A new "Spider-Man" trailer - and I feel nothing

Luca Fontana

20/3/2026

Translation: machine translated

Spider-Man accompanied me through my youth. Now the new trailer is here and I feel: nothing. It's bothering me more than I'd like.

The new trailer for «Spider-Man: Brand New Day» is here. A moment that would have electrified me in the past. Instead, I'm sitting in front of the screen, watching the scenes - and waiting for something to happen. Not on the screen, but inside me. For that tingling sensation to set in, that mixture of anticipation and childlike euphoria that superhero films have triggered in me for years.

It's not coming.

Instead, a strange, sober feeling spreads: Yes, this looks like a «Spider-Man» film. Stylishly staged, packed with familiar characters, technically flawless. All good. But also surprisingly ... arbitrary.

In the past, this would have picked me up completely

This irritates me more than I'd like to admit. Spider-Man is not just any character to me. He's one of those characters who accompanied me through my youth and is the centrepiece of the Marvel world for me. When a new film was announced, it wasn't just a date in the calendar. It was an event.

Nichts übertrifft den düsteren OG-Spider-Man-Trailer mit der Musik aus «The Matrix». Nichts.

It feels all the stranger when this very film comes out now and barely reaches me emotionally. But I'm not an MCU denier. «Fantastic Four» and «Thunderbolts*»I thought they were great. And just a few weeks ago, I wrote enthusiastically about «Spider-Noir», where Nicolas Cage awaits us as a brooding detective with a film-noir aesthetic and no multiverse shenanigans. Awesome

«Brand New Day», on the other hand, feels like the opposite: familiar to the point of interchangeability. Yet the film has one of the strongest starting positions in years. Peter Parker is isolated after «No Way Home», forgotten by the world and left to his own devices. His life as Spider-Man works, while he suffers as a human being. That's actually good drama.

But then the trailer pulls out all the stops on the Marvel shelf: Scorpion, Boomerang, the Hand - that ninja organisation many will recognise from the Netflix series «Daredevil» - plus Bruce Banner in his non-Hulk form, whatever that means this week, and in the middle of it all Frank Castle, the Punisher. An ensemble that sounds impressive on paper, but looks more like inventory than narrative in the trailer.

If you've been watching Marvel long enough, you'll already have an idea of what this means: there will be a montage right at the beginning in which Spider-Man works through a few villains in order to show the audience what he's been up to for the last four years. This will be followed by the first big action sequence with the Punisher. Then some drama about his powers evolving. Bruce Banner comes in as a wise counsellor. In between, a few shots that mimic iconic comic book covers, because that makes the commentary columns explode. And at the end, a big showdown where everything comes together.

Will that work? I'd be honestly surprised if I didn't hit at least 80 per cent of the plot with this prediction.

The Punisher gets a muzzle

The worst thing about the trailer is how Peter Parker shuts the Punisher's mouth with a spider web before he can say «motherf*cker». That's not just a little gag scene. It's the programme. It's a statement about what this film intends to do with Francs Castle - namely tame him, domesticate him and make him fit for Sony.

I have a firm conviction that I defend again and again and that I won't give up today: There are four characters in the Marvel universe that simply don't work without an R-rating. They are Blade, Deadpool, Daredevil - and the Punisher. Not because violence for violence's sake is good, but because these characters live from their moral uncompromisingness or at least fight with it.

The Punisher, for example, is not a hero who swears from time to time. He is a mirror of the system that created him. One who wages a one-man war against organised crime, without consideration, without mercy and without the moral boundaries that define other superheroes. Hence his name. He punishes. He kills. Not as a last resort, but as a matter of principle.

This is exactly what makes him so fascinating - and so incompatible with a film that also wants to attract ten-year-olds to the cinema. Trying to do so anyway means hollowing out the character and fitting him with a glued-on Punisher mask.

Marvel as a system instead of a surprise

Perhaps that's what concerns me the most: the feeling that «Spider-Man: Brand New Day» doesn't want to surprise, but has to work. The trailer feels less like a creative outburst and more like a carefully put-together package. A bit of nostalgia here, a bit of fanservice there, a few familiar names there, and a pinch of emotional conflict at the end.

Et voilà, flambé!

In etwa so stelle ich’s mir vor, wenn Marvel-Produzenten mir das zigste One-Pot-Menü nach Schema F servieren wollen.

This is not bad per se. It also explains why these films continue to reach a huge audience. But it also explains why they feel less and less like an event. More like fast food that reliably delivers what you expect. Nothing more.

Have I just stopped loving Marvel?

That's the real question on my mind. Not «Is the film good?» - We don't know yet. But rather: Why is my nervous system reacting to this trailer with the excitement of someone who's had a tax return shoved under their nose?

Maybe I'm simply oversaturated. Maybe I've seen too many of these films, analysed them down to the last detail for a living and recognised the same patterns over and over again. That would be the simplest explanation. But it doesn't quite convince me, because other Marvel projects can still grab me. The unusual «Spider-Noir», for example. Or «Wonder Man», one of the best series gems of the year so far.

«Brand New Day» could still be good. Really. Maybe I'm just not the target audience for this trailer, whereas the finished film will completely blow me away. But until then, I'll sit at the table with my coffee and watch the trailer with the same passion that grips the legendary Jeremy Clarkson when the new Dacia Sandero is delayed again.

Luca Fontana

Senior Editor

Luca.Fontana@digitecgalaxus.ch

I write about technology as if it were cinema, and about films as if they were real life. Between bits and blockbusters, I’m after stories that move people, not just generate clicks. And yes – sometimes I listen to film scores louder than I probably should.

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