Tom Holland in Spider-Man: Brand New Day

Even as Marvel has struggled with the unwieldy MCU post Avengers: Endgame, one remaining bright spot are the Spider-Man films fronted by Tom Holland. In 2021, Spider-Man: No Way Home saddled Peter Parker with almost unbearable circumstances, to sacrifice not his life but his heart, by allowing the world, including his closest friends, to forget about him in order to save the world. Now, in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, the consequences of Peter’s sacrifice prove every bit as painful as anticipated. It’s four years later and he is alone, friendless, though Spider-Man has never been more popular.

There is a beautiful dovetailing of story here—Brand New Day and No Way Home share screenwriting duo Chris McKenna and Eriks Sommers—as previously, Spider-Man was loathed by the public but at least Peter had his faithful best friend, Ned (Jacob Batalon), the support of the Avengers, and, of course, the love of MJ (Zendaya). Now, while Spider-Man is beloved by the public, Peter is isolated, brokenhearted, and committed to his responsibility as a hero even if it leaves him hollow and lonely. The closest thing he has to a friend is Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal), aka the Punisher, who has a sort of big-brotherly rapport with Peter, and a detective, DeWolff (Liza Colón-Zayas), who calls Peter for help.

Holland has never been better as Peter, and Brand New Day feeds him plenty as an actor. Despite his depressing daily life, Peter still clings to a sense of duty that propels him, he is lonely but not bitter, and Holland strikes the perfect balance of honoring the terrible price Peter has paid, while still showing him as a man committed to helping others. Peter dreams of reuniting with his friends, even if he can never regain everything he lost, and that sliver of hope shines in Holland’s eyes even as Peter’s world starts spinning out of control once again.

Destin Daniel Cretton is on directing duties and showing a lot of growth from his previous Marvel movie, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. There are a lot of fun and cool action sequences, and Cretton works with a neat freeze-frame effect to detail one character’s powers that lends itself to cool visuals. The fight scenes are slick, but more interesting are Peter’s evolving powers. Previously, we’ve known him as a partially mechanical Spider-Man, but his powers are now mutating, organic webs are starting to squirt from his wrists (gross), and he becomes afraid of his own potential for destruction.

Enter Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), an expert in controlling one’s inner monster. But also enter practically the only problem Brand New Day has, which is Marvel’s complete inability to just leave a story the f-ck alone and let it stand apart from the greater MCU web. Everything in Brand New Day about Peter trudging through his lonely life, trying to get back to some semblance of friendship with Ned and MJ, is great. Even the presence of Frank Castle isn’t too distracting, as it shows the “street level” relationships Peter has forged without the Avengers to lean on. But Brand New Day has other cameos, and a villain that exists mostly to set up future movies.

And Peter Parker really doesn’t need the help. This is a character audiences love, portrayed by an equally well-loved actor, and when Brand New Day is focused on Peter and Holland is digging into all of Peter’s squishy interior parts, the film soars. But the larger MCU inevitably comes knocking and kills the momentum a little. Sadie Sink is very well cast in a role that won’t be spoiled here, but the film would have worked a little better if Peter’s antagonist was from a lower tier on the character shelf. Peter’s most compelling conflict in Brand New Day is internal, it’s Peter reckoning with his own actions and trying to build a life he can stand out of the wreckage of those consequences. He really doesn’t even need a significant antagonist here, so much of the drama derives directly from Peter.

Still, that’s a relatively minor complaint. Brand New Day is one of the few superhero movies to truly wrestle with what it means to be a hero, and how much that heroism can cost. It features an outstanding performance from Tom Holland, some great action, and an annoying insistence on carrying water for future MCU movies. It would be great if Marvel would stop doing that last thing, but even saddled with some MCU groundwork, Spider-Man: Brand New Day is otherwise one of the best Marvel movies, and Spider-Man movies, yet made.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is now playing exclusively in theaters.