326, Spider-Man: Brand New Day

Okay MCU Fans - let's get a sense of where we are:

My last MCU Blog was way back in 2013 with Blog #294: Thor: The Dark World - which was actually the last blog I wrote before the hiatus so it's fair to say quite a lot has happened since then.

For me - following Avengers: End Game, the franchise lost quite a bit of momentum and I never really got into the newer movies as much I did the original ones.  

Thor: The Dark World was actually only the 8th release at the time (MCU dated releases, not chronologically) being the 2nd of six movies in Phase 2 - and this recent outing from Spidey marks the 38th release (and the 2nd of four movies in Phase 6), culminating with Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars (2026 & 2027 respectively) with Phase 7 penned in for 2028 releases.

All in - by the end of Phase 7 there will be a total of 43 movies making up the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) - and that doesn't include all of the TV shows and spin offs so I can't see this Multi-Billion Dollar franchise slowing down anytime soon.

So what can be said of Spider-Man: Brand New Day - well, it picks up around 5yrs after Spider-Man: No Way Home, with Spidey (Tom Holland) continuing on as NYC's  Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man (as he isn't really involved in Phase 5 of the MCU - which introduced us to the Marvels, Thunderbolts etc) and he's very much on the side-lines, watching his best friends MJ and Ned (Zendaya and Jacob Batalon) go through 4yrs at MIT, Graduation and now Apartment sharing, still without any knowledge of who Peter Parker is - following Dr Strange's Spell in the last outing.

It's been a very lonely time for him and you do feel sorry for his forced anonymity until a new enemy makes themselves known and Spidey is called in to help.

Tom Holland is my favourite Spiderman - It was great to see all three of them together in Spider-Man: No Way Home - along with all their respective villains and that movie, until now - was my favourite Spidey movie since Toby's first appearance but, this one is something special.

A little bit older - definitely wiser, all three main characters have now grown into themselves.  Ned is just a bigger, bolder version of teenage Ned, whereas MJ has this aura of questionability about her - almost knowing that something is missing from her life and not wanting to commit to anything, believing she is destined for something, or someone greater to enter her life. (Little does she know!)

I won't flag any spoilers in this - but there are certainly some elements of this movie that didn't happen that I really hoped would.  There is a little glimmer at the very end of the movie regarding the trio re-uniting properly and it's something that will absolutely (fingers crossed) be rectified in Spidey 5 (when it eventually happens - see the end of this blog) but nothing in the pipeline as of yet.

A great supporting cast member in this is John Bernthal - reuniting with Tom Holland following his role as Menelaus in The Odyssey and now, reprising his role as Frank Castle (The Punisher).  Not yet having a cinema release of his own - Bernthal has played the Punisher as far back as 2017 in the TV series of the same same and also in some episodes of Daredevil - so it was nice to get that crossover to this and get him on the big screen.  This character is probably one of Marvels most popular anti-heroes and it's good he is getting recognition within the MCU as it's a brilliant portrayal of the character from an fantastic actor.

Another highlight is we get to see a Full-blown Angry Hulk again - not the smaller, tamer friendly Smart-Hulk from Avengers: End Game and of course, Mark Ruffalo is back and on top form.

There are flash backs with the brilliant Marissa Tomei as the sadly now departed Aunt May and supporting NYPD Detective DeWolff (played by Liza Colon-Zayas / The Bear) who now works side-by-side with Spidey as he helps NYC battle its smaller criminal network.

There is a lovely Thunderbolt / New Avengers crossover with Yelena Belova - New Black Widow and leader of the Thunderbolts (now the 'New' Avengers), making it very clear that Spider-Man deals with the small potato stuff - leaving the bigger global threatening, alien invasion issues to them - with all her scenes set in her Sauna / Spa 'Office' - there is a great, funny little interaction between them both that works well.

Now the complicated bit: - and the connecting factor to a whole new franchise of characters over the coming few years.  Ladies & Gentlemen - Let's welcome Sadie Sink (Stranger Things / The Whale) to the franchise.

Sadie plays Jean Grey (of X-Men fame) and is the first introduction this new generation of X-men characters, formally launching in their own movie due 2028.  Sadie is the first acknowledgement of this and if I understand it correctly (as we learnt all those years ago) her powers have her as potentially the most powerful mutant ever - and you do get a feel for that in this with a younger iteration of the character.

This leads me to believe she seeks out Professor Xavier following on from this appearance in Brand New Day and we potentially kick-start the new generation of X-Men - similar in age to what we saw in X-Men First Class - but that can now be put into another dimension as the Cinematic Universe didn't mix back then - and only Dead Pool and Wolverine have so far crossed the streams (I think?) so these X-Men fall into the current dimension where we find most of the recent Marvel characters, and that works - doesn't it?

Anyway - I wont go into too much detail about Jean Grey's involvement in this movie - other than yes, she is the main protagonist - but it all works out fine in the end.

As we all know - Marvel is famed for it's end credit scenes but don't worry too much about this one.  There is only one, and it's right at the very very end of the credits, showing Ned's Spidey Tracker glitching and sending the Spidey locator signal into deep space - opening up for a potential plot line in the next movie of Spidey being thrown into a cosmic or multi-universal plotline (helping the New Avengers once more perhaps?) but either way - there is a final title card confirming "Spider-Man will return" so we will all just have to wait and see.  

Don't expect anything before at least 2029 as potential standalone Spidey release (if it happens) but it might point towards his inclusion in either Doomsday or Secret Wars (which I am sure he'll make an appearance).  

Sadly however - you'd need to ask Kevin Feige to be absolutely sure! and unfortunately I don't have his number so Kevin, if you read this - call me?

Overall great film - brilliant characters and the effects are fantastic - loved it.

Fancy seeing the Trailer?

Click below............