What Spider‑Man: Brand New Day can teach us about loss and grief

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is a great action film full of fantastical people fighting for good over evil with the help of their super powers. But at its heart, it’s also a powerful meditation on the very normal human experience of living with loss

Spider-Man: Brand New Day shows us loss can be a transformational experience, not something simply to overcome.

Spider-Man’s origin story in the comics is rooted in the death of his Uncle Ben. He is a hero driven by grief — on a mission, to begin with, to avenge his uncle’s death.

In the latest iteration of Spider-Man, however, his grief is different. In the cinematic Marvel Universe, Spider-Man’s loss comes later in his hero’s journey — in the second film, ⁠ Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021). And instead of Uncle Ben, this Peter Parker loses his Aunt May.