Tom Holland’s Shirtless ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ Bathhouse Scene Has Fans Talking, but It Wasn’t Easy to Film

Tom Holland has spent nearly a decade playing Peter Parker, growing up on screen alongside the fans who first watched him step into the role as a teenager. That long tenure has given audiences a rare front-row seat to his transformation, both as an actor and physically, making ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day‘ feel like a genuine turning point for how the character looks and carries himself.

Set years after ‘No Way Home’ left Peter forgotten by everyone who once loved him, the film leans into that isolation as more than an emotional beat, using it to justify a noticeably more weathered, physically hardened take on the hero. Marketing for the movie spent months teasing glimpses of Holland’s new physique across trailers and set photos, but the film itself saved its biggest reveal for a very specific scene once audiences got into theaters.

That scene finds Peter tracking down Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova at her “office,” a Russian bathhouse, hoping to get her help dealing with a mind-controlling threat targeting New York City. Yelena, already undressed, orders him to strip down and join her in the baths, partly out of bathhouse etiquette and partly to make sure he isn’t hiding any weapons. Peter obliges, but only down to his mask and underwear, keeping his identity concealed even in a moment of total physical vulnerability.

The sequence has quickly become one of the most talked-about moments from the film’s opening weeks, circulating widely online as fans share clips and screenshots from the scene. Reactions have leaned overwhelmingly enthusiastic, with the moment fueling ongoing conversation about just how much work went into Holland’s physical transformation for this particular chapter of the character’s story.

As it turns out, achieving that look on camera came with its own complications. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly ahead of the film’s release, Holland admitted he tried a dehydration technique some actors use to enhance muscle definition before shirtless scenes, cutting water the day before filming after loading up on it the day before that.

“I tried to see if it would make a difference, and the only thing it did is it just made me really grumpy,” Holland said, adding that he doesn’t think the technique actually made much of a visible difference in the end. The actor also addressed comparisons between the scene and an unlockable in-game costume from Insomniac’s Spider-Man video games that similarly strips the hero down to his mask and underwear, confirming that reference wasn’t lost on him either.

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has connected the film’s visual style more broadly to those same video games, noting separately that several of the movie’s action shots draw direct inspiration from some of the more striking sequences found in the games. That influence, paired with Holland’s real physical changes heading into his thirties, has given this version of Spider-Man a noticeably different presence compared to his earlier appearances in ‘Homecoming’ and ‘Far From Home.’

That shift has resonated strongly with critics and audiences alike, with ‘Brand New Day’ earning a 90% Certified Fresh score alongside a 98% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a mark that ties the highest score any live-action Spider-Man film has ever received. Between the reception and the ongoing buzz surrounding Holland’s physique, the bathhouse scene looks likely to remain one of the film’s most memorable talking points for a while.

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