Last warning for all the spoilers.
In other circumstances I would be a little annoyed that this was essentially a backdoor pilot to the new reboot of "The X-men," but how can I be mad when the execution was this good? Easily the character that I was the most impressed by in "Brand New Day" was Jean Grey. I've never come across any version of this character that I've liked before, because she's so rarely allowed to exist on her own terms. Even when she's Phoenix, she's more MacGuffin than active protagonist. Her being introduced in the MCU as a secret villain is great, because her powers have some interesting implications to explore, and nobody would ever expect it of this character. And Sadie Sink is perfect casting, instantly giving Jean a whole lot of personality and passion that makes her a great match in energy for Tom Holland.
All the choices of MCU crossover characters were very good, subtly giving Peter potential role models to compare and contrast himself against. He could suppress his powers and risk danger when they get out of hand, like Bruce Banner. He could do the lone wolf routine and stay alone and miserable the way that the Punisher/Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal) does. He could let trauma and revenge consume him and turn him into a villain, the way that it nearly does to Jean in this movie. Of course Yelena's just there to remind us that there's a new "Avengers" film around the corner, but I'm never going to say no to more Florence Pugh. The filmmakers were able to have Spider-man exist in a universe full of other superheroes and still have it feel fairly grounded, because all of those other superheroes are actually here for a reason.
Peter is supposed to be living a solitary life in this movie, but it just means that he's having different interactions than we've seen previously. The banter with the Punisher is a lot of fun, and their friendship turns out to be more important than it appears at first glance. All is forgiven for making me sit through that terrible Disney+ "Punisher: One Last Kill" special. I really like Liza Colon-Zayas serving as Spidey's liaison with the police and regular source of motherly advice. By the time we get to those important conversations with MJ and Aunt May, it's clear that Peter might be struggling to reconnect and reconcile with parts of his past, but he's fundamentally the selfless hero we all know and love anyway. The interactions with Tramell Tillman and Damage Control emphasize that he's still that naive do-gooder from "Homecoming" in a lot of ways. It would be a shame to lose Zendaya and Jacob Batalon, so I'm glad that they left the door open for more Ned and MJ, but this would be a perfectly acceptable exit for both of them too.
Peter having trouble with his powers is a common Spider-man storyline, but I liked all the thematic stuff they did with it, and it was clever to tie it into the upcoming superhuman/mutant stories that we know are coming up soon with the X-men. What's important, however, is that while Jean Grey had a great introduction in this movie, the movie was always still about Peter. That's the major mistake that the last Ant-man movie made, which ended up being a movie mostly about Kang the Conqueror. "Brand New Day" was so good at being a Spider-man movie. Spidey and Punisher teamed up to fight the Hulk! Spidey fought a tank! And had a very nice showdown with the Hand! And the mutant spider DNA leveled him up with some new and improved powers! Jean Grey's telepathy jumping from person to person is also so cool to see in action, and really made great use of the cast. Jon Bernthal mimicking Sadie Sink's mannerisms is priceless.
So, all in all I'm very happy with how the MCU is handling Spider-man, and look forward to whatever they have in store next for the character. This is pretty much their last tentpole superhero left who is an unqualified box office success, so I know we'll be getting plenty more of him.
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