Although the facts don’t strictly support it, I’m feeling a sentiment that the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has rightly slowed down over the past few years, most likely out of an act of appeasement to the fans (me included) who checked out after Avengers: Endgame when the requisite three movies per year and an equal amount of eight-episode shows started to feel like Sisyphus’s punishment. But that doesn’t mean the machine stops churning, especially with the series’ biggest film yet, Avengers: Doomsday, arriving in theaters this Christmas. With fewer films available to build the blocks, more has to be stuffed in, using terms like “multiverse,” “incursion,” and “anchor beings.” I don’t know what most of it means, and I bet neither do many of you.

Luckily, Marvel (and distribution partner Sony Pictures) doesn’t view their favorite web-slinger as a construction worker. As evidenced by the corporate opening logos being solely a showcase recap of Tom Holland’s now decade-spanning status as Spider-Man, this character is left to his own devices, steering the ship in whichever way suits him best. It’s good to be king, and it’s good to be us, as Brand New Day emerges as the strongest Spider-Man film in years.

Partly a symptom of COVID-19 brain fog from its release during the flimsy time of 2021 and the cheap amusement park thrills (here’s looking at you, Martin Scorsese) of its multiversal crossover story that coalesced the cinematic history of the character, it’s hard to remember the lasting consequences of Spider-Man: No Way Home. As part of Doctor Strange’s spell to reset the broken multiverse, the memory of Peter Parker as Spider-Man is erased from everyone’s minds, including his love MJ and best friend Ned. This came at a time in the MCU when the concept of a multiverse was just getting started, with its unfathomable ripple illustrated with an incredibly personal consequence.

They say the night is darkest just before the day, but this brand new day never seems to lighten up for Peter. Opting to avoid rekindling a relationship with MJ and Ned in hopes of protecting them (and himself), Peter dives headfirst into his work, dedicating years to cleaning up New York City. The city loves him, and the villains are locked up at record speed, yet that sense of fulfillment always escapes him. It doesn’t help that his only real professional friend is Frank Castle / Punisher (Jon Bernthal), who thinks that every problem can be solved with a gun. That’s not exactly good company in a time of heavy emotional stress.

A new threat emerges in the form of a telepath, moving between minds and taking control. They seem to know a lot more about Spider-Man and Peter Parker than they should, and have a vendetta against Damage Control, a sort-of local version of S.H.I.E.L.D. Compounded on that level of mistrust is Peter’s inability to trust his own body as it mutates further into arachnid form. The line between spider and human was always shifting on a metaphorical level; now it’s becoming quite literal.

Taking over from Jon Watts, director Destin Daniel Cretton repositions the series in weightier territory, both tonally and in production. It’s something he supplied to Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, at least until its fluid action and richly drawn characters were replaced with visual goop in the third act. That mistake is not replicated here, with Spidey’s web swinging accompanied by kinetic filmmaking that gets deeper inside the mask, while still attaining that cinematic whoosh thanks to Michael Giacchino’s score.

There is still some visual backdrop nonsense, with Spider-Man having conversations with other characters in the street while no bystanders seem to care. Maybe that’s just a New York thing I’m too midwestern to understand. And most of the scenes involving specific characters are clearly shot entirely separately from the rest of the production, a side effect of the puzzle pieces likely still being molded until the very last minute.

That intense level of intuitive cooking lends more credit to Holland’s uncanny ability to consistently string the emotional hook through each scene. His eternal boyish charm may have made him an odd fit for a few of the projects he’s done in these later adult years, but they naturally allow him to move with this character. He’s an abnormal person who wants the things all of us normal people have; the years of being deprived of it weighing him down even further. Zendaya and Jacob Batalon’s characters’ amnesia may give them a little less to do than the previous sequels, but it also means they get to revisit the charm of forming a relationship with Peter.

It is a testament to the work of all those involved that Holland’s tenure has fully eclipsed his predecessors. A potent mixture of intimate drama and blockbuster entertainment is present in each entry, possibly the most (and best) in this one. In a rather directionless time for comic-book movies, here’s something that’s got heart and vision, indebted to its own story first and foremost. Better appreciate it now, because I’m afraid those qualities will become much harder to find once Doomsday comes around.

Sony Pictures Releasing will release Spider-Man: Brand New Day in theaters nationwide on July 31st.