DrewNote: Time has passed and Peter Parker is struggling. Spider-Man is a hero in New York but Peter is… nobody. But now things are taking a strange turn. New threats are rising and what used to be in the past isn’t staying there. Could be this “brand new day” will come to an early sunset after all.
The trailer for SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY (produced by Sony Pictures with Marvel Studios) has been released and wow, what a lot there is to unpack. Let’s take it bit by bit, okay?
When we see him, Spider-Man (Tom Holland) is unmasked and sitting on a girder. Not just “sitting,” mind you, he is upside down. Clearly he’s going through some stuff. Just what becomes apparent a moment later–he’s watching video clips of his friends MJ (Zendaya) and Ned (Jacob Batalon) jubilant over their first day at MIT. They’re giddy… and they don’t remember him. They’ve moved on and Spider-Man is both angry and hurt.
What’s a spider to do?
Well, he starts by falling backward off a building, seemingly unconcerned about whether he’ll swing to safety. His eye, behind his mask, is blank with pain pretending it’s indifference.
He writes a letter to MJ and Ned, explaining what happened. Does he send it? We don’t know. We do see him watch as Ned walks into a place where Peter is eating. Peter washes his costume, he’s awarded the key to the city–and it means nothing. (Showing Peter toying with the key was pretty funny, in a dark humor kind of way.)
Cut to a running fight against a machine-gun equipped armored vehicle, where Peter is run down by the Punisher (Jon Bernthal) in his van. They exchange a few words but Peter is still knocked off by a grenade fired point blank through the windshield. This is pretty classic Marvel, btw; Punisher began as a Spider-Man villain and the two have never had a warm relationship. (I remember back when Punisher was an out-and-out bad guy. How times change.)
Cut to Peter at a house party thrown by MJ and Ned, where he gets some unwelcome visuals. “Sometimes Spider-Man has to do the hard thing,” the voiceover says, as the hits just keep coming. “Even if it breaks Peter Parker’s heart.” (Man, nobody does hurt puppy dog like Holland!)
But he doesn’t have time to regret his life choices, when he’s alone and collapsing to the floor. Apparently his spider-hybrid biology isn’t as stable as he assumed; he’s undergoing a sort of metamorphosis, and he looks for help from Dr. Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo)… and another mysterious fellow played by Tramell Tillman. (Okay, you know if Banner shows up, his big green friend isn’t far behind…)
As this continues, we see Peter emerge from a web cocoon (which may have provided him with new abilities), struggle with some changes, ricochet off a water tower, visit a significant location (in the rain) and then battle an all-new/classic enemy: the Scorpion (Michael Mando, reprising “Mac Gargan” from SPIDER-MAN HOMECOMING).
Comic book fans get some choice Easter eggs by this point in the trailer, with recreations of two iconic pieces of art–AMAZING FANTASY 15 (aka the first Spider-Man comic ever) and a riff on one of Todd McFarlane’s best-known Spider-Man pieces, feet up with webbing looped around him. (Honestly, that’s pretty darn cool–you know the storyboards were ripped from Marvel comic books.)
And last, he’s face-to-face with his former friends, stumbling through (re-)introducing himself. Where will it lead? We’ll find out this July.
FIRST REACTIONS: Now, how did I feel about this trailer? I’ve been reading Spider-Man comics for decades now–and I feel like Sony’s latest generation of movies only get better, as they dig into the bifurcated world of Peter Parker and Spider-Man. To make things right and protect the world, Peter gave up everything–and we’re seeing the awful consequences of that choice. We feel the misery and loneliness he’s suffering, and we root for him to get back what he lost.
Holland continues to grow into the part, his deepening maturity lending greater gravitas to Peter. He’s not the happy-go-lucky kid with a secret we saw in CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR; he’s a hurt, unhappy kid who only comes alive behind a mask. I’m not sure how much Zendaya and Batalon will be in this movie but the trailer emphasizes them, so is it too much to hope we get some resolution of the “forgotten Peter” story?
And hey, it’s thrilling to see Michael Mando’s work in HOMECOMING paying off here. Scorpion is one of Spider-Man’s oldest foes and we’ve been waiting a LONG time to see him show up. With others like Tarantula, Tombstone, Boomerang and others coming along too, there’s an embarrassment of riches for fans who’ve waited so long to see these characters come alive.
Oh, and what about Banner and Castle? Is Spider-Man teaming up with or fighting against Hulk and Punisher? We don’t know! And the mysterious hoodie-wearing figure? Sadie Sink? Jean Grey? C’mon, that’s big. A major X-Men character coming this summer? Geez. This is miniseries-level stuff. How Daniel Destin Cretton will squeeze it all into one movie, I have no idea.
Are you excited for this movie? Tell us what you think in the comments!
