Happy Saturday, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here with the first of two reviews/reactions today. Our writers watched Spider-Man: Brand New Day last weekend, and we have some thoughts to share. I’ll kick things off with my thoughts on Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

Kyra’s Take

I enjoyed Spider-Man: Brand New Day. The trailers promised a character-driven Spider-Man story, and Spider-Man: Brand New Day delivers on this promise. Peter’s story continues where Spider-Man: No Way Home concluded. He has yet to reach out to his friends, Ned and MJ, and his journey toward self-acceptance mirrors the storyline of Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s “villain.” Before we go any further, I must give a spoiler warning to anyone who hasn’t seen Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Consider yourself warned.

Jean Grey–yes, The X-Men’s Jean Grey–is Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s villain, sort of. Her mutant powers have awakened, and she’s on the look for her sister, Sarah. Jean’s mother abandoned her and her sister because of who they were; a stark contrast to Spider-Man’s Aunt May embracing her nephew/son after he gained his powers. This is relevant to the story. Trust me. After all, Jean’s a telepath.

During Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Spider-Man’s powers are growing and “mutating.” Again, Jean Grey’s powers awakening and amplifying echo Spider-Man’s changes. Narratively, this is a great choice. Peter Parker followed Tony Stark/Iron Man’s lead. At one point of his career, Peter submitted himself to government monitoring and regulation; this was the whole point of Captain America: Civil War and the Sokovia Accords. Peter continues to work with the government. Jean Grey fights against government regulation and monitoring as most X-Men would do. If the MCU were to include or introduce the X-Men in a Spider-Man film, the way Spider-Man: Brand New Day does it is near flawless. But I’m not a huge fan of a Spider-Man film introducing the X-Men.

There has never been a Spider-Man MCU film where Spider-Man was the only superhero in the film. Repeat: No Spider-Man MCU film has been a solo Spider-Man movie. Spider-Man: Homecoming had Iron Man as Spidey’s father figure (one extra superhero). Spider-Man: Far From Home featured an Iron Man cameo and Nick Fury working behind the scenes (two extra superheroes). Spider-Man: No Way Home had two other versions of Spider-Man and Doctor Strange (three extra superheroes). Spider-Man: Brand New Day has appearances from Jean Grey, The Punisher, The Hulk, and Black Widow (four extra superheroes). What’s next for Spider-Man 5? Five extra superheroes. It may as well be an Avengers film. Kind of like Captain America: Civil War.

Don’t get me wrong, most–if not all–of these guest-staring superheroes had a purpose in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Jean Grey begins as the antagonist, only to be vindicated as a scared young woman makes for a good volta (turn) with Damage Control becoming the “real villain.” This is great. It shatters Peter’s worldview that he’s held since he was introduced into the MCU (ten years ago). The Punisher works as comic relief and at the end, he reminds Peter that extreme measures aren’t always needed. The Punisher is also the man Peter fears he’ll become if he keeps himself closed. Great stuff. The Hulk shows a path Peter’s mutation could take; Peter even calls his continued mutation a “monster” like The Hulk. The Hulk is the monster Spider-Man doesn’t want to become. Bruce gives Peter the idea of inhibiting his mutation and this gives Peter the means to subdue Jean. And Black Widow is just fun. She doesn’t steal a lot of screen time. But that’s four extra superheroes. Four!

We’ll probably never get a Spider-Man solo film in the MCU. That isn’t the worst thing in the world. The MCU is an interconnected universe. Fortunately, viewers didn’t need to do any “homework” before Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Sure, you could watch the recent Punisher Special on Disney+, but it isn’t “required” viewing to understand this movie’s plot. As long as you vaguely know who Yelena (Black Widow) and Bruce (The Hulk) Banner are, you don’t need to watch or rewatch any of their previous movies or shows. All of this is great. The MCU has learned to eliminate–or at least reduce–audience “homework,” and the confluence of superheroes Spider-Man: Brand New Day used worked for the movie’s character-driven story. But I miss the days of the MCU’s solo superhero movies or even the Spider-Man films with fewer guest superheroes.

Off-topic, but I’ve heard some people describe Jean Grey’s actions in this film as “evil.” I don’t believe that is the case, but I may be too quick to forgive Jean’s actions. She does kill people for her family. At least two Damage Control goons passed away during Jean’s assault on the organization’s headquarters. She may have been responsible for more. In the comics, Jean Grey is a more morally gray–or grey–character than most might think. Sink’s performance is great for a young Jean Grey with a mean streak. But I can see why people would call Jean’s actions in Spider-Man: Brand New Day evil. I view her actions as destructive. I also served in the military during three wars. I have a much larger body count than Jean when it comes to killing for my family. So, I’m biased.

My final thought is on Damage Control itself, and Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s use of Bill Metzger. In the comics, William Metzger was an anti-mutant leader. His was an organization similar to the mutant hate-group Friends of Humanity. As soon as I heard the name Metzger, I knew he was a villain, and it all but confirmed Jean Grey, instead of any number of Spider-Man villains with mind control or possession (as Black Widow put it) powers as this film’s antagonist. Going into this film, I thought Mister Negative or Carrion would’ve been better served as the movie’s villain. Heck, Carrion’s abilities closely match what Jean does during the film (a pseudo-possession), and Mister Negative was the main villain in the comic story titled Spider-Man: Brand New Day. So, I guess I’m a little disappointed that we didn’t see another great Spidey villain take centerstage. Spider-Man has one of the greatest rogues galleries in comics.

Heck. Spider-Man has the second best rogues galleries in comics, second only to Batman. So, Spider-Man: Brand New Day plays like a Batman movie with none of Batman’s rogues present. Odd. It worked, but I don’t want this as a steady diet with Spider-Man movies.

Ultimately, Spider-Man: Brand New Day was a great popcorn flick. I’ll probably watch it once or twice after it lands on Disney+. If the MCU had to introduce the X-Men in a Spider-Man film, this is almost perfect. I just wished the MCU didn’t choose to introduce the X-Men in this film. Despite the X-Men’s inclusion, Spider-Man: Brand New Day kept its trailers’ promise of a Spider-Man character-driven film. It’s a fun movie. Those are my thoughts on Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Let’s see what Season thinks.

Season’s Take

I was a bit surprised to see Jean Grey as an anti-hero in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Sadie Sink did an amazing job as Jean Grey. The character was very believable. The plot of Spider-Man: Brand New Day was well-written and can work as a stand alone movie. There were enough flashbacks to the previous Spider-Man movies that the audience could understand what happened without having to watch the other installments. The flashbacks were a bit too overdone; they could have cut down the runtime without some of them.

Before I watched Spider-Man: Brand New Day, I didn’t know who William Metzger was. What made me suspicious of him initially was how he spoke to the Hand. He spoke Japanese (without subtitles), and didn’t use an ounce of polite speech while introducing Spider-Man as an ally of the Hand. He referred to the Hand as “omae (oh-ma-eh)” or “you all.” “Omae” is either a familiar way of speaking to someone, but is considered to be very rude. He also referred to himself as “ore (oh-ray)” or “I.” This is normally an arrogant way to refer to oneself. He also didn’t use “desu” or “masu” at the end of his sentences, which is also either rude or familiar. I’m not sure how many Japanese speakers watched Spider-Man: Brand New Day, but this instance stood out to me.

I wish we could have seen some underused members of Spider-Man’s rogues gallery, so I was a bit disappointed when that didn’t happen. It looks like we’ll be seeing Venom in the future fifth Spider-Man movie. Here’s hoping it’ll blow Spider-Man 3 out of the water.

Hey, hey! Kyra Kyle here again. I left the Metzger Japanese speech to Season; She spent a year and a half in Japan. I remember looking at Season when the scene occurred. I don’t speak Japanese, but I could tell something was off with Metzger’s speech. Anyway, thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.