Spider-Man: Brand New Day

We are in a period in which all the people who hate superheroes have been gleefully proclaiming that the time of superhero movies is over, because the MCU has produced a number of duds of late. The truth is, of course that, just like any other artistic endeavour, some superhero movies are good and some are bad. DC ones, sadly, are almost always bad. Kevin Feige and his team have a better track record, but before the MCU was set up a lot of Marvel movies were really bad too. Then again, if people want to hold that the time of superhero movies is over, maybe they can just stay away, and allow those of us who enjoy such things to do so without dragging us into some sort of culture war.

Except, Spider-Man: Brand New Day is good. Very good. Part of that is, I suspect, because this is the fourth movie in the latest Spidey sequence and the team know what they are doing. Part of it is undoubtedly because the husband and wife team of Tom Holland and Zendaya work very well together on screen. But a lot of it is just Spidey himself.

I saw one review that claimed that this film was good (as opposed to all other superhero films which were bad) because it was centred on the lives of the protagonists as people, rather than on superheroes. Mate, how do you think Stan Lee made such a success of Marvel in the first place? The whole point was that Marvel heroes had lives outside of their costumes, and their struggles there were as much a part of the story as the crime fighting.

Spider-Man, the nerdy New York teenager who lucks into super powers and has to struggle with school, his aged aunt, and girlfriend problems when he’s not in costume is the epitome of the Marvel hero, which is why he is so popular.

With Brand New Day the MCU folks have built on that. They have taken their story arc and run with it. In the previous film, following the tragic death of Aunt May, Spidey decides that he must protect his loved ones from danger. The only way he could do that was by getting Doctor Strange to cast a spell that erased his alter ego, Peter Parker, from memory. As a result, his girlfriend, MJ, and best mate Ned, go off to Yale and Peter is left hiding from the world and spending his time mostly in costume.

Brand New Day is set four years in the future. MJ and Ned have both graduated, and have moved back to New York. Peter is finding it increasingly harder to cope with his reclusive lifestyle, and discovering that MJ now has a boyfriend tips him over the edge. But, of course, there are villains to fight.

The big bad in this movie was a total surprise. How I managed to get to the cinema without being spoiled is a mystery to me, so well done everyone I follow on social media who saw the film before me. This is a character that I have been waiting on tenterhooks to see ever since I saw the post-credits scene from The Marvels. And now Avengers: Doomsday cannot come soon enough. Job well done, MCU people.

Back with Spidey, the film also teams our favourite webslinger up with Frank Castle, The Punisher. I have never been fan of that character, at least in part because he is so beloved of right wing gun nuts. Brand New Day uses him very well, both interrogating his outlook on life, and using him for comedy.

The film also makes brief use of Yelena Belova, and frankly adding Florence Pugh to any film automatically makes it better.

All in all it looks like the MCU team are getting their act together again. I hope so. I enjoy this stuff, and I don’t care that lots of you don’t.