Tom Holland Confirms Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s Fight Scenes Were Inspired by Insomniac’s Spider-Man Games

Spider-Man video games have always been the hype, and for the right reasons, and Insomniac’s version of these games redefined what web-swinging and street-level combat could look like in an interactive format. The fun news is, this influence now appears to be flowing back into live-action filmmaking, with not only Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s director confirming the impact of these games, but the lead star, Tom Holland, adding in on the subject as well.

How Spider-Man: Brand New Day Was Inspired by Insomniac’s Games

Spider-Man Brand New Day | Credit: Sony Pictures Releasing

Daniel Cretton, who’s previously known for directing Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, has admitted he isn’t much of a gamer himself, but relied heavily on stunt performers who were deeply familiar with Insomniac’s titles. According to the director via Polygon, members of the department regularly recorded footage of their own playthroughs and pitched specific maneuvers to see whether they could be pulled off physically on set.

What’s even better is that the film’s lead star, Tom Holland, was captured by IGN talking about how he was personally influenced by the games at Brand New Day’s premiere. He stated:

A lot of the finishing moves (When talking about what the movie takes from the games). I was actually playing the game last night. Couldn’t sleep last night — I was so excited about today, just trying to figure out what I was going to do, and I was like “I’ll just throw the game on and have some fun”. And yeah, for me, a lot of those, like, finishing moves — a lot of our stuff was influenced by that stuff (the games).

This confirms that what we got to see in Insomniac’s Marvel’s Spider-Man titles, including the game’s web-swinging, acrobatics, and most importantly, the finishing moves, were used as a genuine reference point for the film’s choreography. It’s a fitting full-circle moment, given how the games themselves draw heavily from the decades of Spider-Man comics and earlier film adaptations.

Brand New Day Introduces A Solo Peter Parker Facing a Packed Villain Lineup

Brand New Day takes inspiration from the Insomniac video games | Credits: Sony Pictures Releasing

What’s another thing that might just be the best coincidence of all time? Peter Parker in the latest film reportedly faces off against Scorpion, Tombstone, Boomerang, Tarantula, Ramrod, and more villains, just like how the protagonist in Insomniac’s games goes off against his own roster of villains, all at once.

After erasing himself from everyone’s memory at the end of No Way Home, he’s operating as Spider-Man without the safety net of friends and family. This is a setup that again echoes the tone that was pulled off in the video games. If the stunt team really did pull from that source material, fans can expect a version of Spider-Man that feels more physical and more resourceful than previous MCU outings have shown.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day swings into UK theaters on July 29 and US theaters on July 31, starring Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jon Bernthal, and Michael Mando.