Tom Holland turned up at the Empire State Building in New York the other day to promote the trailer launch of “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” an astounding success considering the viewership numbers touted in its wake.
Now, a few days on, Holland’s first interview for the film has gone online via the building’s official YouTube channel in which he talks about the tone of the new film, calling it a ‘fresh start’.
He says “tonally, the movie feels more mature” with “what the characters are going through is definitely something that young people will really relate to”.
One of the big changes is his onscreen dynamic here will mostly be with Jon Bernthal’s Frank Castle/The Punisher – a very different kind of relationship than he had with Tony Stark. Holland explains:
“I am so excited for people to see Jon Bernthal as the Punisher in this movie. You know, he’s come from a very different world. He’s in the R-rated universe, and we’ve basically picked him up and plonked him into our world, and he absolutely sings in this movie. He is incredible.
The relationship between Spider-Man and the Punisher is so funny, and it changed a lot, and it evolved a lot as we were shooting because Jon and I would improvise. It started as this relationship of two people that really kind of hate each other, I guess, and then as we started improvising, it became this big brother-little brother rivalry, and it might be my favourite dynamic that I’ve ever seen with Spider-Man.”
Another thing the film will explore is the impact his decision at the end of ‘No Way Home’ is having on him personally – the isolation and sacrifices he made taking a physical toll:
“I think my favourite thing about Peter Parker is that he is always selfless. Everything that he does is for other people, and particularly in this movie, he is making the ultimate sacrifice to try and protect Ned and MJ. And that is having a really catastrophic effect on not only his personal life, but also his health. I think that is something that we’ve never dealt with in a Spider-Man movie before. And I think that it’s just a really cool thing for us to explore.”
The film will be set around four years after the events of “Spider-Man: No Way Home” meaning Holland, who turns 30 in June, is still playing him decidedly younger than he is with the character biologically in his early-mid 20s.
It comes as one of the final shots of the trailer, in which Spider-Man is leaping into action against a group of ninjas, is widely being speculated as having been digitally erased with other heroes in the shot removed – not unlike what happed with the trailer for “Spider-Man: No Way Home”.
The comments also come as it has been revealed that Disney’s upcoming “The Punisher” Special Presentation event will have a runtime of 60 minutes according to the WGA.
“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” opens in cinemas on July 31st 2026.
