Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ)
Spider-Man is famous for many things. Being friendly. Doing what he can. Being responsible with his great power.
Now he’s notable for his latest film, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which had the biggest opening weekend of any motion picture ever, making close to US $1 billion.
So, the question is: how? Is it, to misquote Mark Twain, that reports of superhero fatigue have been greatly exaggerated? Is it a quirk of timing, hitting the zeitgeist at the right moment? Or is something else at work?
The answer is deceptively straightforward, and actually quite simple to replicate. It’s just not particularly exciting: Spider-Man gets the basics right.
To use a sporting metaphor, sometimes football can be over-complicated. But if you can do the basics well – shoot, tackle, pass – you’ll be a very good player. Not a genius, not remembered by future generations, but excellent nonetheless.
The same goes for storytelling.
Does whatever a Spider-Man can
Spiderman is recognised as one of the all-time great superheroes, arguably the only Marvel superhero to equal DC’s Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman.
Perhaps Marvel’s greatest trick was to dust off minor heroes such as Iron Man and Guardians of the Galaxy and make them popular, but superhero land is very much a two-tiered society.
Spider-Man fills a gap in the aristocracy of metahumans. Superman is the pure all-American boy scout, Batman his dark and damaged reflection, Wonder Woman the lone female solider, which leaves a space for a younger, more fun and snarky soul in teenager Peter Parker.
Fun is the operative word here, and Spider-Man’s defining characteristic. Spider-man has always been a breath of fresh air to balance the gravitas of the other mainstream superheroes. He’s relatable to the youth-of-the-day target market, and it’s his lack of stakes that makes him so endearing. It’s not always about saving the world – often it’s just about getting the girl to like him.
Sony Pictures
This may be a hot-take, but Spider-Man: Brand New Day is not a genius film. Like our football player, it won’t be talked about by future generations. Of the four Tom Holland Spider-Man films, it has the least re-watch potential. Yet it’s compelling, entertaining, and has a mostly satisfying ending (just don’t get me started on the post-credit scene) because it gets its basics right.
The film understands the nature of its main character. More than that, it understands what the audience wants to see him doing. And what is that?
The audience wants to see Spider-Man doing Spider-Man things in a Spider-Man way.
That is, to have adventures that bring the fun and the feels. Things can get serious at times, but never bleak. Ultimately, he is an aspirational character. We should all want to be Spider-Man.
Trying too hard can backfire
It sounds so painfully simple, yet recently Hollywood has got it so wrong with its established heroes. Audiences just want to see the heroes they know and love doing the things they usually do.
Top Gun: Maverick (2022) understood this. Like the latest Spider-Man outing, it is not the greatest film ever made, perhaps not even the best Top Gun film, but it services the hero well.
We want to see Maverick being cocky in a cockpit, saving the day in an enlightened alpha-male, anti-establishment way – plus a little bit of fan service. This film also over-performed, making more than US $1.5 billion worldwide.
Lightyear (2022), on the other hand, did not. What shall we do with a beloved cheeky space ranger with the catchphrase “to infinity, and beyond”? Yes, let’s make him completely planet-bound and slightly depressed.
Closer to superhero home, the Snyder-verse got it wrong with Superman: Man of Steel (2013). Where’s the joy in seeing Kal-El internally conflicted and feeling the full weight of the world on his shoulders? It’s notable that James Gunn’s 2025 version attempts to reset this.
The Stars Wars sequel trilogy made particularly egregious errors, especially in the treatment of Luke Skywalker, who is the soul of the franchise. Having him call a lightsabre a laser-sword and toss it over his shoulder in contempt is a fundamental misunderstanding of the character and his connection to the audience.
It is not blind fan service to lean into what made a character great in the first place. Characters can evolve, but within limits. Audiences don’t want to be pandered to, but they don’t want to be betrayed either.
Star power and presence
So much of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s later phases seemed to be about trying to replicate the Iron Man trick on an industrial level, with less expensive actors. But there is such a thing as star quality, and it’s the reason Chris Evans is coming back as Captain America in Avengers: Doomsday.
It’s no coincidence Spider-Man has maintained its stars along with its box office. Tom Holland and Zendaya’s real-life marriage wouldn’t have hurt the film either.
Finally, it’s worth noting that sometimes success is not simply due to creative choices, but from a sense of ever-presentness. To retain the rights to Spider-Man, Sony has to keep making Spider-Man films every six years. This goes against the grain of superhero fatigue, but then so does Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
It seems there is no superhero fatigue, just fatigue of films that get the basics so, so wrong.
Darren Paul Fisher does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Original source: https://analysis1.mil-osi.com/2026/08/05/spider-man-brand-new-day-is-proof-audiences-just-want-to-see-heroes-doing-hero-stuff/