Transcription
Hello everyone, I am Di Da, and welcome to Dimension D. After waiting for five years, the new MCU Spider-Man movie, "Brand New Day," is finally released. I wonder if you have all watched it. I truly didn't expect that it has already been five years since the last Spider-Man movie, "No Way Home." To be honest, I originally thought that the only live-action Spider-Man that was well-done was Tobey Maguire's version. When it came to MCU's Tom Holland version, I actually felt from beginning to end that he didn't quite resemble Peter Parker. Especially in the first two films, namely "Homecoming" and "Far From Home," I personally felt they were simply terrible. So, I never really liked Tom Holland's Spider-Man. However, this installment, "Brand New Day," has completely changed my view of MCU's Tom Holland version of Spider-Man. I even temporarily feel that "Brand New Day" is the best-looking film in the entire MCU Spider-Man series.
Subtitle: I really didn't expect that MCU could still make a superhero film today that doesn't focus on fighting, but instead focuses on the character's emotional arc and development, and that it could be so good. It also completely demonstrates that Tom Holland has undergone a complete transformation, both in his personal growth and character growth. I have absolutely positive reviews for this "Brand New Day." Enough said, let's immediately talk about my post-viewing impressions of the new Spider-Man movie, "Brand New Day."
First, in the first part, I will talk about the MCU timeline related to Spider-Man, to remind everyone what happened to MCU's Spider-Man before "Brand New Day." The years mentioned in this section will be the years in the MCU world, not the years in the real world.
In the MCU world's 2010, in "Iron Man 2," Peter, wearing an Iron Man toy helmet at the Star Expo, was saved by the real Iron Man when a runaway robot was about to attack him. This event also inspired Peter's dream of becoming a hero and established Tony Stark's irreplaceable mentor status in his heart.
By 2012, after the Battle of New York in the first "Avengers" film, aliens left behind a lot of alien technology. An uncle who was responsible for cleaning up the alien debris had his business forcibly taken over by the government-established DODC. This uncle later secretly kept some alien technology, modified it into weapons, and became the villain of the first Spider-Man movie – Vulture.
By the end of 2015, around the time of "Captain America 3: Civil War," 14-year-old Peter was bitten by a radioactive spider and gained super spider powers. Later, in 2016, due to the Sokovia Accords, "Civil War" broke out. Tony discovered Peter at that time and brought him to the German airport to participate. After "Civil War" ended, although Peter received a high-tech suit from Iron Man, he misused it, and Tony reprimanded him, saying, "If you are nothing without the suit, then you don't deserve to have it." Actually, this sentence was originally used by Captain America to reprimand Iron Man. During "Civil War," Captain America once scolded Iron Man, saying he only had a suit of armor and was nothing without it. However, at that time, the adolescent Peter, in order to prove his worth, successfully stopped Vulture's arms deal without the high-tech suit, which is the plot of the first Spider-Man movie, "Homecoming." This event led to Spider-Man sending Vulture and Scorpion to jail. Later, Scorpion, holding a grudge, laid the groundwork for the future.
By 2018, during "Avengers 3: Infinity War," Thanos invaded Earth to collect the Infinity Stones. Peter followed Iron Man and Dr. Strange to Titan to fight. In the end, they were defeated, Thanos obtained the last Infinity Stone, and with a snap of his fingers, half of the universe's life randomly disappeared. In this snap event, Peter and his friends simultaneously disappeared from this world.
By 2023, during "Avengers 4: Endgame," the surviving Avengers used time travel to bring everyone back. In the final battle, Tony Stark sacrificed himself to destroy Thanos's army. Tony's death left an indelible scar on Peter. He lost both his life mentor and someone who was like a father to him.
One year after Tony's death, in 2024, which is the story of the second Spider-Man movie, "Far From Home." Peter went to Europe and encountered an attack by Mysterio. After a fierce battle, Mysterio, before dying, revealed Peter Parker's true identity as Spider-Man to the whole world. In the same year, Peter sought out Dr. Strange to cast a spell of forgetting, but it mistakenly triggered rifts in the multiverse, bringing classic villains from other Spider-Man universes into the MCU world. In this chaotic battle, Aunt May was killed by Green Goblin. On her deathbed, she officially passed on the destiny of "with great power comes great responsibility" to Peter. Finally, in order to mend the broken multiverse, Peter decided to sacrifice himself, asking Dr. Strange to cast a final spell, making everyone in the world, including his beloved MJ and his good friend Ned, forever forget the existence of Peter Parker. From then on, Peter became a street hero who truly had nothing.
Four years later, in the MCU world's 2028, is when this installment, "Brand New Day," takes place.
So, I will briefly tell you about the story of "Brand New Day." After the events of the third film, "No Way Home," the whole world has forgotten about Peter Parker. In the past four years, Peter has been silently fighting criminals. However, to avoid his hero identity bringing disaster to those around him, he has always been afraid to acknowledge others and has spent these four years in solitude. Then, he discovered a mysterious enemy who can mind-control others and has been trying to infiltrate the DODC base. At the same time, by chance, Peter met MJ again. But when he learned that MJ already had a new boyfriend, he was heartbroken. In extreme grief, it triggered changes within his body, causing his spider DNA to suddenly surge. Not only were his strength, speed, and five senses greatly enhanced, but his spider-sense also increased accordingly. Most importantly, he no longer needed to rely on a web-shooter, but could produce organic webbing within his own body.
After a series of events, it turned out that this mysterious enemy was Jean Grey from the future X-Men. Her invasion of the DODC base was actually to save her sister, because DODC had been capturing mutants and other powered individuals, attempting to replicate their superpowers and weaponize them. Knowing that he had wrongly accused the good person, Spider-Man immediately attacked the DODC, intending to rescue Jean Grey. During the battle, he not only resolved Jean Grey's inner conflict but also his own four-year-long inner conflict. Finally, Peter sacrificed himself, using his body to block bullets for Jean Grey. He fell to the ground, shot. Finally, with the help of the Punisher and others, Peter was fine in the end. When he woke up, he decided not to hide himself anymore, to start anew, get to know the people around him, and embark on a new chapter in his life, perfectly corresponding to the movie's theme this time.
This section, I want to talk about the comic and movie "Brand New Day" related stories, because there is actually an event called "Brand New Day" in the comics. Speaking of which, I used to read American comics. I remember when I saw the "Brand New Day" comic event, it shocked me. However, this shock was a negative one. You will understand why I say this by the end of this section.
If we are to talk about the comic event "Brand New Day," we have to start with the major Spider-Man event "The Other: Evolve or Die," published in 2005. In the story of "The Other," it begins with Peter feeling dizzy and having nosebleeds for no reason, and his superpowers intermittently failing. According to his medical examinations and diagnoses from other superhero friends, his cells were breaking down, and he had an incurable terminal illness. Just as Peter, exhausted both physically and mentally, was preparing to accept death, an enemy who specialized in hunting spider totems suddenly appeared. He came from another parallel world to the main universe. This enemy was called Morlun. As for what a spider totem is, I won't go into detail, because that's another comic event. If I continue to talk about it, it will probably take another four-hour video. Morlun took advantage of Peter's weakest moment to attack. He beat Peter to a pulp, even gouging out one of Peter's eyes and eating it, then throwing the dying Peter to the ground like trash. The severely injured Peter was rescued and taken to the hospital. Then Morlun attacked the hospital again, preparing to drain Peter's last spider totem power. At the last moment, MJ protected Peter with her own body. Then Morlun, like swatting a fly, slapped MJ onto the wall. Seeing his beloved about to be killed by Morlun, Peter's most primal survival instinct was ignited. At that moment, Peter's reason, humanity, and morality were suddenly covered by something deeper. His eyes suddenly turned black, his mouth grew some monstrous fangs, and two sharp venomous stingers extended from his arms. Entering a beast-like state, Peter displayed astonishing combat power. He counterattacked Morlun. After a fierce battle, he finally killed Morlun. Peter, having exhausted all his life force, died in MJ's arms. But after death, Peter's body suddenly underwent some strange changes. He suddenly resurrected and dropped a giant spider cocoon under the Brooklyn Bridge. In the mental space within the cocoon, Peter saw a spider deity called The Great Weaver. This deity told Peter that the reason he was in such a desperate situation was that he had always accepted only his human side and strongly resisted the spider nature in his bloodline. This deity wanted Peter to choose between evolution or death. To return to MJ's side, Peter finally made a contract with the spider deity, accepting his wild nature as a spider totem. When he broke out of the cocoon, he was not only fully resurrected, but his physical body was also perfectly repaired. Even the eye that Morlun had gouged out grew back. All the physical damage he had suffered over the years was healed, and his superpowers were fully enhanced.
The reborn Spider-Man reached an unprecedented peak in his physiological functions. His strength, speed, agility, and endurance were greatly enhanced, making his movements more precise and unpredictable. He gained new night vision abilities, allowing him to see clearly in absolute darkness where he couldn't see his hand in front of his face. His spider-sense was enhanced to a higher level, now allowing him to perceive the dynamics of his surroundings through extremely subtle vibrations on the spider webs, just like a real spider. He could even establish a weak empathy and telepathic connection with insects. His wall-crawling ability was also greatly enhanced. Previously, he mainly relied on his hands and feet to stick to walls. After his abilities evolved, any part of his body, such as his back, could generate powerful suction, even sticking other objects to his skin, giving him a significant tactical advantage in combat. And the most representative and lethal new ability of this evolution was the venomous stingers hidden in his wrists. These stingers would pop out automatically when Spider-Man felt extreme anger, his life was threatened, or he faced a powerful enemy. The stingers were not only incredibly sharp and could be used like swords, but they could also secrete a super-powerful neurotoxin that caused paralysis. This ability gave Spider-Man true lethal striking power. Peter also gained the ability to produce organic webbing. Previously, Spider-Man had relied on web-shooters for years, and when the webbing ran out, he had to change the cartridges. After his rebirth, Spider-Man's body could produce an inexhaustible supply of strong webbing. He could even instantly shoot out all the webbing stored in his body at once to trap powerful enemies. And I think this ability in the comics was likely influenced by the movie's setting in Tobey Maguire's version of Spider-Man, who could produce organic webbing from his body.
After that, it was the 2006 publication of "Civil War." "Civil War" was also a peak of American comics at that time. I also started reading American comics around that time. Speaking of which, at the beginning of "Civil War," a Stamford explosion occurred, resulting in hundreds of civilian deaths. It was generally about a group of young superpowered individuals who wanted to be superheroes but misused their abilities, causing a large explosion in the city. After that, the US government took the opportunity to promote the Superhuman Registration Act, dividing the heroes in Marvel into two factions. Iron Man was the leader of the pro-registration faction, and Captain America was the leader of the anti-registration faction. To demonstrate the legitimacy and transparency of the registration act to the public, Tony strongly persuaded Peter to become the spokesperson for this act. After a long internal struggle, Peter finally made one of the most shocking decisions in Marvel's history. At a nationally televised press conference in Washington D.C., facing countless media, he admitted that he was Spider-Man. He then publicly removed his Spider-Man mask, revealing his true identity as Peter Parker, and said he had been Spider-Man since he was 15 years old.
Initially, Peter believed he was on the side of justice. At that time, he helped Tony's registration faction hunt down some former comrades who refused to register. However, as the war between the registration faction and the anti-registration faction escalated, the pro-government registration faction's methods became increasingly extreme. Tony even used a clone of Thor to kill an anti-registration hero. Then Tony created an extremely dangerous anti-matter universe and built a facility called Prison 42 there, to indefinitely detain those hero friends who opposed registration. These human rights violations and transgressions of moral boundaries made Peter realize that he had been blinded by Tony's political maneuvering. Thus, Peter's conscience drove him to escape the registration faction. Later, Tony, in order to hunt down Peter, even mobilized the Thunderbolts to pursue him. Peter was beaten to a bloody pulp and was on the verge of death in this battle. Finally, the Punisher appeared and rescued the severely injured Peter, taking him back to the underground secret base of Captain America's anti-registration faction. After Peter woke up, he officially announced his joining of the underground resistance army of the anti-registration faction.
Because Peter publicly revealed his identity, the classic villain of Daredevil, Kingpin, seized a golden opportunity. Kingpin hired some assassins to hunt down Peter's family, including MJ and Aunt May. During an assassination attempt, the assassin's bullet was originally aimed at Peter, but due to his spider-sense, he unconsciously avoided the fatal blow. As a result, the bullet hit Aunt May. Later, although Aunt May was rushed to the hospital, she was already very old, and her injuries were extremely severe, falling into a deep coma. There was a high chance she wouldn't survive. Thus, Peter fell into endless self-blame and despair. He understood that this tragedy was a direct consequence of him revealing his identity. Also, because Peter was part of the anti-government resistance, he couldn't secure the best medical resources for Aunt May. He also had to constantly evade pursuit by Tony's registration faction and S.H.I.E.L.D. At the same time, he had to frantically find ways to save Aunt May, plunging Peter into the darkest moment of his life.
After that, the story directly entered "One More Day," published in 2007. At that time, to save Aunt May, Peter abandoned all his dignity and sought help from almost all the top scientists and even magic masters in the Marvel universe. Although Peter and Tony were enemies at the time, Peter still went to Tony for help. But Tony said Aunt May's bodily functions had already declined, and even his top technological power was powerless to reverse it. Then Peter went to see Dr. Strange. Dr. Strange scanned Aunt May's soul and body with the Eye of Agamotto, but he also helplessly told Peter that Aunt May's lifespan had run out. This was the natural law of the universe, and even the Sorcerer Supreme could not reverse life and death. Desperate, Peter even went to see Dr. Doom, intending to use a time machine to go back to the past and prevent that assassination. But Dr. Strange stopped Peter, telling him that going back to the past would cause a more terrible timeline collapse. Then Peter successively went to the X-Men, Mr. Fantastic, and even Doctor Octopus, but the answers were almost the same: Aunt May was beyond saving.
Just as Peter was at his wit's end and preparing to accept reality, a little girl in red suddenly appeared before him and led Peter into a mysterious space. Then, the high-level demon of the Marvel universe, Mephisto, appeared. He claimed to be the only one in this universe who could reverse Aunt May's life and death. However, the demon's help always came at a price. Peter said he could offer his soul, but Mephisto was not interested in Peter's soul because Peter was a hero willing to sacrifice for others, and his soul was too pure, thus lacking flavor for the demon. What Mephisto truly craved was to destroy the purest and most sacred thing in Peter's life: the love between him and MJ. Mephisto gave Peter a cruel offer: he could bring Aunt May back to life and, incidentally, erase everyone's memory of Peter Parker being Spider-Man, allowing Peter's life to return to normal. But the price was that Peter and MJ's marriage would be completely erased from history. They would no longer be husband and wife, and their love would be rewritten. Finally, Mephisto gave Peter and MJ "One More Day" to consider this decision.
During these 24 hours, Peter and MJ experienced unspeakable pain and struggle. Peter deeply loved MJ and was unwilling to lose his love for her. At the same time, he was bound by the creed of "with great power comes great responsibility." He couldn't stand by and watch Aunt May die because of his mistake. Finally, MJ made the decision, not Peter. She understood that if Aunt May died, Peter's remaining life would be tormented by endless guilt. Such a Peter would no longer be the Peter she loved. So, MJ voluntarily went to Mephisto and agreed to the deal. But she privately proposed a condition to Mephisto: Mephisto had to guarantee that Peter's true identity would never be revealed again, and Mephisto could not interfere with their future lives. At the last moment before Mephisto cast his spell, MJ and Peter hugged tightly. At this moment, Mephisto told them, "If you don't make this decision, you would have had a daughter in the future, named May Parker." This statement caused Peter and MJ to endure extreme pain and guilt at the last moment, and the demon Mephisto also obtained the despair he most desired. Peter was very angry and wanted to stop the deal, but MJ stopped him. MJ said, "We have very little time left, let's cherish the present." MJ said, "As long as our love is strong enough in the new world, we will definitely meet again, no one, not even gods or devils, can stop us." They hugged, promising that in the new world, they would find each other again and love each other again. At the last moment, their memories flooded back, recalling how they met again, fell in love, got married, and always accompanied each other. As the magic erupted, reality was completely rewritten, and the world entered a universe where no one remembered Spider-Man's true identity, and Peter and MJ had never been in love. The story officially entered the new chapter of "Brand New Day."
When Peter Parker woke up in "Brand New Day," reality had been significantly altered. Peter didn't know what had happened, but he habitually looked beside the bed and found no one. He knew it was time for him to go to work. Going downstairs, he saw Aunt May making breakfast. Later, Peter attended a company party. At the party, he saw a girl who seemed familiar but whom he didn't recognize. The distance between the two was so close yet so far. In this new chapter, Spider-Man's abilities not only did not strengthen but regressed and restarted. So, by now, you should understand why I said at the beginning of this section that when I saw "Brand New Day" back then, it was shocking, and this shock was a negative one. Because in "Brand New Day," Spider-Man lost the spider totem powers he gained in "The Other" event. The comic version of Spider-Man could directly shoot organic webbing from his arms, without needing a web-shooter. This was added to the comics to resonate with Tobey Maguire's movie version. But in "Brand New Day," after reality was rewritten by the demon, this ability was completely removed. When Peter woke up, he had to rely on the web-shooter he invented in the early days and chemical synthetic webbing cartridges to shoot spider webs. Besides organic webbing, Peter also lost all abilities related to the spider totem, including the mechanism to pop out stingers from his arms and his night vision. His super spider-sense was also weakened. These abilities had once made Spider-Man a highly powerful warrior during "Civil War," no longer just a street hero. But with the "Brand New Day" chapter, all these evolutions representing wild instincts were lost without any explanation, just saying that after the demon rewrote reality with magic, this was the result. Although he lost his combat-related abilities, after "Brand New Day," he suddenly gained a very strange ability. Because MJ had asked the demon Mephisto to guarantee that Peter's true identity would never be revealed again, in the rewritten world, all heroes, villains, and even Peter's friends, even if they saw extremely obvious clues or Spider-Man unmasked himself directly in front of them, their brains would automatically rationalize this information, making them unable to distinguish Peter and Spider-Man as the same person. Unless Peter himself voluntarily revealed his identity to the other party, this magical shield would always be effective. This made it so that no matter what Peter did in the future, no one would know he was Spider-Man. This can also be considered a strange new ability gained from the deal with the demon.
Speaking of which, don't you find that many plot points in the movie are very similar to the comics? Basically, the entire development trajectory of the MCU is to extract major events from the comics and then adjust the order of these events and which characters they happen to in the movie versions. So, simply put, the MCU's approach is to break down and rearrange the order of comic events and then place them back into the movie universe. This is why when we watch the movie versions, we often see plots that seem familiar but are not exactly the same as the comics.
In Tom Holland's "Spider-Man 3," "No Way Home," the Spider-Men from the previous two versions, Tobey and Garfield, joined, allowing the three Spider-Men to be together. In fact, this installment, "Brand New Day," also has many "three generations together" moments. It's just that it doesn't directly bring back the other two Spider-Men, but rather many plot points perfectly recreate classic scenes from Tobey's and Garfield's Spider-Man movies. So, here I will talk about what parts of this movie pay homage to the old Spider-Man movies, and even what parts pay homage to the comics. I will focus on references related to Spider-Man, starting from the MCU timeline and going all the way to the homage points in the plot of "Brand New Day."
First, before Tony died, he and Peter developed a mentor-mentee relationship. This is actually a homage to the relationship between Tony and Peter in the comic "Civil War." In the comic "Civil War," Tony gave Peter a red and yellow Iron Spider armor. Comparatively, in the movie, Tony also gave Spider-Man a nano-spider armor.
In "Far From Home," Mysterio, before dying, revealed Peter Parker's true identity as Spider-Man to the whole world. This part actually pays homage to the scene in the comic "Civil War" where Tony persuaded Peter to unmask himself and reveal his identity to the public.
In "No Way Home," Peter asked Dr. Strange to cast a spell of forgetting, making the whole world forget Peter Parker. This setting actually pays homage to the comic "One More Day," where Peter, to save Aunt May, asked the demon Mephisto to cast a spell, the price of which was that MJ would forget their love. This is exactly the same as what is said in the movie "Brand New Day."
Also, in "No Way Home," Green Goblin mistakenly killed Aunt May. This part also pays homage to the comic "Civil War," where Kingpin hired assassins to kill Spider-Man, but Spider-Man's spider-sense automatically made him avoid the fatal blow, and the bullet severely injured Aunt May, bringing her to the brink of death.
Also, in "Brand New Day," Peter finally used his spider-sense to block bullets for Jean Grey, and then the Punisher carried the severely injured Spider-Man out. This part actually pays homage to the comic "Civil War," where Spider-Man was beaten half to death underground and was finally rescued by the Punisher.
Also, in this movie, "Brand New Day," the mutant gene control chip created by Spider-Man was finally taken by the head of DODC. In the future, it might become the inhibitor collar in X-Men that can lock down mutant superpower genes. This collar also appeared in "Deadpool 2."
There is also a part where Jean Grey tells her sister that their parents sent them away as soon as they knew they had superpowers. I think this statement is worth pondering. Where does "sent away" refer to? Could it mean sending them to Professor X's mutant school? Also, at the end of the movie, he is seen taking a bus to a place. Could this also refer to him returning to the mutant school?
Also, in "Brand New Day," Peter intercepted police channels using his smartphone to know where bad guys were. This part reminded me of the first movie of Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man, where he intercepted police radios, but there were no smartphones back then, only a device similar to a radio receiver.
After Peter visited Aunt May's grave and returned home, a girl greeted him and said she lived on the same floor. This part should be a homage to the third movie of Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man, where a girl next door often invited him for cookies.
Peter received a signal saying an armored vehicle was going to break out of prison, so he went out to stop it. The scene of him jumping from high up is actually a homage to the opening scene of Andrew Garfield's Spider-Man movie. Both are jumping from high up, with a first-person perspective.
As Spider-Man chased the armored vehicle, he saw a girl sitting on a bus. This girl's hairstyle resembles Rogue from X-Men. Plus, Jean Grey has already appeared in this installment, so it's not strange for Rogue to appear in this universe.
After Peter's spider DNA erupted, he fainted. When he woke up, he found himself in a cocoon made of spider webs. This part actually pays homage to the comic event "The Order." Spider-Man, in a near-death state, went under the Brooklyn Bridge and spun a cocoon. After breaking out of the cocoon, he could directly shoot organic webbing from his hands, without needing a web-shooter. Both of these parts were definitely inspired by Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man.
The mutated Peter, when falling to the ground from mid-air, landed on his back first. This should be a homage to the second movie of Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man, the scene where he kept saying "My back, my back" after falling to the ground, and taking the elevator with people. These are all humorous moments paying homage to the second movie of Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man. Also, the scene where he practiced shooting organic webbing on the rooftop is a complete copy of the first movie of Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man. When Peter just became Spider-Man, he practiced shooting spider webs.
In "Brand New Day," Spider-Man made a DNA control chip and placed it on the back of his neck. This pays homage to the second movie of Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man, where Doctor Octopus also had an inhibitor chip on the back of his neck in the same position. It's possible that because Tom Holland's Spider-Man in "No Way Home" had already met Doctor Octopus, this technology was subconsciously referenced.
To stop the prestigious mind-control consciousness synchronization, Spider-Man used spider webs to stop a helicopter in mid-air. This scene pays homage to the PlayStation Spider-Man game, which had a chase scene at the beginning that was similar.
Jean Grey possessed MJ and shot down at Spider-Man after revealing his face. This part should be a homage to the classic kiss scene in the first movie of Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man. Only this time, Spider-Man wasn't hanging upside down, but standing there. Then Jean Grey controlled MJ to jump off the building, and Spider-Man also jumped down to save MJ. This part is clearly a homage to the scene in "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" where he saved Emma Stone. The difference is that Garfield couldn't save his girlfriend, while Tom Holland succeeded. This part might also be because in "No Way Home," Garfield mentioned his regret of not being able to save his girlfriend, so when Tom Holland saved MJ this time, he deliberately used his body as a cushion to avoid breaking MJ's neck.
Also, at the final battle between Spider-Man and the Hand, he pulled out his DNA chip and awakened his enhanced spider-sense, dodging the shurikens thrown by the Hand. The scene at that time actually pays homage to the scene in the first movie of Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man where he first displayed his spider-sense in school.
This installment introduces an important character named Jean Grey. For those familiar with the comics, she is a member of another team in the Marvel world, the X-Men. Or, for those who have seen the X-Men movies around the year 2000, you will definitely remember this character. Although MCU movies have already hinted at the existence of mutants in the ending of "Ms. Marvel," the introduction of Jean Grey this time is the MCU's first time officially bringing the mutant concept into the movie world. So, I will spend some time talking about Jean Grey.
When Jean Grey was ten years old, she was in a car accident. She personally witnessed the death of her best friend. In extreme grief, her mutant gene within Jean Grey prematurely awakened. Her telepathic abilities instantly erupted, connecting with her best friend's consciousness, making Jean personally experience and feel the sensation of her friend's death. Due to the immense shock, she couldn't control her abilities and kept absorbing other people's thoughts, causing her to suffer from severe depression for a long time. At that time, Jean's parents found the leading expert in researching mutant mutations, Professor X. Professor X sensed that Jean possessed unfathomable and extremely destructive potential. In later stories, it was discovered that Jean is actually an extremely rare Omega Level mutant. Professor X and Jean possess similar superpowers. So, Professor X entered Jean's consciousness and established a powerful mental barrier in her mind, temporarily blocking most of her mental power until she had enough maturity to control this power. Afterward, Professor X taught Jean how to use another relatively easier-to-control superpower: telekinesis. Through telekinesis, Jean can move objects from a distance, control the movement of other objects, or create force fields. Later, under Professor X's careful cultivation, Jean finally overcame her childhood trauma. When Professor X founded the X-Men and the mutant school, Jean naturally became one of the initial members of the X-Men.
Jean has three most commonly used superpowers. The first is telekinesis, which was the only ability Professor X allowed her to use freely at the beginning of the X-Men. Telekinesis allows Jean to use her mind to levitate, move, or change the physical state of matter, or perform other physical attacks. She can also use telekinesis to envelop herself, allowing her to fly in the air. The second is telepathy, which was the initial ability awakened by Jean after the car accident at the age of ten. Later, Professor X imparted some of his mental power and skills to Jean, making her the telepath second only to Professor X in the X-Men world. She can easily read other people's thoughts, communicate mentally with others over long distances, or directly enter other people's minds to control their behavior. She can even implant false memories or illusions. She can also emit psionic blasts composed purely of mental energy. These attacks do not cause physical damage but directly attack the enemy's brain, causing them to briefly faint or become mentally disoriented. Later, she also mastered astral projection, allowing Jean Grey's soul to temporarily leave her body to communicate or battle with other spiritual entities on a mental level. The last is empathy. This ability allows Jean to directly perceive, absorb, and experience the emotional fluctuations of other humans or mutants. When her teammates feel fear, Jean also feels fear. When enemies display killing intent, she is the first to know. This ability makes Jean Grey a key character in the X-Men because she is the first to know her teammates' psychological burdens and uses her mental power to maintain their inner peace. Therefore, other X-Men teammates confide in Jean first, making her the pillar of the team.
If we are to talk about Jean Grey, we must mention her Phoenix Force. In the 1976 publication of X-Men issue #100, the X-Men were on an extraterrestrial mission to bring a damaged spaceship back to Earth. At that time, the spaceship's cockpit was directly exposed to lethal solar radiation. To save her boyfriend Cyclops and other teammates, Jean decided to leave the spaceship and use her telekinesis to create a barrier for everyone to withstand the radiation. But the power of the radiation far exceeded her limits. Just as Jean's physical body was about to collapse, her strong will to survive received a response from the Phoenix Force deep in the universe. The Phoenix Force is actually an ancient energy entity that was born in the void before the Big Bang. It is neither good nor evil; it is simply a primal cosmic force of nature, somewhat like the collective consciousness often mentioned in New Age beliefs, or the Tao and the Great Tao in Chinese culture. Finally, the X-Men successfully returned to Earth. Just when everyone thought Jean had sacrificed herself, she suddenly appeared on the sea surface. She no longer called herself Jean Grey but called herself Phoenix. After becoming Phoenix, Jean's superpowers increased exponentially. The Phoenix Force amplified her innate mutant potential to a cosmic level. She was no longer limited by her past physical and mental strength. She could survive in the vacuum of space, fly at light speed, and even reassemble matter at an atomic level. Because the Phoenix Force has no human moral concepts, it is difficult for the human Jean to control this cosmic energy, so she often faces the brink of going berserk. Later, there was an event in the X-Men called the Dark Phoenix. The reason was that a villain named Mastermind exploited Jean's psychological cracks, subjected her to long-term mental invasion, successfully altered her memories, triggered her inner Dark Side, completely shattered the moral boundaries Professor X had established in her mind, and fully unleashed the evil part of her inner self. Later, in the battle between the X-Men and the Dark Phoenix, Jean heard her boyfriend Cyclops's call and briefly regained consciousness, breaking Mastermind's deception. Then Jean poured the vast consciousness of the entire universe directly into Mastermind's brain, overloading him. Mastermind became a cripple on the spot. Although Mastermind was defeated, Jean's moral boundaries were completely destroyed. Her costume immediately changed from green to dark red, officially transforming into the Dark Phoenix, a cosmic disaster. Despite this, the X-Men were still willing to fight to protect their former comrade. After a series of major battles, Jean, transformed into the Dark Phoenix, personally witnessed her teammates fall one by one to protect her. Finally, in front of Cyclops, she chose to self-destruct herself and the Phoenix Force, ending Jean Grey's life.
Afterward, Jean Grey was absent from the comics for a long time. Later, there was another story about the X-Men going back in time and bringing a younger Jean Grey back to the main universe. I won't talk about this story; if you are interested, you can look it up yourself.
I will talk about the action scenes in the movie. To be honest, I don't think the focus of "Brand New Day" is on the action. I'm not very satisfied with the action scenes in it, but the overall quality of the dramatic scenes in the entire movie is very high, which saved the entire film. I will elaborate on this later. Personally, there are two action scenes that are memorable. The first is definitely Spider-Man vs. Hulk. In this scene, Spider-Man says he didn't know Hulk could get so big. Thinking about it now, it's true, because since Spider-Man officially appeared in the MCU, Hulk has often appeared in his Professor Hulk form. If I remember correctly, the last time Hulk transformed into his berserk form was in "Avengers 2," where he fought Iron Man, and Iron Man couldn't handle it, so he called out the Hulkbuster to fight. Therefore, after Spider-Man appeared, he indeed had never personally seen the berserk form of Hulk. I don't consider the one in Thor 4 to be the berserk form, so it's not included. This battle really highlights the power gap between Spider-Man and Hulk. If it were a pure strength confrontation, Spider-Man would have no chance of winning. However, there is one point I really like: when he fought Hulk outside the building, Spider-Man used his webs to hook the falling concrete onto Hulk, dragging him down. Also, Spider-Man used his agility to tie webs around Hulk. This point is actually similar to the move he used when dealing with the giant Ant-Man in "Captain America 3: Civil War." Also, I didn't expect him to use Sokovia's electric gauntlet weapon to attack Hulk. As for the Punisher, he basically just used guns, which is not very innovative. And Hulk's "Hulk Smash" inside the building is a bit similar to the scene in "Avengers 1" where Hulk fought Thor on the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier. The visuals are somewhat similar.
Another battle was when Spider-Man stormed the DODC base and fought the Hand. The Hand members knew how to use "qinggong" (lightness skill), and their performance was very similar to Hong Kong martial arts films of the 80s and 90s. The gravity and texture are exactly the same. Looking at the information again, the martial arts director this time was from Jackie Chan's stunt team, so it's no wonder they could perfectly express the feeling of Hong Kong cinema's lightness skill. I really liked the feeling of the Big Dipper formation. Then Spider-Man jumped high up and used a tornado-like organic webbing to stick all the enemies at once in a map-like attack. This technique is a bit like when you are using a hose to spray water and you cover the outlet with your finger, and the water sprays out in a wide angle. You can see that when Spider-Man shoots the tornado webbing, he is covering the nozzle with his hand. I didn't expect the director to incorporate this concept into Spider-Man's webbing technique, making it a finishing move. It's quite thoughtful. But I don't know if he played the PlayStation Spider-Man game. Those moves seem somewhat similar. Finally, the action design of him pulling two webs like a bow and arrow, launching himself like an arrow, kicking open the door with one foot, and then sliding into the room is also very good.
In my opinion, the only live-action Spider-Man that was well-done was Tobey Maguire's version. Tobey's Spider-Man actually captured the essence of Peter Parker from the comics the most. Although his third movie was a mess, his first and second movies can be considered masterpieces. Later, Andrew Garfield's Spider-Man was also good, but I felt he lacked the flavor of Peter Parker. Peter Parker in real life should be a bit like Tobey, a bit awkward, a bit of a nerd. When it came to MCU's Tom Holland version, I actually felt from beginning to end that he didn't resemble Peter. So, for a long time, I didn't like Tom Holland's Spider-Man, especially the first two films, which I personally found terrible. So, Tom's Spider-Man can be said to be unremarkable without the support of other MCU heroes. When it came to Tom Holland's third film, it was relatively better. The main reason was the inclusion of Tobey and Garfield from parallel universes, making it a three-generation gathering of Spider-Men, plus the collection of all the villains from previous versions. So, Tom Holland's third film can be said to be more about nostalgia than anything else. However, after watching this installment, "Brand New Day," it has completely changed my view of Tom Holland's Spider-Man. I temporarily feel that "Brand New Day" is the best-looking film in the entire MCU Spider-Man series. "Brand New Day" can even be compared to Tobey's first and second films. Because, frankly speaking, the action scenes in this installment are, in my personal opinion, just average. Does it have a main villain? No. So, the main storyline of the entire movie is about Peter Parker's psychological changes, and this installment prominently highlights Spider-Man's sense of loneliness and helplessness. Spider-Man doesn't have many other heroes to help him, unlike the MCU where there are a bunch of Avengers characters from the beginning, showering Tom Holland with attention. In fact, in many comics, when Spider-Man has trouble and seeks help from other heroes, other heroes are often unable to help. So, this installment, "Brand New Day," fully captures the loneliness of Spider-Man from the comics. There are also many parts that moved me. For example, the first time Spider-Man found MJ and took her to the rooftop, MJ suddenly said she remembered past events. Then Peter immediately took off his mask, thinking of acknowledging MJ. At that moment, they did recall past events. This part is a bit touching. Also, after MJ read Peter's letter and asked him to take off his mask, the most heartbreaking part is that even after MJ read the letter and saw Peter's true face, she couldn't remember anything that had happened between them. She even said she knew Peter loved a girl named MJ, but she felt this MJ was someone else, not herself. Then Peter, heartbroken, sent MJ home with his webs. Although he was holding MJ, he must have felt the infinite distance between himself and MJ in his heart. It perfectly portrayed the farthest distance in the world: I am by your side, but you don't know me. This sense of powerlessness is incredibly strong. Also, if you all remember the end of the third film, Peter originally wanted to say "I love you" to MJ, but MJ told him not to say it yet. She knew Dr. Strange's spell would make her forget Peter, but she hoped Peter would find himself again before she told him she loved him. And for so long, why didn't Peter want to acknowledge MJ? It's because he believed he had caused Aunt May's death and didn't want to cause MJ's death as well. He worried that his identity as Spider-Man would bring misfortune to those around him. So, although he loved MJ deeply, he chose to protect her by leaving her. Therefore, in this installment, after Peter and MJ said "I love you," MJ actually said she felt the MJ Peter was in love with was someone else, not herself, and she had no memory of him at all. She completely felt Peter's despair. Also, the first time Peter saw MJ at the party and found out she had a new boyfriend, he left heartbroken. He flew away with his webs through the rainy night in New York. This scene again shows Peter's sadness. The person he loved most was right in front of him, but not only did she not recognize him, she had already fallen in love with someone else. No matter what he did, he couldn't change this fact. That sense of powerlessness was done very well. I even heard people in the theater take a deep breath at this point.
Also, towards the end of the story, Jean Grey went into Peter's inner world and saw MJ. At that point, MJ used love to influence Jean Grey and taught her that even if you have great power, you don't have to carry everything on your shoulders. There will always be someone by your side to support you, which corresponds to the idea of "with great power comes great responsibility." Seeing this part, I heard people in the theater sighing again. So, I think these emotional moments in this installment are done exceptionally well. I never expected Marvel movies to be so touching. Even when Iron Man died back then, I felt nothing, absolutely zero feeling. And in this installment, Peter hides himself from the beginning. He struggles between his two identities as Spider-Man and Peter. He even spends more time as Spider-Man than as Peter. Looking back, from the beginning, he had Uncle Ben, Aunt May, Tony Stark, and all the Avengers helping him. But in the end, some are dead, some have left, and even his friends don't remember him. He is completely alone. I remember in Tom Holland's first film, Tony Stark gave Peter a Spider-Man suit, but Peter was too young and misused it, so Tony taught him, "If you are nothing without this suit, then you don't deserve to have it." Actually, this sentence comes from Captain America, who once reprimanded Tony Stark, saying, "If you are nothing without the Iron Man armor, then you are nothing." But after three Spider-Man films, Peter has truly grown a lot. In this installment, he has no other Avengers to help him, nor any super high-tech suits. He does everything himself and faces it alone. If you've noticed, this Peter is a bit different from the Peter in the previous one, two, and three films who appeared with the Avengers. The previous Peter was very talkative and often said silly things. But if you pay attention to this installment, you'll find that this Peter is much more reserved and doesn't say much. His inner world is often conveyed through his expressions. You can see that he has grown immensely over these four years. After experiencing so much in this installment, he finally accepts the fact that "with great power comes great responsibility," but it doesn't mean you have to face it alone. He also knows that he can choose not to be lonely and start anew, truly embracing a "Brand New Day." You can see that the character is very three-dimensional, with a clear arc. Although he has been Spider-Man for so long, he has truly become a hero only in this installment. He even sacrifices his life to save Jean Grey at the end, just like Tony sacrificed himself to destroy the enemies with the Infinity Stones. He has finally become an Avenger, a hero.
There is also a part in this installment that I really like. In traditional Marvel movies, it would definitely be stated that MJ now remembers Peter, and they get back together. But this movie doesn't handle it that way. Instead, MJ continues to forget Peter. Even though Peter revealed his identity, MJ has no feelings for him, leaving a sense of regret. This further aligns with the overall atmosphere and theme of the movie, avoiding a cliché plot.
Finally, I want to talk about the three main actors. To be honest, both in casting and acting, they have done an excellent job. First, Tom Holland. From the beginning, I saw him as just a child. In this installment, I truly feel he has not only become the real Spider-Man but also a truly mature adult, doing many things with composure and calmness. His acting has also improved. For example, the first time he took MJ to the rooftop, he thought MJ would remember their past. The look in his eyes as he looked at MJ was truly captivating. Also, in the Punisher's house, when he was chatting with MJ and his eyes were tearing up, it was a significant improvement from his previous acting. Before, his acting was too exaggerated and sometimes felt a bit over the top. But in this installment, in many scenes, he conveys a lot without speaking, relying solely on his expressions. Many times, in his scenes with MJ, you can see Peter Parker's inner helplessness and struggle. There is also a scene I quite like, where Peter, MJ, and Ned are assembling Lego at home, and MJ is drawing for them. Although the plot seems unremarkable, I think this scene is the emotional core of the entire movie. Because the entire movie is about Peter wanting to rekindle their friendship as the three of them. And this scene is the only one where the three of them can return to their old best friend state. Although the plot doesn't do anything special, just assembling Lego, this long-lost peace is precious in Peter's current lonely state and the movie's plot.
Next is Zendaya, who plays MJ. To be honest, her screen time is quite limited this time, but every time she appears, she can carry the entire scene. It can be said that wherever she and Peter appear, there are tears. They clearly love each other, but one dares not approach, and the other completely forgets. In the scene on the rooftop and when Peter takes her home, I found it very moving.
Finally, there is Sadie Sink, who plays Jean Grey. The first time I recognized this actress was in "Stranger Things." In the blink of an eye, she has grown from a little girl into an adult. I really want to give her a hug. My favorite part is her blackening at the end. She truly captured the mad essence of Jean Grey from the comics. So, I am really looking forward to the plot developing further. If her Jean Grey progresses to the Dark Phoenix storyline, with her explosive power, it should be incredibly good.
There is also a part, I don't know if I'm overthinking it. At the beginning, when Peter was chasing the armored vehicle, and at the end, when he came out of the hospital, he interacted with two Black child actors. In the armored vehicle, he saved a Black child, and at the hospital entrance, he played a web-shooting gesture with another Black child. I don't know if this implies that one of them will become MCU's Black Spider-Man, Miles Morales. Because if you remember, in "Iron Man 2," Peter first appeared as a child wearing a toy helmet. So, following the same pattern, Miles in the MCU might have already quietly appeared in the form of a child. This is absolutely not strange.
Also, I never expected that MCU could still make a superhero film today that doesn't focus on fighting, nor on the villain, but purely on the character's psychological arc and changes. Basically, I think this installment, "Brand New Day," is a drama film, and it's made well. So, even though I don't think the action scenes are that good and there isn't a clear villain, I still think this is the best-looking film among the four MCU Spider-Man movies. Looking back, my last Spider-Man movie review was five years ago. It turns out Marvel hasn't released a Spider-Man movie in five years. These five years have passed very quickly. The last Spider-Man movie was still talking about Covid. Looking back at my own channel, I actually made a few Marvel movie videos at the beginning. However, my personal opinion is that Marvel truly ended after "Endgame." Basically, there haven't been any particularly good works after "Endgame." So, I think the achievement of this "Brand New Day" is, in my personal opinion, very satisfactory. It even has the potential to be one of the best MCU works after "Endgame" and a shot in the arm for the upcoming December Avengers movie, "Secret Wars." I personally believe that after Spider-Man and the subsequent Avengers movies, the Marvel craze should return in a short period, but it won't dominate the world like before. I heard that Marvel's movie schedule now goes up to 2042. After the next two Avengers movies, the entire MCU will return to Phase Zero, which is a reboot from scratch. Then, the stories after the reboot will focus on the X-Men. I don't know if the focus will be entirely on the X-Men, or if the X-Men will just be one storyline. Because one of the biggest joys of watching Marvel is seeing heroes from different works crossover. If the X-Men become dominant and the proportion of other hero movies is very small, then there will be no fun. However, I believe that with Marvel's current approach, they will release a major superhero ensemble movie every few years. I believe they won't put all their resources into the X-Men and will always reserve half for other hero movies. I think it will stir up another wave of Marvel's X-Men craze then.
Finally, I will give this "Brand New Day" an 8 out of 10. Personally, I consider it a milestone or a significant change in MCU Spider-Man movies. Finally, I believe some people will definitely want me to talk about the ending and the post-credits scene. To be honest, I don't think there's much to say. Because MJ's reaction in this installment already indicates one thing: lost memories will not return. When Jean Grey possessed MJ, she also said that she couldn't find any memories of Peter. So, at the end, when someone said the fat guy remembered Peter, I don't see it that way. Because after Peter finished assembling Lego at MJ's house, MJ accidentally blurted out Peter's name. So, at the end, when Peter introduced himself as Peter, the fat guy quickly realized that this Peter was the Peter MJ mentioned, meaning Spider-Man. Therefore, I think this ending really leaves no room for discussion.
As for the post-credits scene, I personally think it's just a formality and doesn't represent any significant plot. First, the principle of Spider-Man tracking apps is that anyone who has seen Spider-Man will upload their location to the app. This means that if no one has seen Spider-Man, the app won't track Spider-Man's location on its own. So, seeing Spider-Man in the app's cosmic space in the post-credits scene, I think the greatest possibility is that it's talking about "Avengers 6." The Marvel heroes will go to a place called the Multiverse, where all Marvel heroes, including X-Men, Fantastic Four, Avengers, etc., will duel. I think it's just hinting at this. Why "Avengers 6" and not "Avengers 5"? Because there is currently no news announced about Tom Holland's Spider-Man appearing in "Avengers 5." Some people might say it could be Tobey's or Garfield's Spider-Man returning to the MCU. I don't object to them returning to the MCU, but the principle of Spider-Man tracking apps is that if someone sees Spider-Man, he will appear on the app. So, how could someone suddenly see Spider-Man in cosmic space? Therefore, I think the post-credits scene is just a formality, telling us that the next time Spider-Man appears, it will be in cosmic space.
Also, I had another crazy idea: perhaps the spider logo in this cosmic space refers to Venom. Because according to the current development of MCU's Spider-Man story, it should be developing the symbiote suit and Venom plot, thus leading to the later villain Carnage. However, this is just a wild idea. Personally, I don't think this post-credits scene is related to Venom, because, as I mentioned earlier, only if someone has seen Spider-Man will he appear on the app. So, how could someone suddenly see Spider-Man and Venom in space? Also, Venom needs to possess Spider-Man to absorb his spider abilities. So, before possessing Spider-Man, Venom shouldn't have the form or DNA of Spider-Man that can identify his existence. Also, Venom's copyright is still held by Sony, which is the most troublesome point. As long as Sony holds the copyright for Spider-Man and related characters, Marvel will have a hard time continuing to extend Spider-Man's story. You can see from the constant disputes between Marvel and Sony regarding Spider-Man movies that it's already difficult to make a movie for one character, let alone another. I believe it's extremely difficult for Marvel. The difficulty lies in Sony being too troublesome. So, although I have this idea, I personally don't think this post-credits scene will be related to Venom.
That's all for this video. See you next time. Goodbye.
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So, that's all for this video. See you next time. Bye-bye.