What did Tom Holland borrow from the Spider-Man games?
Holland says the games’ finishing moves helped shape some of the action in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Speaking to IGN’s Jeffrey Vega at the film’s premiere on Monday, July 27, the actor identified the stylish takedowns as a particular source of inspiration.
“For me, a lot of those finishing moves, a lot of our stuff was influenced by that stuff,” Holland said. He also revealed that he had played the game the night before the premiere because he was too excited to sleep.
Finishers have long been part of Insomniac’s Marvel’s Spider-Man series, giving players cinematic attacks that end individual encounters. The production’s new claim is that specific moves were studied and adapted for live-action combat rather than serving only as general visual inspiration.
The comments add a gaming-specific detail to Holland’s preparation for Spider-Man: Brand New Day. He had previously discussed his enthusiasm for Insomniac’s games, but this interview connects that interest directly to the film’s action.
How did the stunt team turn game moves into live action?
Director Destin Daniel Cretton says action designers and stunt performers captured screenshots of moves from the games and brought them into the writers’ room. The team then considered how those digital animations could be recreated as physical stunts.
“They would just screengrab the moves they really liked and bring them into the writers’ room and show it to me,” Cretton told IGN. The response was to work out how the selected moves could be performed “for real”.
That process describes a direct route from gameplay reference to stunt design: performers identified an animation, presented it to the creative team, and explored a practical version for the film. It also suggests the influence may be visible in individual takedowns, where recognisable poses and movements can survive the transition more clearly than an entire game combat system.
Holland’s involvement gave the approach another connection to the games. His comments indicate that he understood the specific finishing-move language the stunt team was drawing from, rather than encountering those references only after the choreography had been designed.
How does Brand New Day connect with Marvel’s Spider-Man 2?
IGN reports that Sony is adding Holland’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day suit to Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 as an unlockable costume. The game is also set to receive another suit inspired by Peter Parker’s appearance in Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls.
The tie-in extends the relationship in both directions: the film’s stunt team drew from the games, while the game is receiving a costume based on the film. The report does not detail the timing or regional availability of the new suits.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day reaches cinemas on Friday, July 31. Holland and Cretton’s account gives game players a concrete detail to watch for in its action scenes: finishing moves translated from controller-driven flourishes into live-action stunt work.
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