Future Marvel movies should take lesson from latest blockbuster’s success

Here's JOE's verdict on the massive new movie available to watch now.

The movie follows Peter Parker / Spider-Man (Tom Holland) after the shocking ending of Spider-Man: No Way Home, his previous solo outing. This was when Peter, with the help of Doctor Strange, erased his loved ones' memories of him, so that he could protect them from his swarm of enemies. Among these loved ones was his girlfriend, MJ (Zendaya), and best friend, Ned (Jacob Batalon).

Now, lonelier than ever, Spider-Man devotes his entire life to crime fighting. In the course of this work, he stumbles upon a mysterious new villain unlike anything he has faced off with before.

At the same time, a chance encounter with MJ and Ned, who no longer recognise him, throws Peter into further despair, resulting in odd changes to his powers, just when he needs them most.

While all of these films have their merits - namely Sam Raimi's direction in DS2, Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds' committed turns in D&W, the retro aesthetic of F4 - you could feel the strain of the screenwriters trying to up the ante, maybe at the expense of building heroes you could relate to or supporting characters and villains you could understand.

This has been less of a problem for Peter Parker, who's always been more ground-level and relatable. He is the "friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man", after all. That said, we went into Brand New Day slightly apprehensive if the character would still have this appeal after becoming caught up in world-altering multiverse shenanigans in his last solo outing.

We need not have worried. Fresh off his great supporting turn in Christopher's Nolan's The Odyssey, the absolutely shredded Tom Holland exudes the same youthful charm and humour that endeared audiences so deeply to his version of Spidey in the first place.

At the same time, director Destin Daniel Cretton (Shang-Chi) and writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers give the actor space to shine. In particular, the screenwriters do impressive work making the audience care about and empathise with Peter's struggles, which may on paper seem far-fetched.

When you strip away the superpowers and the mass memory erasure, this is really a tale about a young man trying and failing to strike the perfect work-life balance. In the previous solo movie, his career and unwavering duty to protect people got in the way of his relationship with his girlfriend and best friend. In Brand New Day, he is living with the consequences.

Still, it's been a while since we were so invested in a Marvel hero, not counting last year's Thunderbolts*, which also found ways of making superpowered individuals feel beautifully flawed and identifiable.

Perhaps the key to the Marvel Cinematic Universe surviving is not going bigger, but actually scaling back and digging deeper into what made these characters so compelling in the first place.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is in cinemas now.