Published Jul 17, 2026, 8:03 PM EDT
Ben Sherlock is a Tomatometer-approved film and TV critic who runs the massively underrated YouTube channel I Got Touched at the Cinema. Before working at Screen Rant, Ben wrote for Game Rant, Taste of Cinema, Comic Book Resources, and BabbleTop. He’s also an indie filmmaker, a standup comedian, and an alumnus of the School of Rock.
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Tom Holland, Zendaya, and Jon Bernthal are about to burst into cinemas in one of the biggest blockbusters ever made — one of the most highly anticipated movie releases of all time — and then, a couple of weeks later, they’re going to do it again. Spider-Man: Brand New Day is swinging into theaters on July 31, and we’ll finally get to see what Destin Daniel Cretton has been cooking up. In a bid to top the multiversal madness of No Way Home, Brand New Day has a lot of moving parts in its giant, sprawling plot: magical memory loss, telepathic terrorism, Spider-puberty.
Between fights with the Hand, a team-up with the Punisher, and a host of C-list villains, Spider-Man: Brand New Day is full of deep-cut references from the Marvel universe. So, there’s a lot of Marvel lore to refresh yourself on before the movie hits theaters. Brand New Day is looking like a live-action episode of Spider-Man: The Animated Series, and it directly follows the events of The Punisher: One Last Kill — and it might be introducing us to the MCU’s Jean Grey. So, there’s a lot to catch up on.
There’s a lot going on in Brand New Day’s trailers — Spider-puberty, Hand attacks, prison brawls, a city flooded with B-list and C-list villains — and it feels like a live-action version of Spider-Man: The Animated Series. Brand New Day is going back to basics, with a friendless, Earth-bound, strapped-for-cash Peter Parker fighting street crime in New York.
Much in the way that Avengers: Doomsday is taking cues from X-Men: The Animated Series, and The Batman Part II seems to be taking cues from Batman: The Animated Series, Destin Daniel Cretton appears to be taking influence from the classic ‘90s cartoon that defined the character for a generation. Brand New Day might even be doing a Man-Spider storyline.
Daredevil isn’t confirmed to appear in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, but it seems very, very likely. It would be really weird for Marvel to do a movie featuring the Hand and the Punisher and not Daredevil. After Matt was sent to prison in Daredevil: Born Again’s season 2 finale, I can’t imagine any other reason for Spidey to be fighting the Hand in a prison than to break him out.
But even if Daredevil himself isn’t in Brand New Day, it’s worth rewatching the Netflix Daredevil show for a refresher on the Hand and the Punisher. It’s also worth rewatching because it’s one of the best superhero shows ever made.
There are a lot of reasons to be excited about Spider-Man: Brand New Day — the director of Shang-Chi, Sadie Sink’s mystery role, Holland’s return to the red-and-blue after a five-year hiatus — but, for me, the most exciting thing about the movie is the Punisher’s appearance. I still can’t believe we’re getting Spider-Man and the Punisher in the same movie, and I can’t wait to see it.
Jon Bernthal has proven to be the definitive on-screen portrayal of Frank Castle. He’s as perfectly cast in the role of Frank as Robert Downey, Jr. was as Tony Stark, or Wesley Snipes as Blade. Before you see this Punisher’s big-screen debut, go back and watch the delightfully brutal spinoff series that launched him to stardom.
Until Spider-Noir came along and surprised everyone this summer, The Spectacular Spider-Man was the last truly great Spider-Man show to hit the airwaves. Josh Keaton’s performance as Peter Parker is as definitive and true to the character as Kevin Conroy’s Bruce Wayne — he’s the voice you hear in your head when you’re reading Spidey’s speech bubbles.
And it’s not just the voice acting; The Spectacular Spider-Man has spectacular writing, too. The storytelling and character development have an earnestness and a maturity that you don’t often see in superhero cartoons.
Now, as of yet, it’s still not confirmed that Sadie Sink is playing Jean Grey. She could still be playing someone else — Mayday Parker from the Maguire-verse has been floated as a tantalizing but unlikely candidate — but it seems extremely likely that this mysterious telekinetic telepath with red hair, played by one of the best and brightest young stars in Hollywood, is, indeed, Jean Grey.
That would mean the MCU is building its X-Men out from Jean, which is an interesting starting point. And if the X-Men’s journey into the MCU is about to begin, then it’s a good time to watch X-Men: The Animated Series and get acquainted with the iconic mutants.
We’ll finally catch up with Bruce Banner in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, as he becomes the latest Avenger to mentor Peter Parker after Iron Man and Doctor Strange. The last time we saw Bruce was in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, where he helped his cousin Jen adapt to her own burgeoning Hulk powers.
Back then, Bruce was still in his Smart Hulk form, and he introduced us to his son Skaar, who he sired during his gladiatorial career on Sakaar. So, he has a lot of explaining to do when we finally see him again all these years later.
This one is a bit of a long shot, but the selling point of Spider-Man: Brand New Day is the team-ups. As he embarks on his latest adventure, Spidey is joining forces with the Hulk and the Punisher and maybe even Jean Grey.
It’s always fun to see Spider-Man bantering with other heroes, and that was the entire conceit of the Ultimate Spider-Man animated series. The premise of the series sees Spidey working with S.H.I.E.L.D. and teaming up with other heroes, so it’s a bit like Brand New Day.
After Bernthal made his debut as the Punisher in Daredevil, he made his debut in the MCU proper in Daredevil’s Disney-mounted reboot, Daredevil: Born Again. He didn’t feature in the second season, but he featured heavily in the first.
Born Again was the first step in Frank’s journey to Brand New Day. Kevin Feige wisely recognized that Bernthal’s Punisher and Charlie Cox’s Daredevil both belonged in the mainline MCU.
Perhaps the most important Marvel project to watch before Spider-Man: Brand New Day — besides its own direct predecessor, Spider-Man: No Way Home — is The Punisher: One Last Kill. This hour-long special, dropped on Disney+ essentially as a bonus episode of Born Again season 2, serves to bridge the gap between Frank’s return in Born Again season 1 and his supporting role in Brand New Day.
One Last Kill tells a pretty familiar story: Frank tries to quit being the Punisher, he gets drawn back in by rampant street crime, and he reluctantly decides to resume his vigilante career. But it acknowledges that endless cycle of violence, and uses it to tell a poignant tale about addiction; the titular “one last kill” is the same as “one last drink” or “one last cigarette.”
The MCU’s own Spider-Man show, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, doesn’t take place in the same continuity as Holland’s movies. It was initially developed as an animated origin story for Holland’s Spidey, but was later retooled as an elseworlds story set in its own branch of the vast Marvel multiverse.
But that animated series shares a darker, more mature tone with Spider-Man: Brand New Day. In this version of the story, Norman Osborn is Peter’s mentor, not Uncle Ben (or even Tony Stark), and he’s leading him down a very dark path.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day ](/db/movie/spider-man-brand-new-day/)
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Destin Daniel Cretton
Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Steve Ditko, Stan Lee
Spider-Man / Peter Parker