Ahead Of Brand New Day, Fans Are Reminiscing About An A+ Scene From Tom Holland’s Spider-Man Franchise (And I'm Shook It's Been 8 Years)

With the upcoming Spider-Man: Brand New Day swinging ever closer, Spidey fans are taking a victory lap for one of the tightest, tensest moments in all of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man movies. As tense as the A+ scene is, I’m still shook that it's been eight years since the movie landed on the new movie release schedule. But even after all this time, it still slaps.

The scene comes from Spider-Man: Homecoming and its unforgettable car ride. You know the one—Peter (decked out in his tux) sits nervously in the backseat with his date, Liz, while Adrian Toomes drives them to the dance. Slowly, Toomes connects the dots: Peter is Spider-Man. Thanks to a lively discussion on r/marvelstudios, where user u/CobraDai pointed out how rare it is for Marvel to let a sequence like this play completely straight, writing:

Fans were quick to chime in for the love of Homecoming and the particular sequence. Here are a few standout fan reactions that sum up the vibe:

• “The tension between Michael Keaton and Tom Holland is so amazing in that scene. I am glad that they did not break it up with a joke, and I’m also just expressing my appreciation for such a well directed bit.” — @aaiceman
• “A small bit of this scene I absolutely love too is that the traffic light turns green right as Toomes finally figures it out. Like a lightbulb going off in his brain. Chef’s kiss..” — @LongjumpingSolid8
• “That and matching the color scheme of his Vulture suit.” — @Film-Freak21
• “Homecoming is fucking awesome. Keaton’s performance and the Iron Man protege dynamic make for a great movie. I still remember the gasp in the theater when Peter opens Liz’s front door and Vulture pops out lol.” — @FKDotFitzgerald
• “Like, there is a joke there but it isn’t an ‘in your face’ or ‘laughing out loud’ joke. The joke is that the trope of ‘the dad giving a stern talk to the boy taking his daughter out and leaving a tense atmosphere’ is taken to a logical extreme.” — @PlatoDrago
• “The tension itself is used as a joke, too. Like when Liz shows Peter something on her phone and he fakes a smile before instantly focusing on Adrian again.” — @DrManhattan_DDM

What’s striking about revisiting the sequence nearly a decade since its release is how confidently director Jon Watts lets silence, performance, and staging do the heavy lifting. Keaton plays Toomes like a human lie detector, with his eyes on the rearview, brain crunching data points (the Washington Monument, Spidey’s Queens accent, the timing of the ferry incident) until the literal green light bathes his face and the smile curdles. It's brillant from start to finish.

Fans pointing out the clever use of color throughout the scene is also wonderful. This is a cool color theory trick that really shows the power struggle between characters. The greens and yellows linked to Toomes and his Vulture persona are set against Peter's classic reds. It might seem like a minor detail, but it makes the confrontation feel super inevitable. Honestly, this moment feels a lot more like Raimi’s Spider-Man movies than the lighter vibe that went on to define Holland’s Home trilogy. It’s the kind of precise, atmospheric filmmaking some argue the MCU has been missing lately.

The MCU’s reputation for constant quips is well-earned across the Marvel movies in order, but Spider-Man: Homecoming (now streaming with a Disney+ subscription) shows that Marvel can let serious moments breathe when it really matters. It’s a lesson I hope Brand New Day takes to heart.

And that’s why it’s wild to realize this scene has been with us for eight years now. Spider-Man: Homecoming may have kicked off Holland’s MCU run, but it also gave us one of the franchise’s most nerve-wracking, joke-free sequences, proof that Marvel knows when to ditch the quips and lean into pure tension. With Spider-Man: Brand New Day hitting the 2026 movie release schedule on July 31, 2026, here’s hoping it delivers another moment that sticks with us just as long.