There are only two new Marvel Cinematic Universe movies on deck for 2026, but both of them should be doozies. The big release is Avengers: Doomsday, which has already received four teaser trailers even though it doesn’t come out until December. Disney and Marvel understand how important that film is to the MCU’s future, so they’re going all out to promote it. But a handful of months before Doomsday arrives, Spider-Man: Brand New Day will premiere in theaters. Tom Holland’s fourth solo outing as the friendly neighborhood superhero is similarly one of the most anticipated films of the year, as it boasts a stacked cast that includes Marvel veterans such as Mark Ruffalo and Jon Bernthal.
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Spider-Man: Brand New Day is scheduled to come out in July. As of this writing, its release date is about six months away. In movie terms, that’s practically around the corner, but fans have yet to see a trailer. At one point, there was speculation that the first Brand New Day teaser could be attached to screenings of Avatar: Fire and Ash, but that obviously did not come to pass. Doomsday was in the spotlight instead, as the four teasers were released over the span of a month. Now that the initial Doomsday blitz has finished, people are surprised we still haven’t seen a Spider-Man trailer. But Sony’s marketing strategy actually makes sense.
Sony Could Be Repeating the Spider-Man: No Way Home Marketing Strategy
It’s easy to forget now, but there was a time when Marvel fans were wondering where the first Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer was. That film, of course, premiered in December 2021. So it was odd that the summer that year nearly came and went without a Spider-Man preview. The initial No Way Home trailer didn’t arrive until late August, roughly four months before the film’s release. That’s unusual as far as promoting major studio blockbusters is concerned, but it clearly didn’t have any ill effects on box office prospects. Spider-Man: No Way Home is one of the highest-grossing films of all time, earning $1.9 billion worldwide.
Sony’s marketing strategy was clearly effective. Holding the No Way Home trailer back was a decision that paid off in spades, as it added layers to the already high levels of hype and anticipation amongst fans. By the time August rolled around, people were starved for any kind of look at the film, so the trailer’s release became a monumental event that broke viewership records. Oftentimes, it’s smart to unveil the first trailer much earlier in a promotional cycle, but Spider-Man is seemingly an exception to that rule. That’s one of the benefits of him being arguably Marvel’s most popular character. The general public are well aware of who Spider-Man is and what he’s all about, so Sony could afford to wait until the opportune moment to give people their first look at No Way Home. Four months is still plenty of time to raise awareness for a film — especially one based on an IP as beloved as Spider-Man.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day doesn’t have the Tobey Maguire/Andrew Garfield factor that made No Way Home one of the biggest cinematic events of the 2020s, but it still boasts a lot of elements people are excited to see. Marvel fans are eager to learn more about how characters like Hulk and Punisher fit in, plus curiosity remains regarding Sadie Sink’s mysterious role. Brand New Day is already poised to be one of the biggest films of the summer, and the longer we go without a trailer, that hype and anticipation is only going to reach a fever pitch. Sony knows that holding a Spider-Man trailer back is a trick that works, so they might be going that route again.
And it’s not as if Sony’s been completely silent on the Brand New Day front this whole time. When production began, the studio commemorated the occasion by sharing the first look at Tom Holland’s new Spider-Man costume. While that obviously wasn’t a teaser consisting of actual footage from the film, it still communicated to the general public that a new Spider-Man movie is on the way. With that in mind, an argument can be made that we don’t really need the proper teaser at this point in time. Sony can let the hype continue to grow before peeling the curtain back, shedding light on all of the various plot details.
There’s No Conflict Between the Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Avengers: Doomsday Marketing Campaigns
In a vacuum, Sony’s handling of Spider-Man: Brand New Day promotion makes sense, and it’s even more logical when one considers what else is going on in the larger MCU landscape. For the past month, all eyes have been on Avengers: Doomsday, as the teasers have revealed everything from Steve Rogers’ return to the Fantastic Four crossing paths with the Wakandans. Over the course of a month, each week brought a new Doomsday teaser for fans to dissect, and it’s clear Marvel wanted to keep attention on the Avengers movie for now. Sony (not Disney) is distributing Brand New Day, but the two studios likely have some kind of agreement with each other regarding the marketing campaigns.
It’s not that trailers for big-budget blockbusters can’t release around the same time (the first Supergirl trailer hit the scene before the Doomsday blitz started), but this is a unique situation. Here, you have two upcoming installments in the same franchise. Marvel fans are the target audience for any promotional materials. Instead of crossing the streams and unveiling first looks at both simultaneously (running the risk of one overshadowing the other), the powers that be opted for a more patient “one at a time” strategy, giving Doomsday its moment in the spotlight before shifting gears to Brand New Day.
We’ve seen all four of the Doomsday teasers that were promised, but there could be something else in the not-too-distant future. Hopes of more theatrical teasers have been dashed, but the Super Bowl is right around the corner. Nothing has been officially confirmed yet, but Disney has a history of promoting its upcoming Marvel blockbusters during the NFL’s big game. In recent years, audiences have been treated to first looks at The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Deadpool & Wolverine, and more. Many are expecting the Mouse House to be back with another MCU spot for Super Bowl LX showcasing Doomsday.
What would be atypical about this is that in those past instances, Disney was advertising a summer movie at the Super Bowl, not a film that’ll be more than 10 months away from release when the Super Bowl takes place. However, Disney and Marvel have already shown they’re not afraid to get the ball rolling very early on Doomsday marketing, doing everything in their power to raise awareness and build hype after a few shaky years. Brand New Day is first up on the release calendar, but Doomsday is the more “important” release in terms of the MCU’s future, as it marks the beginning of the end of the Multiverse Saga and needs to bring things to a satisfying close to generate enthusiasm for the franchise’s next era. The Super Bowl is a great platform to release a new look at Doomsday, perhaps one unveiling Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom to make the biggest splash possible. If something like that is in the cards, it’s better to keep holding back the Brand New Day trailer. The Super Bowl is in only a few weeks, and nobody wants Brand New Day to get buried in Doomsday hype.
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Official art by Bastien Lecouffe-Deharme -
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