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Spider-Man: Brand New Day

image for Spider-Man: Brand New Day

Short takes

Not suitable under 12; parental guidance to 13 (violence, scary scenes, coarse language)

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Spider-Man: Brand New Day
  • a review of Spider-Man: Brand New Day completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 3 August 2026.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 12 Not suitable due to violence, scary scenes and coarse language.
Children aged 12–13 Parental guidance recommended due to high level of violence and coarse language.
Children aged 14 and over Ok for this age group.

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

Name of movie: Spider-Man: Brand New Day
Classification: M
Consumer advice lines: Violence
Length: 145 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

Four years after Doctor Strange’s spell that erased the collective memories of Peter Parker being Spider-Man (Tom Holland), he is back anonymously protecting the citizens of New York City. When a tank is driven into the Department of Damage Control (DODC), causing much mayhem, Spider-Man intervenes. He discovers that the driver was telepathically controlled by a person called Jean Grey (Sadie Sink) who has made repeated attacks on the DODC, trying to discover the source of V-Max. It transpires that Jean’s sister, Sara, was captured and killed by the DODC and her final message to Jean was to look for V-Max.

Spider-Man has also discovered he has heightened senses and agility, and increased powers through webs in his wrists. He seeks the help of Dr Bruce Banner/the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), who has invented inhibitors to help control his transformation into Hulk, but they don’t always work. Spider-Man comes up against the Hulk on several occasions as well as escaped criminal Mac Gargan/Scorpion (Michael Mando) and Frank Castle/the Punisher (Jon Bernthal), when they have been possessed by the telepath.

Meanwhile, Peter Parker meets up with his old girlfriend Michelle (MJ) (Zendaya) and his old friend Ned Leeds (Jacob Batalon), neither of whom remember him. Peter is sad to discover that Michelle has a new boyfriend but their paths intertwine and a new friendship begins. Peter takes MJ to Frank Castle’s hideout to keep her safe and to use her insight to track down Jean Grey. When Spider-Man eventually finds Jean and hands her over to the DODC, he realises he has made a mistake and sets out to make things right.

Themesinfo

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Superheroes; Fantasy; Action; Psionic abilities such as telekinesis, telepathy and possession.

Use of violenceinfo

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is a lot of violence throughout this movie, including punching, kicking, throwing, fighting with weapons such as assault rifles, guns, lasers, grenades, knives, samurai swords, Ninja stars, as well as multiple explosions and car crashes etc, but little blood and gore is shown. Other examples of violence include:

  • A tank crashes into a building causing it to explode and collapse.
  • Scorpion uses his weaponised tail to attack Spider-Man.
  • Scorpion holds Spider-Man by his throat.
  • Spider-Man is dragged along the road by the tank and is hit by a car.
  • A bomb inside the tank explodes.
  • Peter is seen inside a web and falls from a height, landing on the ground in pain.
  • Peter bashes his head against a wall.
  • Fighting between the Hulk and Spider-Man is particularly intense, with the Hulk punching and throwing him, smashing him against a wall and repeatedly punching him.
  • Jean causes a psionic wave to spread over the city, making everyone freeze on the spot.
  • A character is shot through the chest with a huge assault weapon.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under fiveinfo

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:

  • There are many scary scenes and characters in this movie, in particular the Hulk, who is a huge green character that roars.

Aged five to eightinfo

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:

  • Spider-Man repeatedly falls from high buildings and is suspended by his webs.
  • Peter’s bedroom is covered in spider webs.
  • The Scorpion’s face is covered in scars.

Aged eight to thirteeninfo

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged eight to thirteen, including the following:

  • Frank says he’s “gonna kill this kid”, referring to Peter.
  • Spider-Man’s heightened senses make everything sound louder and lights flash in front of his eyes.
  • A police woman is seen being dragged from a car and badly injured.
  • Jean uses telekinetic forces to manipulate people who make strange, jerky movements.
  • Jean is seen clamped to a chair.
  • In flashbacks, Peter Parker remembers his mother and how she died. He visits her grave on a couple of occasions.
  • A main character is shot in the chest with an assault rifle and is seen in intensive care.

Thirteen and overinfo

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

  • Nothing further noted.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in this movie:

  • Budweiser.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

  • Reference to a romantic relationship between Peter and MJ.

Nudity and sexual activity

There is some nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:

  • Two couples are seen kissing.
  • A woman is seen in a pool with bare shoulders. She invites Peter to take his clothes off and join her. Her strips down to his underwear.

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

  • Drinking at a party.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

  • Oh my God
  • Bullshit
  • Jackass
  • What the f
  • Mother f
  • What the hell
  • Dammit
  • Arse
  • Goddamn
  • Shit
  • Arsehole.

In a nutshell

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is a superhero movie based on the Marvel comic book hero Spider-Man and a comic book storyline. The film is action packed and likely to appeal to Spider-Man fans, however, there is a high level of violence throughout the movie, making it unsuitable for children under 12 and more suited to families with older children and teens.

The main messages from this movie are that even superheroes need friends; and that you don’t have to do it alone in this world.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

  • Bravery
  • Courage
  • Friendship
  • Collaboration
  • Heroism.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

  • Superheroes and superpowers are purely fictional and parents could emphasise this with their children and impress upon them not to try and emulate their behaviours.
  • Parents could also tell children that real heroes are normal people who act bravely in difficult circumstances and who do good deeds to help others.