Marvel has spent ten years and three Spider-Man movies building Tom Holland as its Spider-Man.
Now Kevin Feige is basically admitting Spider-Man: Brand New Day is the first one built around the actual classic Spider-Man setup.
Want everything in one place? Our Spider-Man: Brand New Day guide tracks the release date, cast, and every confirmed detail.
Empire has released new images and covers from Brand New Day, along with comments from Feige, Holland, director Destin Daniel Cretton, and producer Amy Pascal.
Marvel is selling this as the Spider-Man movie fans have been asking for since Holland first showed up in the MCU.
“It is the first Spider-Man film that we’ve made in the MCU that is focused on the classic elements of Spider-Man,” Feige tells Empire. “He’s doing the Spidey thing of living in a rather sad, small apartment, listening to the police scanner and going out and using his great power responsibly.”
Brand New Day Is Being Sold As More Personal
Director Destin Daniel Cretton’s comments also point to a smaller, more character-driven movie.
“He is dedicating his entire existence to his job. That’s the core theme that I find incredibly relatable,” Cretton said. “I think most people at certain points in our lives have gone through loss. At least for me, and I think for many people, the result can be: ‘Screw it. I’m just going to work. I’m going to do nothing else but work.’ That’s obviously not the most healthy state.”
Producer Amy Pascal makes the same point.
“[Brand New Day] is a more internal movie,” Pascal said, “and the bigness of it is emotional, not worlds exploding.”
Tom Holland Pitched Peter Losing Control
The most interesting part is that Holland helped shape the direction.
“This is the first time in my tenure as Spider-Man that I was kind of welcomed into the writers’ room,” Holland told Empire.
He said he and the producers would “meet once every two weeks to pitch ideas and discuss our ambitions and what we wanted to try and do.”
One of Holland’s pitches became a major part of the movie: Peter’s powers changing in unexpected ways.
“My pitch when I came to the table with it was called ‘Spider-Puberty,’” Holland said. “What happens if Peter Parker is losing control and things are changing?”
The studio shot down the “Spider-Puberty” name, which was probably the right call, but kept the idea.
“‘Spider-Puberty’ was my tagline pitch to the studio — which was immediately shot down,” Holland said. “But they liked the kernel of the idea and it grew into what we have in the movie now.”
For an MCU movie, that is notable. Holland was not just showing up and reading lines. He helped push the movie toward a more personal Peter Parker story.
Holland Is Already Talking About Passing The Torch
Holland is also already talking like someone thinking about his exit.
“For whoever’s next, whether that is a Miles Morales or a Spider-Gwen or a Spider-Woman or something like that, I would love to be a part of setting up the next chapter,” Holland said. “Whatever that looks like, I don’t know. But if I could do what Downey did for me, then I would be so content swinging off into the sunset.”
The above cover also teases green web shooters.
Punisher concerns addressed
Holland also told the magazine that fans shouldn’t worry about Jon Bernthal’s Punisher not being R-rated.
“I know that there are concerns about taking a sort of R-rated character and putting him into one of these movies, but the way that we’ve designed the world around him feels very authentic to the Frank Castle we know,” Holland explained. “There are fun ways to get around the fact that he swears all the time and kills people.”
As seen in the trailer, one of those way to get around things is having Spidey web up Frank’s foul mouth.
“Frank Castle is perfectly at peace in a world of absolute darkness,” says Bernthal. “He’s not looking for a buddy, he’s not looking for a friend, he’s not looking for a hand to pull him out of the hole that he’s in. He’s fine living in there. In fact, all he wants to do is dig deeper. I think, begrudgingly, Frank would tell you, if he had to be honest, he does care about Peter.”
MJ moves on from Peter
The article reveals that MJ has moved on to college and has a new love interest but does show that MJ still gets screentime with the Web Crawler.
You just feel so bad because you want them to be happy, and you know ultimately they would be happier together,” she said. “It’s easy in a way, because I don’t have to play that I know this person. I don’t have to play all the history that they have together because seemingly, to her, they don’t.”
Marvel Has To Prove This Is Really Different
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is now being positioned as a course correction.
Marvel is basically saying this is the first Tom Holland Spider-Man movie focused on the classic Peter Parker setup. The sad apartment. The police scanner. The responsibility. The loss. The emotional weight.
It is the movie fans thought they were getting years ago.
If Marvel delivers, Brand New Day could finally give Holland his real Spider-Man movie.
If not, the studio will have undercut its own previous trilogy while promising a better version it still failed to make.
Either way, the framing says a lot.
After three movies, Marvel is now telling fans the real Tom Holland Spider-Man story starts here.
The film opens July 31st.
