5 Destin Daniel Cretton Movies You Should Watch Before Spider-Man: Brand New Day

Destin Daniel Cretton is inheriting a Peter Parker in Spider-Man: Brand New Day who has never really been alone before. Even at his loneliest moments across the MCU, he’s had Ned, MJ, Aunt May, or an Avenger on speed dial. Brand New Day changes that entirely: after the memory-erasing spell at the end of No Way Home, the world has forgotten Peter Parker ever existed. He’s still surrounded by millions of people in New York City, still saving them every night, but nobody remembers him, including those closest to him. And that’s not something he will have to fight a villain for. It’s something he will face alone.

Which is why it’s about time that we took a close look at the filmmaker whom Marvel entrusted its most character-focused Spider-Man movie to. Ahead of Brand New Day hitting theaters, here are five films by Cretton that you should check out, listed from the worst to the best, taking into account both overall quality and the film’s insight into his filmmaking style. The movies are ranked from worst to best.

5 I Am Not a Hipster (2012)

Cretton’s feature debut is the rawest, least polished entry on this list. That’s exactly why it ranks last. Following a disillusioned indie musician in San Diego grappling with grief and a complicated relationship with his family, the film has all of Cretton’s later preoccupations (isolation, unresolved family wounds, people performing okay-ness). But they are present in an unrefined form. It’s a first draft of a filmmaker still figuring out how to translate emotional instinct into structure, which makes it more valuable as an origin point than as a standalone recommendation.

4 The Glass Castle (2017)

The Glass Castle comes in fourth place due to the fact that its ambition exceeds execution. Cretton reteamed with Brie Larson, four years after directing her in Short Term 12, for this adaptation of Jeannette Walls’ memoir about growing up under a brilliant, unstable, alcoholic father, jumping between her hardscrabble childhood and her adult life trying to reconcile with her parents. 

It’s a noble attempt at Cretton’s recurring subject, families you can’t fully walk away from, but it struggles to land the tonal balance between whimsy and dysfunction that the book pulls off more gracefully. 

3 Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)

This lands in the middle because it’s the most important film on this list for what it proves, even if it’s not Cretton’s most personal work. Shang-Chi, starring Simu Liu, is a story of a man who’s trying to run away from his family and his history, only to have to face them when they come back to get him, through amazing martial arts choreography and the budget of a Marvel blockbuster. Seriously, the combat scenes and action in general are very well done in this movie. This movie proves that Cretton has the ability to make both intimate trauma and tentpole spectacle coexist, which is precisely what Brand New Day is counting on.

2 Just Mercy (2019)

Just Mercy ranks second because it’s Cretton at his most controlled and assured, even if it’s not his most ambitious. Michael B. Jordan stars as real-life attorney Bryan Stevenson, fighting to overturn a wrongful death-row conviction, with Jamie Foxx delivering one of his most restrained performances as the wrongly condemned man. This is a ‘message movie’ that pulls off its emotions, and although it does not attempt anything structurally risky, it is the most mature filmmaking on this list apart from the number one. It is also easily one of Michael B. Jordan’s best movies.

1 Short Term 12 (2013)

Short Term 12 tops the list because it’s the film everything else is chasing. It’s also the one that actually gives you a feel as to what Destin Daniel Cretton’s Spider-Man is going to feel like. Brie Larson portrays the character of Grace, who is a supervisor of a home where at-risk teenagers live. She takes care of not only other people’s problems but also has to cope with her trauma, which she never had a chance to resolve. Nobody around her notices how close she is to breaking because she’s too good at performing competence.

That is not only the best character study by Cretton; that is the exact emotional dynamic that the director was talking about in his upcoming movie about Peter Parker. If you watch one Cretton film before Brand New Day, this is the one that tells you what he’s actually building.

Here are all 5 movies, summarized:

RankTitleDirectorMain CastIMDb (as of July 11, 2026)Rotten Tomatoes (as of July 11, 2026)

5	I Am Not a Hipster (2012)	Destin Daniel Cretton	Dominic Bogart, Alvaro Orlando, Tammy Minoff, Sara Coates	6.6/10	71% | 62%
4	The Glass Castle (2017)	Destin Daniel Cretton	Brie Larson, Woody Harrelson, Naomi Watts, Max Greenfield, Sarah Snook	7.1/10	53% | 70%
3	Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)	Destin Daniel Cretton	Simu Liu, Awkwafina, Tony Leung, Michelle Yeoh, Meng’er Zhang	7.3/10	92% | 98%
2	Just Mercy (2019)	Destin Daniel Cretton	Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Foxx, Brie Larson, Rob Morgan, Tim Blake Nelson	7.6/10	85% | 99%
1	Short Term 12 (2013)	Destin Daniel Cretton	Brie Larson, John Gallagher Jr., Kaitlyn Dever, Rami Malek, Lakeith Stanfield	7.9/10	98% | 92%

Which Destin Daniel Cretton film would you watch before Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and where would you rank Shang-Chi on this list? Let us know in the comments below.