In movies, superheroes don’t tend to want for company. They organize themselves into leagues and squads and dynamic duos. They’ve got fans in every corner of the metropolis, as well as some pretty major significant others. (Even Batman the nihilist avenger snaps back to being Bruce Wayne the social butterfly.) But in “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” Peter Parker (Tom Holland) has become a workaholic crime fighter, driven but isolated. We see him nab a slew of villains with sticky-web precision, then head back to the corroded attic New York apartment where he lives like a hermit, surrounded by computer screens, tinkering with electro-mechanic devices that are designed to hone and focus his powers.
But it’s a lonely crusade. Peter, while no longer a high-school student or an MIT wannabe (Tom Holland is now 30, and has grown into a more stylishly confident actor), is obsessed with perusing the social-media videos posted by MJ (Zendaya), the love of his life, and Ned (Jason Batalon), his smart-mouth best friend. All their memories of Peter were wiped away by Doctor Strange at the end of “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” Doing that was the only way that Peter could save the multiverse. Now, when the three of them finally meet up, MJ and Ned look at Peter and see a total stranger. As for Peter’s beloved Aunt May (Marisa Tomei), she was killed in the last film. Is it any wonder he’s a Spider-Man gone “Taxi Driver”?
