My Spidey-senses are tingling. I have a good feeling about the opening of Spider-Man: Brand New Day this weekend. The real winners? Tom Holland, Jon Bernthal and Zendaya, all of whom also starred in Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey which opened to a massive global box office just two weeks prior. Both films feature lonely heroes trying to return to loved ones while battling monsters and the cost of victory.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is a direct sequel to Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021). Peter Parker had Doctor Strange wipe the world's memory of him to stop a multiverse apocalypse. Four years later, he's a solitary hero working with NYPD Detective Jean De Wolff, famous but lonely. He follows Ned to a party and discovers MJ has a boyfriend, triggering a mental spiral with consequences for his powers.

A new threat emerges, pursued by the shady Department of Damage Control led by Bill Metzger (Tramell Tillman from Severance). Spider-Man teams up with the Punisher — a great odd couple — and visits a retired Bruce Banner teaching physics. Peter must confront his denied feelings: you can't run from your problems or hide from yourself.