It is no secret that Marvel has, for the past few years, been stuck in a rut of unsuccessful and unpopular sequels. Between the underperforming Ant Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and the massive loss the studio took on The Marvels, the output of the studio has been far less ironclad than it once was, with even the financial successes of the era (Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Thor: Love and Thunder, Captain America: Brave New World) being very critically received and not pulling in nearly the numbers pre-Endgame Marvel once did. Clearly there has been an issue present within most modern Marvel media; an issue which, starkly, seems missing from its most recent film.
Spiderman: Brand New Day released last Friday, July 31, to a phenomenal opening. The movie grossed $360M in its opening weekend (beating Endgame) and in total has already grossed over $1 billion globally at the box office. It is Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, with 98% rating by fans and 90% by critics. Fans and moviegoers have been showing up to theaters in astounding pre-Covid numbers.
So, what happened?
Spiderman: Brand New Day was directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, director of "Wonder Man" and Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and written by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers, both of whom co-wrote Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and Ant-Man and the Wasp. The film primarily follows our web-slinging hero’s (Tom Holland) struggle to live in isolation of his friends and family post-Spiderman: No Way Home. The film tonally feels very different from the previous trilogy, due in no small part to Cretton, McKenna, Sommers, and Holland’s creative vision for the character moving forward. While the previous 3 Spider-Man movies were all beloved and critical and financially well-received, they formed a complete trilogy; Peter’s story and character arc conclude tragically but satisfyingly, with No Way Home serving at a perfect send-off for a beloved character and his journey. Moving forward, Cretton & Co. deliver more than just a sequel; they give us a soft reboot.
Peter’s character, while shaped and scarred by the previous trilogy, is still having an experience very based in humanity. The director and writers, as with their previous projects, give the movie a very lived-in human edge, perfect for a character so beloved for his relatability. The film is one that audiences don’t need to watch 15 previous films to understand or love, allowing for a much wider appeal as opposed to the die-hard core audience Marvel has relied on for most audience turnouts in the past few years. This fits perfectly with the primary theme of the movie: Rebirth. Peter must shed the burdens of his previous life to make meaningful connections with the new people around him. The plot itself serves to free the movie from the shackles of crossover convolution that plague most films in the franchise.
There has been a mountain of discourse surrounding Marvel’s dropping theater presence; between dipping theater attendances, sequel hell, and Disney+ influence, there are hundreds of contributing factors, but the biggest reason has been Marvel Fatigue. Along the way, Marvel studios became more interested in connecting narratives to create a massive interconnected Cinematic Universe and less so about telling stories about people. Time and time again, beloved characters grew completely divorced from their original selves after waves of pointless crossover and cameos. If Marvel is to continue producing great movies, they need to give up some amount of legacy and return to telling human stories about characters audiences can understand and connect with. Whether or not you enjoy the complexity of the recent MCU, there is a lot to love in Marvel’s new Spiderman: Brand New Day.
Catch it in theaters now!
