Spider-Man: Brand New Day Is Taking A Page From A Controversial Comic
Peter Parker gets a fresh start, but not without sacrifice.
It’s been nearly four years since Spider-Man had his last misadventure in Marvel’s Cinematic Universe, and fans are eager to see the next chapter in his saga. Spider-Man: No Way Home capped off a trilogy with a much-needed reset that brought Tom Holland’s webslinger back to square one in spectacular fashion. Now on his own and totally anonymous to everyone — including his friends, loved ones, and fellow Avengers — Spider-Man is finally starting to resemble the hero that purists have been waiting to see. For what may be the first time since his introduction in Captain America 3, he’s been given a fresh start... or, more accurately, a brand new day.
After months of vague teases, Tom Holland and director Destin Daniel Cretton have offered a major update about the next Spider-Man film. Taking the stage at this year’s CinemaCon, the two unveiled the title for Spider-Man 4. “I know we left you with a massive cliffhanger at the end of No Way Home,” Holland said in a video segment. “Spider-Man: Brand New Day is a fresh start.”
Per Cretton, Brand New Day will be “a ride that we haven’t really seen before.” No Way Home reset the board: our hero went to drastic lengths to put his secret identity back under wraps, and thanks to a potent spell from Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), he’s been erased from the memory of anyone who knew him. Whatever threat he faces now, he’ll have to face alone — and since Brand New Day takes its title from a controversial Spidey comic, we have some idea of the adventure to come.
Brand New Day could finally tell a Spidey story with no strings attached.
No Way Home took loose inspiration from the comic event One More Day, where Peter Parker sacrificed his relationship with Mary Jane Watson to save his Aunt May’s life. That comic event was divisive enough on its own, but the story continued in Brand New Day. Written by Dan Slott, with art by Steve McNiven and Dexter Vines, it ran for 18 issues in 2008 and followed Peter as he adjusted to the dissolution of his marriage and his continued exploits as Spider-Man. The series saw the return of fan favorites like Harry Osborn and villains like Mister Negative, but its main antagonist was Lily Hollister, also known as “Menace.”
Brand New Day didn’t make many drastic changes to Spider-Man’s world. The run was designed to invoke Peter’s early days, resetting the status quo after the major events of House of M and One More Day. It rebooted the character without erasing his growth, but it remains controversial for doing away with the relationships that defined Peter and Spider-Man. Slott would later build on this blank slate with Big Time, a storyline that finally saw Peter settle into adulthood, but a lot of fans would have preferred to see Peter mature more organically.
It’ll be interesting to see how Marvel Studios interprets Brand New Day on the big screen. Like One More Day, No Way Home separated Peter from his true love, MJ (Zendaya). How he’ll move on, and who he’ll encounter, will define Marvel’s upcoming Spider-Man trilogy. Arguably, change is needed, as the Spidey franchise has gotten a bit of flak for ignoring Spider-Man’s roots to “MCU-ify” the hero. This hard reset isn’t without its downsides, but Cretton and screenwriters Erik Sommers and Chris McKenna have the opportunity to tell a Spider-Man tale more in line with the comics, and introduce themes and characters fans have been waiting to see for years.
