“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” is my favorite movie of the summer. I am going to start this review by saying it is one GIANT SPOILER. I typically create dropdowns for a few specific plot spoilers in my reviews, but this movie proved difficult to use that tactic. So, if you don’t want to be spoiled, go see the movie and come back to see how it relates to the faith.
Spider-Man has always been one of my favorite superheroes. It is cool to see the scale at which some superheroes have to fight to protect the planet, but there is something special about having a friendly neighborhood hero.
Tom Holland’s Peter Parker/Spider-Man has been through a lot up until now. Among other hardships, he was introduced in the middle of the Avengers infighting during “Captain America: Civil War” (2016), he was a victim of the “blip” in “Avengers: Infinity War” (2018), his mentor and father figure sacrificed himself in “Avengers: End Game” (2019), and the world has forgotten Peter Parker due to the events of “Spider-Man: No Way Home” (2021).
It is here we find our web-slinging hero, trying to do his duties as Spider-Man and maintaining his full anonymity.
RELATED | ‘Young Washington’ Review: Does failure define us?
Solitude versus Loneliness
Peter goes out of his way to pour his entire identity into Spider-Man. He even says, “Spider-Man has to do the hard thing even if it breaks Peter’s heart.” In putting Peter aside, he does not realize his grief is not only over the loss of Aunt May (Marisa Tomei), but also in the loss of his own identity as a human.
His self-isolation creates an aura of sadness around him despite him saving the day. Other characters he encounters even point out that he is a sad person and/or needs to take a break from being Spider-Man. He denies these warnings throughout the movie.
Frank Castle/The Punisher (Jon Bernthal) serves as a cautionary tale for Peter, as his response to grief has led him to swear off humans entirely and to want only to “do good” by killing criminals without giving them a chance at redemption.
When Peter tries to subtly re-enter MJ (Zendaya) and Ned Leeds’s (Jacob Batalon) lives, he discovers MJ has a boyfriend, and his trauma-laden issues kickstart his powers to evolve. When driven to anger, he loses control of his powers and begins to shadow The Punisher’s ruthlessness.
From a Catholic perspective, there is a distinction between solitude and loneliness. In solitude, one can intentionally be alone to grow in relationship with God and better reconnect with others when the time of solitude is over. St. Alphonsus Liguori speaks on the fruits of solitude in his work The 12 Steps to Holiness and Salvation, where he states, “Souls that love God feel a strong attraction for solitude, for they know that God converses familiarly with those who shun the noise and distractions of the world.”
In loneliness, one is in an unhappy state of being by oneself. Loneliness comes with a longing for connection, but the individual has or feels barriers to connecting with others. For Peter, his self-induced isolation has no conscious end date, and it eats away at his humanity.
Furthermore, Peter’s use of technology, or of hiding behind a literal mask to connect with others as Spider-Man, relates to how many of us use social media for connection but lack a deep connection with others in real life. As four years pass at the beginning of the film, Peter watches his friends move through MIT by watching Ned’s reels. The reels show highlights of their good times together, but still keep Peter from the full story of their lives and add to his feeling of isolation. How true is that for the many who use social media? You can only scratch the surface of a person’s life, but are not able to know who they are behind their “mask.”
It is only when Peter begins to make meaningful connections, letting his true identity shine through to a select group of close individuals, that he embraces the changes in his life and succeeds as the hero of the movie. His journey comes full circle at the end of the movie, where he brings flowers to Aunt May’s grave and says, “You’d be happy to know that I’ve decided I’m not going to do this alone anymore.”
Embracing the responsibility of adulthood
Going hand-in-hand with his states of loneliness and grief is Peter’s character arc of embracing the responsibilities of adulthood.
The famous line from all variations of Spider-Man is, “With great power comes great responsibility.” Uncle Ben is usually the one who utters this line before getting killed and sending Peter on his hero’s journey. In the MCU, it was uttered by Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) in “Spiderman: No Way Home.”
For Peter, he is employing great responsibility as a superhero, but not taking great responsibility in his personal life. His loneliness and grief cause his arachnid DNA to evolve in the same way a spider’s does when entering adulthood. This causes him to develop heightened senses and organic webs, like Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man, but his fear of his new powers causes him to act uncontrollably. Instead of trying to navigate his new powers responsibly, he jumps into action and causes great harm, almost killing a police officer while fighting a mind-controlled Scorpion (Michael Mando).
Under the weight of his transformation occurring while facing a threat he has never experienced before in the mind-hopping Jean Grey (Sadie Sink), Peter tries to suppress his changes by creating an inhibitor. He even pretends to be a student and seeks advice from Bruce Banner/Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), who has created an inhibitor to suppress the Hulk. Based on Peter’s line of questioning, Bruce asks him, “What if what you want to control needs to be expressed?”
Bruce becomes another cautionary tale for Peter, as it becomes almost impossible for him to control the Hulk when his inhibitor is broken by Jean Grey’s mind-control and releases a long-suppressed Hulk of emotions.
With his inhibitor, Peter is able to fight as Spider-Man, but is not able to realize his full potential. It is only when he embraces and takes responsibility for his changing powers that he is able to fight through Jean’s defenses and help her get the help she really needs.
Even though his story is grandiose because he is a superhero, Peter still goes through the same transformational periods we all go through as adults. People pass away. Friends drift apart. Relationships change. The weight of the world can seem heavy on your shoulders.
Part of maturing into adulthood is realizing that you need to take responsibility for your actions and where your life is going. For the faith life, this means not continuing to practice the faith simply because it has been handed to you, but because you are taking the responsibility as an adult to develop your personal relationship with Christ.
Christ will be with you no matter the changes that occur as you persevere through life’s challenges. He also established His Church as a means to unite all of His people together and participate in the sacramental life as the Body of Christ. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church states:
‘The Church, in Christ, is like a sacrament – a sign and instrument, that is, of communion with God and of unity among all men.’[1] The Church’s first purpose is to be the sacrament of the inner union of men with God. Because men’s communion with one another is rooted in that union with God, the Church is also the sacrament of the unity of the human race. In her, this unity is already begun, since she gathers men ‘from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues’;[2] at the same time, the Church is the ‘sign and instrument’ of the full realization of the unity yet to come. (775)
You are fearfully and wonderfully made
Jean Grey serves as a third cautionary tale for who Peter can become if he does not embrace the changes happening in his life and if he keeps conducting his life solely “behind a mask.”
It is revealed that Jean’s destructive actions towards the Department of Damage Control (DDC) are first out of desperation to find her sister, Sara (Olivia Booth-Ford), who was taken by the department for reasons unknown to her.
Once she discovers that Sara was used as a lab rat and died in experiments conducted by DDC head Bill Metzger (Tramell Tillman), who has a philosophy that Jean and Sara’s telepathic powers should be extracted and used by the “more capable” DDC in their fight against threats to the common good. Jean’s realization puts her into full vengeance mode and escalates her powers beyond levels imaginable.
Peter has been able to keep Jean out of his head for most of the movie, but lets her in to hear advice given by his memory of Aunt May. Aunt May says, “You’re special because of who you are, not how powerful you become. Having these powers may feel lonely, but remember your responsibility to take care of yourself.” It is this motherly advice that Jean, who was abandoned by her mother and grieving over the loss of her only family member, stops her path of vengeance. Peter also reassures her that he can be there for her if needed. This advice helps Peter get on the path of not going through life alone.
This scene immediately echoes God’s love for each one of us. As David writes in Psalm 139:13-14, “You formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother’s womb. I praise you, because I am wonderfully made; wonderful are your works! My very self you know.”
God delights in us. Not because of accomplishments, health, or anything else, but because he loved us into existence. He not only created us out of love, but He also loves us so much that He redeemed us so we can spend eternity with Him in Heaven. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life” (John 3:16).
RELATED | ‘The Odyssey’ Review: A Trojan horse for faith?
My overall thoughts on the movie
I’m foregoing my usual “where the movie worked/fell short” sections because I felt the movie is an overall success with little to pick apart.
If you were to press me, maybe Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova/Black Widow was not necessary to the plot, but she delivered great comedic relief when needed.
Narratively, it handles the topic of loneliness, grief, and the need for community with care and precision. It also felt like a stand-alone film, and didn’t suffer from superhero fatigue like a lot of Marvel projects recently have. “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” is paced really well and maintains a strong balance of dramatic and comedic scenes. The action sequences are phenomenal.
This is, however, the Marvel movie with the most language I can recall. It is infrequent, but enough to validate a PG-13 rating. If anyone has ever seen Jon Bernthal’s Frank Castle/The Punisher, this should be no surprise. In fact, the Punisher character is watered down a lot to fit the PG-13 narrative, but it is done really well. I enjoyed the blossoming big-brother/little brother dynamic between Frank and Peter throughout the movie.
Destin Cretton was a perfect choice for the director of his movie. He is one of my favorite current directors, especially in the way he focuses on taking the audience through the POV of characters. He utilizes close-ups really well, and the movie’s texture is haptic. For example, you really feel like you are right there with Spider-Man as he web-slings through the city.
Overall, “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” is one of my favorite Marvel movies to date. The themes provide a good example of how none of us should experience our hardships in life alone and can remind us that we are enough simply by just being here. Add stellar acting, directing, writing, visuals, and action, and you have the recipe for a great movie-watching experience.
[1] Lumen gentium 1
[2] Revelation 7:9
