It’s been a decade since Tom Holland’s Spider-Man first swung into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Since then, the web-slinger has battled multiversal villains, fought alongside the Avengers and lost almost everything that mattered to him.
The superhero is back on the big screen in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, the first solo Spider-Man blockbuster since 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home. Holland reunites with his wife, Zendaya, while Stranger Things breakout star Sadie Sink and The Bear‘s Liza Colón-Zayas join the franchise. The cast also includes Florence Pugh, Mark Ruffalo and Jon Bernthal.
Brand New Day has arrived to a record-breaking start, posting the biggest preview night in box-office history and, according to industry trackers, heading for one of the largest opening weekends ever.
If it’s been a while since you last caught up with Peter Parker, don’t worry — you’re not alone. His story stretches across six MCU movies, including a trilogy of solo films, and rewatching them all before Brand New Day would take nearly 15 hours. That’s a lot of homework.
Luckily for you, I’ve been watching Spider-Man movies since Tobey Maguire, the OG big-screen Spidey, first donned the suit in 2002.
Here’s the essential catch-up for anyone who wants to skip the rewatch marathon and head straight to Brand New Day.
Iron Man taught Spider-Man how to be a hero
When Peter Parker (Holland) first appeared in Captain America: Civil War (2016), Tony Stark, better known as Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), tracked down the teenage superhero after learning about a masked vigilante fighting crime in Queens.
Stark became Parker’s mentor, teaching him that what made a hero wasn’t the suit — it was the person wearing it. Over the next few years, they fought side by side in some of the MCU’s biggest battles.
In Avengers: Endgame (2019), Stark sacrificed himself to save the universe, leaving Parker to carry the weight of Iron Man’s legacy.
Spider-Man made an enemy who never forgot him
Spider-Man faced career criminal Mac Gargan (Michael Mando) in Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), foiling one of his illegal weapons deals. Gargan ended up behind bars and vowed revenge.
The storyline was quietly left behind as Parker faced much bigger problems. Nearly a decade later, Brand New Day finally picks it up again, with Gargan returning as the supervillain Scorpion.
Spider-Man’s identity was exposed
That all fell apart when Quentin Beck, aka Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal), betrayed him. After convincing the world he was a hero, Mysterio framed Spider-Man for a deadly drone attack before exposing Parker’s true identity.
Overnight, Parker’s life unraveled. His girlfriend MJ (Zendaya), his best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon) and Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) were swept into the chaos, leaving him desperate to return to their normal lives.
Doctor Strange’s spell broke the multiverse
With the entire world knowing his identity, Parker turned to Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) in 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Parker asked Strange to cast a spell to make everyone forget he was Spider-Man. But he kept changing the rules mid-spell, causing the magic to spiral out of control.
The spell tore open the multiverse, pulling villains from previous Spider-Man movies into the MCU.
Aunt May gave Peter Spider-Man’s defining lesson
Parker tried to cure the villains in No Way Home, rather than send them back to universes where many were destined to die — but it backfired.
Norman Osborn’s (Willem Dafoe) Green Goblin persona resurfaced, killing Aunt May. In her final moments, she passed on the words that have defined every version of Spider-Man: “With great power, there must also come great responsibility.”
For Holland’s Parker, it was the lesson that would shape everything that followed.
Three Spider-Men reminded Peter who he is
As the multiverse continued falling apart, Parker got help from alternate Spider-Men played by Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield (you probably remember the memes).
Working together, the three Spider-Men cured the villains rather than defeating them, proving that compassion could succeed where revenge could not.
They reminded Parker that every Spider-Man experiences heartbreaking loss — and that choosing hope over vengeance is what makes them heroes.
Peter sacrificed everything to save the world
Even after the villains were stopped, the multiverse kept collapsing as more people who knew Parker’s identity began breaking into his universe.
Doctor Strange found one final solution: make everyone forget Parker ever existed.
The spell saved reality, but it came at an enormous cost. Parker lost everyone who knew and loved him, including MJ. Left entirely alone, he started over in a small apartment, sewing a new Spider-Man suit by hand and setting the stage for the grief-stricken hero’s next chapter in Brand New Day.
