'I finally get it': why Spider-Man: Brand New Day made me a Marvel convert

Here's why Spider-Man: Brand New Day even won over a self-confessed Marvel newcomer.

I caught Spider-Man: Brand New Day at an advance screening at Hoyts Entertainment Quarter, the day before it swings into Australian cinemas on Friday, July 31.

I loved it.

So warning: this post contains full spoilers for Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

I’m not exaggerating when I say the reveal of Sadie Sink’s character had the whole cinema buzzing before the credits even rolled.

Sink, who has kept her role under wraps for months, plays Jean Grey — yes, that Jean Grey, the X-Men telepath and one of the most powerful mutants in Marvel canon.

Her arrival isn’t a throwaway cameo, either.

In the film’s tank scene, Jean confirms to Peter Parker that his spider bite triggered a dormant mutant gene, tying his powers directly into the X-Men mythology for the first time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

It’s the clearest signal yet that Marvel is building towards a full X-Men crossover, and as someone who has come to this franchise fairly late, even I could feel the room shift when the penny dropped.

Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, Brand New Day picks up four years after Spider-Man: No Way Home, with Tom Holland’s Peter Parker living entirely alone after erasing himself from everyone’s memories.

Zendaya and Jacob Batalon return, alongside Jon Bernthal as The Punisher, Mark Ruffalo and Tramell Tillman.

Here’s my confession: I’m a fairly recent convert to the Marvel universe.

Outside of the Spider-Man films, I’ve seen very little of it, so going into Brand New Day I needed a crash course on some fairly major franchise history.

I needed someone to explain how Iron Man actually died (he sacrificed himself using the Infinity Stones to defeat Thanos in Avengers: Endgame, uttering the now-iconic line “I am Iron Man”) and why it mattered so much that half the population had vanished, only to return five years later.

For anyone else who needs the refresher: Thanos wiped out half of all life in the universe with a single snap in Avengers: Infinity War.

Five years passed before the surviving Avengers reversed it, an event fans now call “the Blip”, restoring everyone who had disappeared.

None of that backstory is strictly required to enjoy Brand New Day, but understanding the weight of what Peter has lost, and who he has lost it to, made his isolation in this film hit so much harder.

I’m giving Spider-Man: Brand New Day four stars out of five.

It’s emotional, it’s funny in the right places, and it left me genuinely excited for wherever Marvel takes Peter Parker next.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is in Australian cinemas from Friday, July 31.