Spider-Man: Brand New Day

Spider-man faces the dual threat of both a mysterious new villain and the sudden wild evolution of his powers.

Spider-man first appeared in issue #15 of Amazing Fantasy in 1962, created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko. In the time since, he has become one of, if not the most popular, and most commercially successful superhero ever. He’s not only a marquee star of Marvel comics, but a major draw for the MCU movies too. Everybody knows who he is. So, due to all that, and also because I just talked about him the other day, and a few others who also appear in this movie, I’ll skip recapping him and the other repeat characters this time.

Don't worry, there's plenty of others characters for me to ramble on about.

That said, some of the stuff I’ll be talking about here might be considered to be a spoiler. Although, that’s probably only true if you've been living on a desert island for the past two months--in which case, congratulations on making it home–as this film has made a over billion dollars domestically, and a total of nearly 2.5 billion dollars globally, and in just eight weeks too.

In short, it's been pretty popular.

I mention this in order to explain that I feel safe in saying that everyone has seen this film by now, or at least, everyone who wants to see it, but also, I understand that there might be a few people out there who haven't yet. If that‘s you, if that one person who hasn’t seen this multi-billion dollar film also happens to be among my literally dozens of readers, if you’re the one who has yet to see Spider-Man: Brand New Day, the biggest film of the summer, maybe even the year, and you decide to read on, well… sorry, dude, there’s some spoilers ahead. You've been warned.

So, let’s get to it.

The various characters, and from whence they came...

The Punisher

Known for his willingness to give criminals the hard goodbye, and for the giant white skull on his chest, a symbol adopted by fascist pigs around the world, despite the efforts on the part of the character's creator to reclaim his creation, not to mention the fact that the Punisher is no friend to cops and would kill the asshole with a badge wearing his sigil, specifically because they're fascists...

Francis "Frank" Castle is a former United States Marine who was deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq. While there, he was part of a CIA-attached black-ops team known as Cerberus Squad. Castle did a lot of bad things in the name of American freedom/corporate capitalism, and this haunted him even after he rotated back to the world. In an attempt to silence Frank and his conflicted conscience, under the orders of their shawdowy handlers, his family was ambushed and murdered by his old unit. Erroneously believing this to be the work of "urban gangs" at first, Frank went on a murderous rampage of revenge, earning the name the Punisher in the media. When he eventually discovered the truth about his former comrades, he went on yet another murderous rampage. The Punisher's myriad rampages have led to several run-ins with Daredevil, who doesn't approve of killing bad guys, only crippling and/or maiming them, as well as the police, who only care about wearing a ridiculous amount of gear they don't need, walking around with their thumbs hooked in the arm-holes of their tac-vests, leaning against walls while scrolling their phones, overtime grift, and occasionally murdering citizens.

And this is basically how the Punisher's story goes, cry-face, murder, cry-face, murder, murdering while making a cry-face, wash, rinse, repeat. Honestly, despite Jon Bernthal easily being the best version of the Punisher, it was getting to be a bit too dour and tedious, and that last one hour special? I watched it, so while I know it wasn't specifically racist... god damn, it sure as hell felt like it was, right?

So, it was nice to see him show up here as a much more fun version of the Punisher. Plus, Jon Bernthal and Tom Holland have this great "antagonistic brothers" chemistry that works perfectly for the Punisher and Spider-man, two characters who really shouldn't work together so well, but do.

He was a nice add here.

The Hulk

Doctor David Bruce Banner, M.D., Ph.D., is a renowned scientist and a founding member of the Avengers. Dr. Banner was originally hired by General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross to lead the effort to recreate the Super Soldier Serum that created Captain America. Unfortunately, like many scientists in the MCU, Banner decided to experiment on himself, and as a result, he discovered that people really don't like him when he's angry.

Cursed with turning into the raging natural disaster of a green-skinned monster known as the Hulk, Dr. Banner was on the run for years, forced to hitchhike along lonely roads, and to leave a trail of destruction behind him wherever he tarried too long. Eventually, he was recruited for the Avengers, facing Loki and his alien army during the Battle of New York. Since then, Dr. Banner and the Hulk have reached an uneasy equilibrium. They have fought Ultron and Thanos, and were a gladiator champion on an alien world, where they fathered a son named Skaar, and was even responsible for undoing The Blip and returning half the universe to life, when the Avengers re-gathered the Infinity Stones from across time.

While Dr. Banner has a pretty small role in the plot (which may become a much larger thing some day in the future), and Hulk is more of a reason for a cool action set piece than anything else, I am interested in seeing what these events mean for his character arc, especially in the upcoming film, Avengers: Doomsday.

We shall see...

Jean Grey

A powerful mutant psychic, Jean Grey is known for being the girlfriend of the X-Men known as Cyclops, for having the hots for Wolverine, for dying and becoming one of the most feared beings in existence, an ancient and primordial cosmic entity in the shape of massive fiery phoenix, the manifestation of the universal force of life, as well as the nexus of all psionic energy, and also for fainting a lot for various reasons, usually after being overcome by her powers, or because she was overcome by someone else's powers.

But those are different versions of Jean.

One day, presumably soon (probably by 2028 or so) this new version of Jean Grey will become a founding member of the MCU's version X-Men.

But for now, she's just an angry young woman on a mission.

Yelena Belova

Yelena Belova is the adoptive younger sister of the now deceased Avenger, Natasha Romanoff, and a fellow Red Room operative trained to be one of the legendary Black Widow assassins. She is also a founding member, as well as the leader of the New Avengers.

After being reunited with her adoptive sister, and her adoptive parents, Alexei Shostakov, the Red Guardian, and Melina Vostokoff, and together bringing down the Red Room, Yelena was working on freeing the remaining brainwashed Black Widows before she was killed by Thanos' Snap. Upon learning of her sister's death, following her resurrection, Yelena blamed Hawkeye (Clint Barton) for Natasha’s death, and tried to kill him, but ended up becoming besties with Kate Bishop, the new Hawleye. After that, she stumbled into a team-up with U.S. Agent, Ghost, Bucky, and Red Guardian while trying to not be killed by Valentina de la Fontaine, who was using Bob Reynolds, the unstable superhuman called the Sentry, as her personal weapon, and in the end, through the power of love and friendship, they all became the New Avengers, except for Valentina. They hate her.

As the leader of the premiere superhero team in the world, instead of working out of Avengers Tower, Yelena Belova prefers to work remotely from within a Russian bathhouse located out at the ass-end of Coney Island.

Jean DeWolff

Jean DeWolff is a New York City Police detective. Born into a family of cops, with two kids of her own, Detective DeWolff works hard to take down the city’s rampant supervillain population, organized crime organizations, and its street gangs. This led her to becoming an ally of Spider-man, with the two of them often sharing tips with each other.

Detective Jean DeWolff is a classic Spider-man character from the 80s. A long time ally of Spider-man, she was eventually murdered by the original Sin-Eater. A persona that would be adopted by a string of masked killer vigilantes, the first Sin-Eater was Stan Carter, a former agent of SHIELD, and the victim of a failed super soldier program that left him mentally unstable (a fact that apparently didn’t stop him from becoming an NYPD detective). In his spare time, he was a serial killer obsessed with killing anyone who “sinned” by abusing their authority. Spider-man, who at the time was unknowingly being corrupted by his black suit, as it was really the alien symbiote known as Venom, caught up to Carter and brutally beat him. It was one of the intial events that would eventually lead to the realization that the black suit was bad. So, with a piece of Venom now existing in the MCU universe, it’s interesting that they bring her back now.

But that said, I have to admit, I wasn’t really jibing with this relationship.

Being a comic book fan means understanding that the whole concept of superheroes is an inherently pro-cop fascist authoritarian one, and that ACAB most definitely includes the white guy who spends all his time putting his big brain and/or his bigger bank account towards making silly outfits and themed gear and vehicles, all so that they can go outside the law and freely beat on desperate people from under-resourced communities living in poverty with few options, or people with obvious mental health issues, instead of putting their significant resources into efforts to create real change and to care for the people of the city they claim to love so much. Being a comic book fan means taking this realization, and then just… compartmentalizing it. Because you also understand that this is just silly fiction and escapism and it’s supposed to be fun.

But sometimes it’s hard to ignore.

Here, maybe as a reflection of our time, it was extra hard for me to ignore. It definitely bothered me more that it usually does with Batman. Maybe it’s because Batman feels like he’s going to do whatever he wants, whether the cops approve or not, and that he is only using them as a means to an end to accomplish his mission. Meanwhile, with Spider-man, at least in this film, it felt too much to me like he was currying favor with the cops, or like he was even wearing a badge himself. Like, I'm fine with him webbing bad guys up on a streetlight and leaving a note, but being on scene with the cops, deferring to them, chatting on the phone with them and shit, like they’re buddies? It just didn’t work for me. It felt even worse when it came to him relationship with Damage Control too, especially as those guys might as well be cackling and twiddling their mustaches the whole time. And that it took him so long to figure this out just made Spidey seem like a dumbass.

The actress is great, the character is fine too, but this relationship… meh.

The Hand

And then there’s The Hand.

An ancient and powerful ninja clan, in Marvel Comics, the Hand first showed up in the 80s, which makes sense, as the 1980s were the time of the ninja in pop culture. They often plagued Daredevil, Wolverine, and the Punisher, maybe Moon Knight, or Luke Cage and Iron Fist, Shang Chi probably, really any street-level superhero's adventures. The Hand were also the inspiration for The Foot Clan, which was the main ninja enemies of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Just fyi.

In the MCU, the Hand originated in K'un-Lun, a hidden city of ancient mystical secrets and martial arts wisdom, where Iron Fist learned his kung fu. K’un-Lun is not to be confused with Kamar-Taj, a hidden city of ancient mystical secrets and magical wisdom, where Dr. Strange learned his sorcery. Banished from K'un-Lun for being dicks, the Hand existed in the shadows for centuries as killers-for-hire. Previously, they have showed up in one of the Netflix seasons of Daredevil, and it was all very forgettable, but I did like the look of the version of Elektra that appeared there.

But this is me saying that I kinda wish the Hand hadn’t been included in this film.

I know that Spider-man has dealt with them before, so that part is fine, but they felt out of place in this film. They felt like an unneeded, kind of wasted element in an already packed story. Plus, the version of them that the film used seemed off. But whatever, with the X-Men now on the horizon, and Wolverine in the MCU as well, I'm sure they'll be back at some point, and more in line with what works.

One thing that this movie did do that was fun, is that it gives us a glimpse of the various supervillains Spider-man has been fighting over the past few years. They’re not what you’d call characters exactly, because their appearances are mostly just a series of quick cameos, part of a longer montage that is meant to be fun color while illustrating the passage of time, but these guys are also fun little nods for the fans, as each one is a classic Spider-man villain. They're just not as big of names as the ones who appeared in the previous film.

Let's check them out...

Tarantula

Anton Rodriquez is the supervillain known as Tarantula. He's never been in a Spider-man movie before. But from what we see here, we can infer that at some point between the last movie and this one, Tarantula fought Spider-man on a boat, maybe a ferry.

The moment is based on this cover.

Ramrod

The name of the person who became the cybernetically modified criminal Ramrod is unknown. He's also never been in a Spider-man movie before.

But from what we can see here, it looks like, at some point between the last movie and this one, Ramrod fought Spider-Man in an alleyway or maybe a street corner, which seems like a dumb idea, as his chief weapon is clearly ramming people with his head, and this is obvious some pretty tight confines. This is why, when Ramrod attempted to ram our hero, and Spider-man jumped out of the way, he ended up running headfirst into a brick wall.

The moment is based on this cover.

Tombstone

Alonzo Thompson "Lonnie" Lincoln is the gangster known as Tombstone. Like the last two guys, he's never been in a Spider-man movie either.

From what we can see here, we can infer that, at some point between the last movie and this one, they fought, and at one point, Tombstone had the upper hand and was gloating as he dangled Spider-man off the edge of a building. But fear not, true believers, for soon enough, Spider-Man freed himself and webbed Tombstone against the wall.

The moment is based on this cover.

Boomerang

Frederick Myers is the supervillain called Boomerang, for obvious reasons, and again, like the others, he’s never been in a Spider-man movie before.

But from what we can see here, we can infer that, at some point between the last movie and this one, Boomerang faced off against Spider-Man on a roof high above the street, throwing an array of presumably trick boomerangs, as our hero dodged his attacks.

The moment is based on this cover.

Scorpion

MacDonald "Mac" Gargan is a little bit different from the other villains in this montage, as he plays a slightly bigger role in the story.

Gargan originally appeared in Spider-man: Homecoming (2017), the first Tom Holland Spider-man movie, where Spider-man repeatedly disrupted his criminal endeavors, and then beat him up, landing him in prison. When Gargan got out, he then acquired a scorpion-themed mechanical suit somewhere, most likely from the Tinkerer, who was probably like “A big scorpion tail? Really? You sure you don’t want like... guns?” and thus, became the supervillain Scorpion.

After that, he got beat up by Spider-man a lot more regularly.

This particular moment is somewhat based off of this cover, while also just being a classic Spider-man vs Scorpion moment. It‘s also a nod to the way that Spider-man will often appear wearing a stocking cap or a scarf or something, because the New York winters are cold, and Spidey is only wearing a spandex onesie.

And finally, there's...

Cindy Moon

Cindy Moon is a former high school classmate of Peter, MJ, and Ned at Midtown School of Science and Technology, and a fellow member of the school's decathlon team. She appeared in Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), and Avengers: Infinity War, and now, here she is yet again... maybe, as she might not be playing the same character in every appearance.

After all, these are two different actresses, who only have three brief appearances between the two of them–Tiffany Espensen as a background character in Spider-man: Homecoming and Avengers: Infinity Gem, and then Shannon Young Cho in just one scene in this film. And all we really know about the characters is that they are both southeast Asian women, and that they're both named Cindy. So they could potentially be playing different characters. Especially since neither one of them are ever actually referred to as Cindy Moon in these films either, just Cindy.

So, they might not even be playing Cindy Moon.

But also, if there’s a young Asian woman in a Spider-man story, and she is specifically called Cindy, that means something. Because in the comics, Cindy Moon is a Korean-American student who went to the same high school as Peter Parker. On the day they went on that field trip to that faithful science experiment where Peter was bitten by the radioactive spider that gave him his powers, Cindy Moon was also bitten. As a result, she got the same powers that day, and then went on to have a much different life experience from Peter, until eventually becoming the superhero known as Silk.. But that's not the point. My point is, if a southeast Asian woman appears in a Spider-man story, and she's called Cindy, the fans will immediately know who she’s supposed to be. They'll will also know the filmmakers know this too, and if the filmmakers didn't want fans to assume that this is Cindy Moon, they would've named her "Janet" or "Soo-Mi" or "Babette" or literally any other name besides Cindy, but they didn't, so it must be Cindy Moon. So that's the big question here...

Will Cindy Moon ever become the superhero known as Silk?

I don't know.

Right now, as the MCU seems to be tightening its movie belt, and maybe even closing up their TV shop, my gut tells me no. But they keep including her in these movies, and pointing it out. Why? Are they trying to beat Jubilee's record as the most number of cameos without actually becoming a character? Who knows. My point is, maybe someday they’ll make something of the fact that they keep on including her in these films.

Anyway, let's get on with it.

The Movie

So...

After Dr. Strange's spell made the world forget he existed, Peter Parker chose to live alone, removing himself from the lives of his girlfriend Michelle "MJ" Jones-Watson and his best friend Ned Leeds, instead of re-introducing himself, in order to protect them from the dangers that come with his life as the superhero known as Spider-man. While MJ and Ned away at MIT, Peter stays in New York, fighting a colorful variety of supervillains, ninjas, and street thugs, and forging a bond with Detective Dewolff of the NYPD, all while watching MJ and Ned enjoy their college experience through social media.

Four years pass...

And it's a typical day in New York City. An armored vehicle careens through Manhattan, and Spider-man is doing his best to slow it down before it can crash into the Department of Damage Control's prison, all while also dealing with The Punisher, who has decided to stop the threat in his own way. When the vehicle is finally stopped, it quickly becomes apparent that the driver is an innocent who was possessed by a telepath, as the telepath then body hops person to person with the goal of springing Scorpion during a prison transfer, who then gets away. Unsure what to make of these strange events, Spider-man goes looking for help, and ends up consulting Yelena Belova, leader of the New Avengers, in a Russian bathhouse. As the pair have a soak, she informs him that there have been multiple attacks on DODC facilities, all done by someone searching for something called "V-Max." But when Spider-man goes and asks the obviously untrustworthy DODC director Bill Metzger about V-Max, he plays dumb.

Meanwhile... Ned and MJ move back to New York after graduating from MIT. Peter stalks them, and crashes their housewarming party. He is not only distressed by how they clearly don't recognize him, as well as how Ned is also stalking Spider-man and trying to uncover his identity using a Spider-Man Sighting app of his own creation, but also because he sees MJ kiss her new boyfriend. The night ruined, he goes home, having a panic attack maybe, and wakes up in a web cocoon, thanks to having suddenly grown organic web-shooters, to discover that his senses have all dialed up to a painful degree.

When the telepath launches another attack on another DODC facility, this time while possessing the body of the Scorpion, Spider-man rushes to respond, but he loses control and brutally beats the villain, inadvertently injuring a police officer in the process. Concerned, Detective DeWolff tells him he needs to take a break and get himself under control. So Peter seeks out Bruce Banner, who is now teaching at Empire State University, thanks to an inhibitor device he wears that uses siRNA, sometimes known as silencing RNA, to suppress his raging super-powered alter ego, the Hulk.

This inspires Peter to build his own power inhibitor, a device which every comic book fan will immediately recognize as a huge mistake, and something that will definitely bite him and all the other heroes in the ass at some point in the MCU's future... But for the time being, it seems to be helping him to control his powers’ sudden changes. Unfortunately, while he's out testing the inhibitor, the telepath breaks in to his apartment. There, they learn who MJ is when they find Peter’s still unsent oft-rewritten reintroduction letter, which we last saw at the end of the previous movie.

When Spider-man realizes this, he tries to get MJ to safety, but the telepath is there too. They possess MJ and almost kill her. Spider-man is barely able to save her, but as a result, he identifies the telepath as a young woman named Jean Grey, which was one of the worst kept secrets in the history of Hollywood leading up to the film's release, but is still some huge news for the future of the MCU, as Jean Grey means the X-Men aren't far behind. Anyway, desperate, Spider-man takes MJ to the Punisher's hideout for protection, where he and Frank argue, and MJ helps him complete not only his own inhibitor, but to also build a universal inhibitor too, which is what a whole bunch of super people, especially mutants, will eventually find themselves wearing while in a government concentration camp.

But that's a story for another day...

That's when Spider-man hears that Jean is attacking the DODC's headquarters. That's bad enough, but then he finds out she has possessed the Hulk, a true shit-your-pants moment for any superhero. He and the Punisher are very much out-classed by the might of the jade giant. While Spider-man is busy fighting the Hulk, Jean possesses the Punisher in order to open the panic room where Metzger is hiding, hoping to pry the information about V-Max from his brain. Spider-man is able to stop her at the last minute with a universal inhibitor, and Metzger tranqs her. As Jean loses consciousness, she mentions a name, Sara. As the DODC take her into custody, Metzger tells Spider-man that he was thinking of a colleague named Sara, and Jean must have heard it in his head.

When Spider-man returns to the Punisher's hideout, he discovers that MJ has found his letter, and despite a heartfelt speech and his professing of his love for her, she explains that she doesn't know him, and doesn't feel the same way. Peter is crushed, and upon seeing his distress, she invites him back to her apartment to see her and Ned. He accepts, as Spider-man, but still, the three of them have a nice afternoon of shooting the shit, building legos, and quoting the Lord of the Rings at each other. But when MJ casually mentions her experience being possessed, Peter realizes that Metzger was lying to him.

Contacting Yelena, Spider-man learns from a redacted DODC file that Sara was actually the name of Jean's sister, another telepath who had been snatched off the street by DODC blackboots, and has since disappeared. Finally realizing who the real bad guys are in this story, Spider-man knows what he has to do...

Free Jean.

I'll the leave the rest for those of you haven’t seen the film yet…

Anyway, the reason that Spider-Man: Brand New Day made nearly 2.5 billion dollars globally in just 8 weeks can maybe best be summed up by the fact that when I went to see it, as it started, and Tom Holland says: “My name is Peter Parker…" some little kid sitting up near the front of the theatre went “Yay!”

People love Spider-man.

Especially when he’s in Minneapolis and he beats up some white Christian American Nazi bigots, like that sadly typical MAGA piece of shit Jake Lang.

Not all heroes wear capes, y'see. Some of them wear web-themed spandex onesies and punch white bigots. Get his ass, Spidey!

Get his ass!

Basically, it's been Spider-man's summer.

Which is good, because Marvel is in the midst of a new chapter, and it's fair to say that it's been a rough transition. The brand is older, the novelty has worn off, and the run-up to what is happening (or what is going to happen) with the Multiverse–at least if my theories about Doomsday are right–is a little harder to illustrate than the gathering of the Infinity Stones was.

Still, I think they'll stick the landing.

But who knows, I may be completely wrong. I thought for sure that, since Mephisto (basically Marvel Comic's version of Satan), after years of speculation, finally showed up in the series Ironheart, and offered Riri Williams a deal with the devil, I figured, since Mephisto was played by Sacha Baron Cohen, and since in the comics, the Brand New Day story is about Peter bargaining with Mephisto to save a dying Aunt May, for which, Mephisto took his marriage to MJ, I thought for sure that this film would end with Mephisto appearing and offering Peter a way to have his friends back, and how for a moment, most likely as "I'm Into Something Good" by Herman's Hermits played, Peter would be skipping down the street, all while believing that everything was fine and dandy like sugar candy, and then he would turn a corner, and–record scratch–realize that he's actually in a different reality, one that is ruled by Doctor Doom!

Which would then lead into Doomsday.

I also thought for sure that Spidey would show up at the end of the last season of Daredevil, and/or in that recent Punisher one-hour special, because they needed a way to explain how he and Frank clearly already knew each other at the beginning of this film...

But I was wrong on all counts.

So, I guess we'll see how things shake-out this December…

Anyway, despite a few missteps, like Thor: Love and Thunder, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, The Marvels, or Captain America: Brave New World, despite a few yet to be properly recognized works of genius, like She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, Eternals, Hawkeye, and Thunderbolts, despite some legitmate successes like Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and Guardians of the Galaxy 3, Post-Endgame has been a wobbly time for the MCU mega-franchise. But every time things got iffy, Spider-man has reliably swooped in with a huge box office win. Three times now! I'm not going to say Spider-man is basically keeping the MCU afloat at this point, because that's not true, but you know that they definitely love them some Tom and Zendaya over at the Marvel Movie office right now, right?

And as a personal bonus, it’s always fun watching the assholes, the ones who have made their butthurt over the MCU being popular their whole personality, scramble in the wake of one of these massively successful comic book movies, to explain how they’re actually still right, and that people really are sick of comic book movies. So that's always fun, for me at least.

Plus, best of all, I really enjoyed this movie.

It's not my favorite Spider-man, that's the previous one, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and I'd only rank it at 18 out of the current 38 films that make up the MCU. But still, I enjoyed it. It's fun, it’s funny, it looks good, it’s got great action, it’s got some good soap opera drama, and a bunch of other comic book characters showing up, many of them more obscure minor characters. I loved that.

It’s a good time.

Plus, I like how Spider-man gets to lean into his Bugs Bunny-like roots here. And most of all... the suit looks great. Finally. That blue and red is just fantastic. After all the shit they've added and changed with that outfit, it's just undeniable, it was perfect from the very start. I also enjoyed the fact that Tom Holland was in two movies this summer about lonely heroes, haunted by the terrible cost of their past victories, all while fighting to get back to their loved ones, battling monsters and mayhem along the way.

Most of all, I like Tom Holland finally gets to play the more classic version of Spider-man, instead of the MCU version of Spider-man. This time, he‘s filled with all the classic Spider-man inner conflicts, all the drama of his young life, all while on his own, and with very little in the way of a support web, which is so great. One of the downsides of how the MCU Spider-man developed was how he always had the support of a technological genius billionaire and his organization. It's hard to be a scrappy underdog when you also have an nanotechnology fabricator, y’know? But all that’s gone now, and I liked the way that this fits with the way this film is about Peter having to grow up. He's no longer a kid on a lark, his “parents” just a phone call away to bail him out in case there’s real trouble, he’s out in the world now, he’s all alone, and it’s dangerous out there.

They didn't quite nail it, of course.

Peter and his friends both have the classic “Friends Problem” of somehow having these amazing New York apartments that are supposed to be "run down" but are actually really awesome. Peter's apartment is basically my dream apartment. And also, no one seems to have a job. I mean, seriously... what the fuck does Peter do for money in this movie? He sure as shit isn't a stringer photog for the Daily Bugle. He's not even delivering pizza! In fact, he's ordering it regularly! In this economy? And also, where did he get all his tech? Sure, some of it is probably left over from four years ago when the world knew who he was and he had the backing of Stark Industries, and we've seen him dumpster dive and repair old tech, but the stuff in his apartment is beyond cutting edge. Where did it come from?

But whatever. Nitpicks. It’s the Friends Problem, there is no answer.

I also liked how the film did a good job of weaving Jean Grey's introduction into Peter's own story, and how it resolved the story with a very clever use of the classic Spider-man mantra of great power and great responsibility, and all with the added lesson that no one can go through this life alone. That was good. I liked how Jean’s arc mirrored Peter’s, but also Frank’s and Bruce’s too. Here were three people who were all hit with great tragedy, each one dealing with it differently, and now, their resulting lives illustrated the various fates that may await her, depending on the path she chooses. I liked that a lot.

I know that there were some people (weirdos) out there who were angry at her story, believing that Jean’s actions were in no way excused by the kidnapping and murder of her sister, an idea that only makes sense if, for some reason, you’re only willing to see background characters in the film as real, but not Jean or her sister. Even worse, it’s not even an idea the film pushes. We aren’t supposed to think Jean has been redeemed, that hasn't happened yet. What we’re supposed to see here is that she has learned forgiveness. We’re supposed to understand that while she did make mistakes, and hurt people, when she was finally faced with the hard decision, she ultimately made the right choice. She turned away from the rage and guilt and anger, saving herself from a similar fate as Peter and Frank and Bruce all suffered. As a result, we’re supposed to see that Jean is now on the path to redemption, and as she rides off on a bus and into the unknown, literally into the susnset, we are supposed to understand that her journey has only just begun. The fact that people out there weren’t able to understand this very clear message, one that was obvious on screen, is a sad indictment of our society and the sorry state of media literacy.

Ugh.

But that having been said, this is the first film in a long time from the MCU that put me in mind of Iron Man 2. That‘s a film that did a lot of heavy lifting setting up the next phase of the MCU, and this film seems to be doing that too. Not just with Jean Grey and the X-men either, but potentially with plot points like how the Hulk has lost control once again, how Frank maybe started his own path to healing, and of course, that god damn inhibitor. I almost hate it that I can see that particular story coming, but then… that's how these stories are built. And don't get me wrong, this set-up work wasn’t that bad a thing really. I certainly don’t mind the crossover stuff, obviously, but this time, like with Iron Man 2, it did feel a little overburdened by the weight. But... to be fair, at least in my opinion, that just made the film a bit awkward at times, is all. These MCU set-up requirements didn't cause the film to fall, but it was clearly a bit staggered.

I was fine with it, in the end, but yeah, it's a noticeable thing. And honestly, the only thing that actually bothered me about this film was Spider-man taking so long to sort of figure out that working with cops is bullshit.

Finally, let's talk about the mid-credits stinger.

A somewhat confusing stinger this time, it shows Ned’s Spider-Man Sighting Tracker app, with Spider-man sightings popping up all over NYC, but then it veers off, away from Earth and into deep space, and shows a sighting of Spider-man. A lot of people weren’t sure what that meant. Obviously, Doomsday is coming, does this mean that Spider-man has once again found himself fighting in space? I don’t know, but if I had to guess, I would link it to the end-credits stinger from the film Thunderbolts, which showed a spaceship entering Earth’s atmosphere with a giant blue 4 on the side, signaling to us all that the Fantastic Four are arriving from their reality, most likely as a result of it having been destroyed due to the collapse of the multiverse. So my thought is, what it if the Spider-man app isn’t actually tracking Peter Parker/Spider-man this time, but Miles Morales/Spider-man? After all, in the 2015 comic book event known as Secret Wars, which the coming Doomsday and Secret Wars films are reportedly based on, when a group of villainous refugees escape the collapse of their universe, Miles manages to stow away on board, which is how he eventually ends up in the main universe. So, what if this is how Miles Morales shows up in the MCU?

We shall see…

Anyway, Spider-Man: Brand New Day is a film that was obviously intended as a Spider-man reset/greatest hits/set up for the new Spider-man/MCU era film, so it had a lot of good stuff going on in it. But it was also clearly beholden to more than just telling its own story. Plus, this film was released right before a potentially huge shake-up happens to the MCU status quo, so it can't commit to too much, because the future is not set. It's fair to say that the fact this film is busy with setting up for a whole new era, while also being forced to tread water before the big changes hits, means that it is unavoidable that the film's tone will be at odds with itself at times. This is definitely going to bother some people. I think that it still works, that it's still fun, but it's also fair to say that I'm giving this movie more leeway than others might. This is Iron Man 2, it's laying some new foundations. But it's also the MCU going back to basics with this character, all while pointing the whole ball of wax in what is technically an all-new direction. This is a place-holder film, it's a fun place-holder film, but a place-holder nonetheless, because despite no mention of it in the film, the shadow of Doomsday and Secret Wars still looms very large.

But that said, I don't think it's fair to call this a bad movie. Unless you just don't like superhero movies in general–in which case, why the fuck did you even go–this is undeniably still a fun, well-made adventure, and a good time at the movies. It's just more about wrapping up old threads and preparing for a new day, then it is digging into any new stuff, y'know?

I guess we'll have to wait and see where it all goes from here...