Peter Parker may be forgotten, but Spiderman is always there for you

Spider-Man has been the most recognisable face of Marvel superheroes for decades. Created by comic book legend Stan Lee, Spider-Man has been the most loved too, for kids and adults alike.

The latest instalment in the Spiderman franchise, ‘Spiderman Brand New Day’, released on 31st July. And understandably, the movie meant a lot for teenagers and young adults who literally grew up with the superhero.

After legendary portrayals of the Spiderman character by Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield, it’s the turn of Tom Holland in ‘Brand New Day’, and he matches their “on-screen” standard quite well. The plot of the movie connects to the events of the previous ones, especially the bit where Spider-Man goes through a complete reset of his superhero life. Here, he starts off as Peter Parker without friends or family because everybody has forgotten him.

This movie is designed to show Peter Parker’s comic accurate character. The creator of the character, Stan Lee, wanted Spider-Man to be just a regular human with regular human problems — bad relationships, losing loved ones, going through existential crisis, and being unable to pay rent — so that the audience could connect and relate to him. ‘Brand New Day’ too foregrounds these elements.

The movie is a street-level story of New York’s most loved superhero and how he tackles the fraud of New York’s damage control department. While doing that, Spider-Man also goes through heartbreaks as he has to face people who don’t remember him any more, and that includes his best friends and his family.

The whole crisis affects him mentally and physically and his DNA gets mutated. By the end of the film, Spider-Man develops natural spider powers, which is, being able to shoot organic webs and enhanced senses and strength.

The movie ends with the entire New York City crowding the hospital where the Spider-Man is and wishing for his speedy recovery after his climax battle and cheering for him. That is when Peter Parker realises that even if he’s forgotten as Peter Parker, people still know that Spider-Man is New York’s pride and as long as Spider-Man is active New York is safe. Eventually he manages to master being both Peter Parker and Spider-Man, starting a fresh journey and building new relationships.

I’ve been a Spider-Man fan since I was five years old. Growing up on Spider-Man films, and seeing Spider-man himself grow as a person along with me has been a generational experience. This experience is something the generation before this or the generation after this will never have.

Being able to watch this movie on the first day also gives the privilege of shared experience with the Spider-Man fan community. Across the globe, people crowded the theatres wearing Spider-Man merchandise. No other superhero in cinematic universe history has experienced fandom of this intensity.