The Insomniac Spider-Man games have become some of the most successful superhero titles in the industry. The original Marvel’s Spider-Man sold more than 13.2 million copies on PS4, while Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 became the fastest-selling game in PS5 history.
Of course, Insomniac owes plenty to the comic book stories, movie moments, costumes, and characters that have helped make Spider-Man one of pop culture’s most enduring heroes for nearly 65 years. But with the upcoming Spider-Man: Brand New Day, that inspiration appears to be coming full circle.
According to director Destin Daniel Cretton, known for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Just Mercy, the fourth standalone Spider-Man film in the MCU draws heavily from Insomniac’s acclaimed video game series.
“I am not a gamer, but I’ve played the game, but I surrounded myself with people who were obsessive gamers,” Cretton told Polygon. “So a lot of the people in our stunt department loved playing those video games. So they would do screen grabs of their play and bring it in and say like, ‘Can we pull this move off?’ So that was a great inspiration for things.”
That raises an exciting question: which moves, set pieces, and visual flourishes from the Insomniac Spider-Man games will make their way into Spider-Man: Brand New Day?
The film picks up with Peter Parker living alone in New York City after choosing to erase himself from the memories of his loved ones, and the rest of the world, at the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home. Now fully isolated as Spider-Man, Peter will reportedly face a packed lineup of new threats, including Scorpion, Tombstone, Boomerang, Tarantula, Ramrod, and a mysterious villain who has not appeared in a Spider-Man movie before.
The film is also set to feature The Punisher and Savage Hulk, the latter of whom has seemingly separated completely from Bruce Banner.
That influence could be especially important for Brand New Day because Peter’s new status quo sounds closer to the street-level, solo Spider-Man experience that Insomniac captured so well. The games emphasized fluid web-swinging, acrobatic combat, environmental takedowns, gadget-based improvisation, and the feeling of Spider-Man protecting New York block by block. If Cretton and his stunt team are pulling from that playbook, Brand New Day could deliver a version of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man that feels more physical, more self-reliant, and more grounded in the city than ever before.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day swings into theaters on July 31 in the U.S. and July 29 in the U.K. The film stars Tom Holland as Spider-Man, Zendaya as MJ, Jon Bernthal as The Punisher, Michael Mando as Scorpion, and more.
