On March 18th, the long-awaited trailer for Tom Holland’s latest Spider-Man film, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, dropped online to record-breaking view counts. Spider-Man has always been in contention for the most beloved fictional character of all time, but even in recent years, his popularity has skyrocketed. It’s nothing crazy to say I myself am a massive webhead. The action, the characters, the quips, the visual flair, the relatability—there’s so much to love about Spider-Man and his world. Thankfully, it seems like Marvel has taken all of these attributes into consideration when crafting this next story for the big screen. I will now break down my thoughts and theories regarding the contents of the trailer in excruciating detail.
Let’s start off with potentially the most exciting aspect of this new film: the large cast of characters. The most obvious returning character is Spider-Man himself, the latest (and in my opinion, greatest) iteration of Peter Parker ever seen, portrayed by Tom Holland. Holland always seems so passionate about this role, and I have full faith that he’ll continue to do it justice as we enter a darker point in Spider-Man’s life. After the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home, Peter has lost everyone and everything he cares about. The world has forgotten about Peter due to a wizard spell (if you don’t know this by now, go back and watch the 2021 film), and he now essentially only exists as Spider-Man. His girlfriend, MJ, and best friend, Ned, have moved on with attending MIT and finding joy in other parts of their lives. Thus, in this new film, Spider-Man has to embrace the role of a hero and can’t fall back on allies as often as he would in previous entries.
Even so, some new faces arrive to create a stacked cast of returning MCU favorites and mysterious newcomers. First, we have Frank Castle, aka “The Punisher,” portrayed by Jon Bernthal. Holland and Bernthal are great friends in real life, so this team-up/rivalry was bound to happen at some point. This incarnation of The Punisher has been around for around a decade, first appearing in season 2 of the Netflix series Daredevil before spinning off into his own series for two seasons. Frank Castle and Peter Parker have had an ongoing frenemy status in the comics for decades, and I cannot wait to see their dynamic on screen, especially with their distinct approaches to the vigilante lifestyle; Parker more levelheaded, Castle more aggressive. The big set piece featured in the trailer shows Frank driving a tank around a New York street, seemingly chasing down the same villain as Spider-Man while bickering and fighting each other in the process.
Another major presence in this film, and one that we get a small glimpse of in the trailer, is Bruce Banner, of course portrayed by the now legendary Mark Ruffalo. Banner is a character that has been treated poorly by screenwriters for years now. Once an iconic staple of the original Avengers, he sort of has devolved into somewhat of a joke. In this story however, Banner plays a crucial role as a college professor at MIT. He’s a central figure in another major plotline of the film, Peter Parker’s physical mutation (we’ll get to that in a second). Being the Hulk of course, Banner has a lot of knowledge in radiation and body transformation. I’m hoping we see that common ground explored between these two fan favorite characters. It would also be a shame for this movie to not reintroduce the Hulk in all his glory. I just can’t see how they’ll bring him into the fold without taking the spotlight away from other key plot developments in Peter Parker’s life.
A driving force in the marketing of this movie so far has been the idea that we’re once again grounding Spider-Man in New York where he’ll fight a multitude of street-level antagonists. Compared to the high stakes multiversal story of No Way Home, Brand New Day seems to go for something much more confined—which is a good thing! It forces the writers to come up with more relatable storylines that are smaller in scale. Spider-Man can be seen fighting forgettable comic villains like Captain Boomerang, Tarantula, and the criminal organization “The Hand.” Tombstone is also set to appear. In the trailer, these villains can be seen fighting Spider-Man in iconic recreations of classic comic covers. If No Way Home was a love letter to Spider-Man movies, this new installment is a love letter to Spider-Man comics.
The staggering number of foes begs the question: who is the main antagonist of Brand New Day? Every Spider-Man film up until now has had one: Green Goblin, Doc Ock, Sandman, Lizard, Electro, Vulture, Mysterio, and Green Goblin once again. Curiously, Michael Mando is returning as Mac Gargan aka Scorpion, a minor character from Spider-Man Homecoming, the first entry in Tom Holland’s series. Many expect him to play a major role in this new film as an escaped convict out for vengeance against Spider-Man, clearly equipped with a new advanced suit (as seen in the trailer). As much as I want to see Gargan in the role of a main antagonist, I can’t imagine he’ll be used for more than a handful of scenes, as this movie seems to have a lot on its plate already.
The true contender for main antagonist actually hasn’t been fully unveiled yet by the trailer. The trailer hints at a villain with mind control abilities. While many longtime webheads might think of Mister Negative, that doesn’t seem to be the direction this story is taking. Instead, Marvel is introducing a pivotal character as a supporting/antagonistic role in a Spider-Man film: Jean Grey, portrayed by Sadie Sink of Stranger Things fame. Jean Grey is a mutant and eventual member of the X-Men. She has telepathy and telekinesis and is definitively redheaded. Sadie Sink fits the description perfectly, and since we know she’s in the cast, and that some mind control conspiracy is key to Brand New Day’s story, I’m certain we’ll see Jean Grey as a major character in this film. I’m not super keen on this idea, as I think Jean Grey deserves to be introduced separate from a Spider-Man film of all things, but I think they can pull it off. Her story will seemingly intertwine with another character, anti-mutant activist William Hertzger, portrayed by award-winning Severance star Tramell Tillman. These two will likely be going toe to toe with Spider-Man mediating the chaos.
So to summarize: Brand New Day will feature a rivalry between Spider-Man and The Punisher, a story involving Spider-Man potentially mutating into the four-armed, inky-eyed Man-Spider, a mentorship with Bruce Banner, a series of low-level criminals including the Scorpion, and a thrilling plotline involving Jean Grey. After sitting on this for a little bit, I’ve realized that the clutter works to the advantage of this movie’s central themes. Peter Parker is overwhelmed and can’t do everything on his own, and that’s the lesson he’s going to learn, eventually pushing him to reunite with MJ and Ned. At least that’s my prediction for how this story will pan out.
I’m so eager to see how this film turns out. From what we’ve seen so far, it’s nailing the tone and writing. The action also looks great, and I can’t wait to see what surprises director Destin Daniel Cretton has in store for us on that front. He was the director of both Shang-Chi and Wonder Man, the most action-heavy and drama-heavy MCU projects to date (respectively). Spider-Man: Brand New Day is shaping up to be one of my most anticipated films of all time, and July 31st can’t come soon enough.