Forget the World Cup, July 2026 belongs to Tom Holland, Zendaya, and Jon Bernthal. The three actors shine in both ‘The Odyssey’ and ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’, although when it comes to Holland, his characters drive the plots of each movie in very different ways. Going into BND, the biggest question was whether or not this installment would finally showcase the character of Spider-Man as his own man and hero. For about two thirds of the fourth sequential film in the current iteration of the franchise, Holland’s version truly captures the vibe of the beleaguered comic book figure saddled with “the Parker luck.”

BND opens with a Peter Parker still reeling from the events of ‘No Way Home,’ where he had no choice but to wipe out his existence from the minds of humanity. The most painful part of this development is his inability to participate in the lives of his girlfriend MJ (Zendaya) and best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon). He is relegated to keeping tabs on them through videos on social media and thrusting himself fully into a life of vigilantism. All of this unfolds over an exciting extended montage of crime-fighting and world-building as Spider-Man takes on bad guys, hooks up his shitty apartment with sick tech (3D printed suit!), and gazes longingly into his phone at the life he is missing at MIT. This sequence also sets up a fun new relationship with police Detective Jean DeWolff (Liza Colon-Zara, a familiar face from ‘The Bear’), in a nod to the long-standing team-up in the comics during the 80s. His monitoring of a crime alert app they share leads to one of the movie’s multiple stellar action sequences with Spider-Man trying to stop a runaway tank through the streets of NYC and features the first uproarious interaction between our hero and Frank Castle, aka The Punisher (Jon Bernthal, Bernthalling as he does).

During this portion of the movie, the “villain” of the piece is introduced. It’s a mysterious body-swapping entity that “jumps” from person to person that only Spider-Man can sense as they inhabit others. The entity taunts the hero from these varied perspectives, leading to some fun menace from unlikely sources, including a returning Michael Mando (“Better Call Saul”) as Mac Gargan, aka Scorpion, now decked out in a sick mech suit equipped with his signature tail. While this development provides a real challenge to the titular superhero, it’s his internalized interactions with his former friends and alienation that really drive this new version of the character.

‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day‘ attempts to juggle many subplots and developments, mainly succeeding on all fronts. Perhaps most importantly, it sets up an adult Peter Parker who has been winning as a superhero, yet losing in his personal life. New series director Destin Daniel Cretton and star Tom Holland effectively establish this dynamic through that aforementioned opening montage across four years that also includes Peter’s physical reluctance to interactions with anyone and anything unrelated to crime-fighting. When the movie is centered on him and his trials and tribulations due to physical and mental challenges, it really cooks. When the movie veers into developing its antagonist and future MCU world-building, it’s not as successful, a gripe that seems to be plaguing most of these otherwise standalone films post ‘Endgame.’ As evidenced by the boffo box office, this iteration of Spider-Man has no shortage of fans and minimal detractors, which extends to (or likely is also supported by) its lovely young married couple who continue to treat this material with respect and being their absolute A-games . . .

Directed By: Destin Daniel Cretton

Written By: Chris McKenna & Erik Sommers

Running Time: 145 min.

Rated: PG-13

* * * 1/2 (out of 4 stars) -OR- B+