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Breaking Down ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ With Its Co-writer

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Cite

Bunch, S. (2026, September 18). Breaking Down ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ With Its Co-writer. The Bulwark. https://www.thebulwark.com/p/breaking-down-spider-man-brand-new-day-with-chris-mckenna

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

The Bulwark · collected 2026-09-18 · by Sonny Bunch commentary

Quick Summary

Chris McKenna, co-writer of "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" alongside Erik Sommers, discusses the film's success and the challenges in negotiating character usage between Marvel and Sony. The article also mentions that McKenna is an executive producer on the returning show "Haunted Hotel," which begins its second season on October 9.
Written by AI on 2026-09-19, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

Chris McKenna, who co-wrote Spider-Man: Brand New Day with Erik Sommers, recently discussed the film on a podcast. Spider-Man: Brand New Day is now the highest-grossing domestic film of all time. During the discussion, McKenna detailed how he and his partner managed to reunite Peter Parker with his friends while navigating complex negotiations between Marvel and Sony regarding character usage. The episode also covered the return of Haunted Hotel, a show in which McKenna serves as an executive producer, for its second season on October 9.

Written for “Spider-Man Comic Series” on 2026-11-02, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Spider-Man Comic Series
Entertainment · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

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How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
6
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
33%
2 of 6 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
not measured
these signals count newsroom corrections; Commentary has none to count
Outlets on this story
1
Entertainment
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-09-19 · how these are computed

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Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

The Bulwark · 573 article(s) · 0 correction(s) detected
No corrections detected for this publisher. That may mean careful reporting, or simply that nothing has been checked.

Who wrote this

Sonny Bunch
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All 24 articles by Sonny Bunch →

Topics

Marvel Sony

Subjects

Chris McKenna PERSON · 2× Chris PERSON · 1× Erik Sommers PERSON · 1× Marvel ORG · 1× Matt Roller PERSON · 1× Peter Parker PERSON · 1× Sony ORG · 1×

Narrative

On this week’s episode, I’m rejoined by the one and only Chris McKenna who, alongside writing partner Erik Sommers, co-wrote the highest-grossing film of all time, domestically: Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
framing: mixed · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-19
🔮 He broke down the thought process that went into getting Peter Parker back together with his friends, the tricky negotiations between Marvel and Sony over who could use which characters and when, and posited some alternate futures about what the story could have looked like.
2026-09-19 · The Bulwark
Breaking Down ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ With Its Co-writer · mixed framing

Claims (6 extracted, 2 hedged)

On this week’s episode, I’m rejoined by the one and only Chris McKenna who, alongside writing partner Erik Sommers, co-wrote the highest-grossing film of all time, domestically: Spider-Man: Brand New Day. asserted
who → rejoin → time
He broke down the thought process that went into getting Peter Parker back together with his friends, the tricky negotiations between Marvel and Sony over who could use which characters and when, and posited some alternate futures about what the story could have looked like. uncertain
story → break → what
On the episode, we also discussed Haunted Hotel, which comes back for season number two on October 9. asserted
which → discuss → October
Chris is an executive producer on that show; you may remember that I interviewed the showrunner, Matt Roller, about it last year. uncertain
I → remember → it
It’s fun! asserted
It → ’ → ?
If you enjoyed this episode, share it with a friend or leave a comment! asserted
you → enjoy → comment
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