Tom Holland’s Spider-Man returns to Indian theatres on July 30 with Brand New Day, a sequel that depends heavily on past MCU stories. Viewers are urged to revisit Homecoming, Far From Home, No Way Home, Daredevil season 2, and The Punisher: One Last Kill to fully grasp Peter Parker’s reset, Damage Control’s role, The Hand’s threat, and Frank Castle’s mindset.
Tom Holland swings back into Indian theatres with Spider-Man: Brand New Day on July 30, a full day ahead of the rest of the world, and this time Peter Parker is starting from scratch. The last time we saw him, the entire planet had been made to forget he ever existed as Spider-Man, and Brand New Day picks up years into that lonely, self-imposed reset. The film leans hard on everything that came before it, from old friends who no longer recognise him to a New York City that has changed while he wasn't looking. If you want the story to actually land, here are 5 Marvel movies and shows to watch before catching Tom Holland's latest film.
Spider-Man: Homecoming is where this whole modern version of Peter Parker began, and it turns out to matter here more than most fans expected. The film quietly introduces Damage Control, the government agency that cleans up after superhero battles, in its closing scenes. Brand New Day's entire plot is now confirmed to revolve around a wave of attacks on that same agency, so knowing what Damage Control actually is going in makes a real difference.
Homecoming also introduces a small-time arms dealer named Mac Gargan, played by Michael Mando, who works for the villain Vulture. Brand New Day brings Mando back in the same role, except now he has fully become the Scorpion, and that transformation only lands if you've seen where he started.
Spider-Man: Far From Home ends with Peter's entire life blowing up in public. Mysterio frames him for a drone attack and, worse, exposes his real identity to the world in a viral video. That single scene is the domino that knocks everything else over. It is the reason Doctor Strange later has to step in and try to fix things, and understanding just how badly Peter's life fell apart here makes the desperation of what comes next feel earned rather than random.
Spider-Man: No Way Home isn't just a good watch before Brand New Day, it is the direct setup for it. Facing a multiverse collapsing in on itself, Peter asks Doctor Strange to cast a spell that erases every memory of Peter Parker being Spider-Man from everyone alive, including the people he loves most. MJ, Ned, his aunt, all of them forget him completely so that he can keep them safe. Brand New Day opens years after that choice, with Peter still living inside the consequences, so this isn't a film you can skip and still expect the new one to hit the way it's supposed to.
One of the confirmed threats Peter deals with in Brand New Day is a group of red-clad ninja assassins known as The Hand, and if that name means nothing to you, it's worth a quick primer. The Hand first showed up properly in JioHotstar's Daredevil, in its second season, where they operated as a shadowy criminal organisation with mystical roots. The group also turns up in Iron Fist, which digs even further into where they came from. Neither show is officially treated as MCU canon anymore, but they're still the clearest place to see The Hand in action before watching them cross paths with Spider-Man.
Jon Bernthal's Frank Castle makes his big screen debut as the Punisher in Brand New Day, and the project that actually sets him up for it is The Punisher: One Last Kill, a JioHotstar special from May 2026. It catches Frank at a strange point in his life, done with revenge and unsure what comes next, until an old enemy drags him back into violence one more time. It was built specifically to bridge his story into this film, so it's the most direct way to understand what state of mind Frank is in when he and Peter finally cross paths.
Watch these in order and Spider-Man: Brand New Day will stop feeling like a reboot and more like what its title promises, a new chapter for a Peter Parker who has already been through more than enough to permanently scar any man.