Marvel Studios had an uneven year in 2025 from a box office perspective, as a couple of outings underwhelmed commercially. However, things weren’t as bad critically speaking. Both Thunderbolts* and The Fantastic Four: First Steps earned positive reviews, receiving Rotten Tomatoes scores in the high 80s. This year, Marvel doesn’t seem to have anything to worry about at the box office because Spider-Man: Brand New Day is projected to score one of the biggest opening weekends of all time. The bigger question was whether or not it could continue Marvel’s winning streak with reviews. As it turns out, it definitely can.
As of this writing, Spider-Man: Brand New Day has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 91% with 77 reviews submitted so far. That’s the highest mark for a Marvel Cinematic Universe installment since 2021, when Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings posted a 92% and Spider-Man: No Way Home earned a 93%. To see how Brand New Day stacks up against the rest of the MCU’s slate this decade, check out the table below:
| Movie | Rotten Tomatoes Score |
| Black Widow | 79% |
| Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings | 92% |
| Eternals | 48% |
| Spider-Man: No Way Home | 93% |
| Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness | 73% |
| Thor: Love and Thunder | 64% |
| Black Panther: Wakanda Forever | 84% |
| Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania | 46% |
| Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 | 82% |
| The Marvels | 63% |
| Deadpool & Wolverine | 77% |
| Captain America: Brave New World | 46% |
| Thunderbolts* | 88% |
| The Fantastic Four: First Steps | 86% |
| Spider-Man: Brand New Day | 91% |
Spider-Man: Brand New Day Could Be the MCU’s Best Spider-Man Film
The initial Spider-Man: Brand New Day Rotten Tomatoes score being this high shouldn’t come as a surprise. Following the film’s world premiere this week, the social media embargo lifted, and early reactions were very enthusiastic. While some people raised concerns about Brand New Day being overstuffed, the general consensus seems to be that this is arguably the MCU’s best Spider-Man film to date. Not only are people raving about the movie’s technical aspects (praising the stunts, action, and visuals), they also love the emotional Peter Parker story that’s at the center of everything, feeling it’s Tom Holland’s best work as the character to date.
The prospect of Brand New Day was always exciting. From the beginning, its goal was to take Spider-Man back to his street-level roots, crafting a narrative about Peter struggling with the responsibility of keeping New York safe. This is a far cry from Holland’s previous appearances as the character, where he had access to Stark technology and was dealing with fantastical threats like the emergence of Thanos or the multiverse imploding. As great as it’s been to see Holland’s Spider-Man interact with the Avengers and be part of the shared universe, some felt this portrayal strayed too far away from some of the character’s core ethos. Spider-Man was conceived as an everyman superhero, relatable because he was just a regular guy trying to do the right thing as he struggled to pay bills and maintain personal relationships. Brand New Day is a bit of a reset for the MCU’s Spidey, and people are responding well to it.
It is important to keep in mind that only a fraction of the expected reviews have been submitted to Rotten Tomatoes so far. A little over 70 reviews is a very small sample size; as a point of comparison, No Way Home has 429 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, so there literally will be hundreds more reviews for Brand New Day. The film’s score will likely fluctuate as more come in, but fans shouldn’t expect any wild swings. Typically, the first wave of reviews is indicative of where the general consensus will land, so barring something unforeseen, Brand New Day will go down as one of the MCU’s best-reviewed movies of the past handful of years.
Brand New Day box office projections are already astronomical, but this word of mouth could cause the estimates to go even higher. Given Spider-Man’s popularity, this franchise is about as critic-proof as you can get; a mixed or negative reception wasn’t going to stop Brand New Day from having a massive opening weekend. But with the early signs suggesting Marvel’s latest actually lives up to the hype, die-hard fans and general audiences will be all the more excited to see the film this weekend. Positive reviews certainly can’t hurt a movie’s commercial prospects, so look for Brand New Day to be a box office juggernaut.
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