Spider-Man’s Hauntingly Lonely Brand New Day

Zendaya’s big week continues with the official trailer for Spider-Man: Brand New Day, though I suppose this is technically a Tom Holland-first thing. The trailer does prominently feature Zendaya, though, because since being cast as “the girlfriend” in Spider-Man: Homecoming a decade ago, she has become one of the biggest stars of her generation. And thanks god, this one wasn’t released as a vertical video!

Spider-Man movies should never really be a bummer, because Spider-Man as a hero is rooted in optimism and youthful energy, but this is as close to a bummer as we’re going to get, with Peter Parker still isolated and separated from his friends, MJ and Ned, following the events of No Way Home. Peter Parker is doing his Spider-Man thing and stalking his friends online, having been left behind when they went off to college. Sad!

But he does have some new superhero friends, chiefly in the form of Jon Bernthal’s Frank Castle. I am still invested enough and nerdy enough to be stoked to see Spider-Man cross paths with “street level” heroes like Daredevil and the Punisher, and I am especially interested in Bernthal showing up because his character could not be more diametrically opposed to Peter Parker. It’s going to be fun watching Peter and Frank bounce off of each other—and Sony knows it, because that dynamic is featured a lot in the trailer.

The trailer dances around the villain plot—secret ninja organization The Hand is involved, though, so we can expect Charlie Cox to return as Daredevil, too—but spends more time showing Peter undergoing some, er, changes. Peter’s whole spider-deal is an allegory for puberty (which Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man perfectly captures), but this version of Spidey was introduced to us fully formed. We missed his power acquisition and development. He was also boosted by technology, with his suits and web shooters doing a lot of work.

But now it seems Peter Parker is having a second puberty as he is spinning webs organically and his Spidey senses are going haywire. Mark Ruffalo returns as Bruce Banner to help Peter figure out what is happening to him, and someone please remember who this kid is because his loneliness is killing me (sung to the melody of “Baby One More Time”).

This is a really strong trailer, they’re showing off all the character dynamics people have been looking forward to and making a strong case for bringing these characters back for a fourth outing. Director Destin Daniel Cretton is taking over, coming off his work on Shang-Chi, and while this is just a two-minute glimpse at the film, the action looks fantastic. That shot with Peter descending on The Hand is GREAT.

Even as Marvel has floundered in other areas, Spider-Man has remained strong, which means Brand New Day is just the shot in the arm the MCU needs before ramping up for Avengers: Doomsday. I’m not convinced that little experiment will go as well, but Brand New Day, due on July 31, is poised to be one of the biggest films of the summer. It’s certainly going to be a huge July for Tom and Zendaya, with Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey opening just two weeks before Brand New Day (why is everyone planning their movies like this? Please stop!). Actually Jon Bernthal, too, he’s in both movies as well. So every movie is coming out at the same time, and the same three people are in every movie. Great planning everyone!