headed next, stay for an after-credits scene that might give you a clue.
—Neil Pond