The MCU’s Newest Hit Proves Marvel Was Right To Repeat A Controversial Move For Its Third Time

Published Sep 19, 2026, 12:55 PM EDT Zoë Miskelly is an editor and second in command for Screen Rant's Movies team, having covered the entertainment industry for almost 10 years now. Zoë's love of superheroes and all things Marvel & DC started out in childhood, and has blossomed into a career getting to talk about some of the biggest and best movies and shows of all time, having previously focused on comics while working at WhatCulture. Sign in to your ScreenRant account The MCU's biggest new hit proves the franchise was right to repeat a move that led to some divisive movies for a third time with its recent releases. While the superhero genre can certainly be seen to follow trends and some overall trajectories in terms of its releases as viewed by the decades, it's interesting to note that no two releases are ever truly the same, even if they follow the same hero and overall story. This works in useful ways, as it ensures series like The Batman can be close to The Dark Knight trilogy while still feeling like their own thing, but also means that more extensive testing ideally has to be done in certain areas for the wider genre to see if some concepts can truly work, since one or even two examples of certain approaches not landing with audiences isn't necessarily concrete proof something can't work out for other releases. The MCU timeline has proved this more recently, as one of its latest movies delves into territory that the franchise has had mixed results with in the past few years, but makes this same approach into a premise that has equaled out into one of the franchise's biggest hits of all time - which is big news for the MCU for more than one reason as it heads towards its second decade of existence. Spider-Man: Brand New Day Proves The MCU Was Right To Give Another Solo Hero Series Its Fourth Movie After Two Divisive Results Credit: Sony Pictures Releasing Spider-Man: Brand New Day's $2.4 billion box office results would be impressive in just about any light, but they're doubly notable when compared with the MCU's other solo hero series that made it to the fourth movie milestone. The first of these was that of Thor: Love & Thunder. While the movie made a considerable box office haul of its own - making $760 million worldwide - its critical reception was notably more mixed, with the movie gaining plenty of detractors for the perceived whiplash between its comedic tone and immensely dark moments, and the decision to kill off Jane Foster in the same movie she becomes the Mighty Thor. Inversely, Captain America: Brave New World saw a lower box office result for its own fourth offering centered around the Captain America mantle, which similarly saw mixed results, and further highlighted the challenges of solo hero series continuing on for this long via its perceived pitfalls in how it passes the torch on to Sam Wilson, despite The Falcon & The Winter Soldier's positive reception for doing this in show format prior. Spider-Man: Brand New Day Shows How The MCU's Biggest Long-Term Challenge Can Pay Off For It In A Major Way Where the MCU's other solo hero movie series that have made it to four movies have struggled somewhat more in one regard or another to be across-the-board wins for the franchise, Spider-Man: Brand New Day matches its stellar box office results with a generally strong and positive reception, showing that there's very much room for the MCU to continue other series into their fourth installment if not significantly further. In this way, Spider-Man: Brand New Day provides a roadmap of sorts for these prospective future installments, since it shows the heights that a fourth installment can reach if it resonates just right with audiences, and nets their interest and approval in equal measure. Though not every fourth MCU installment will be able to have the undeniable selling point and appeal of having Spider-Man front and center in its story, the way in which Spider-Man: Brand New Day blends together starting a new chapter and era for its focal hero with setting up further connective tissue for the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe clearly has plenty of effective footholds and moves that other releases can repeat, especially as the movie does all of this in a way that audiences are already clamoring for more of.