Warning: Spoilers ahead.

For Peter Parker, it was a brand new day. For many longtime fans of the character, though, it was just another Monday.

Director Destin Daniel Cretton delivered the elite action he featured in “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” while showcasing the interconnected New York of Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk and Jon Bernthal’s Punisher, as well as the message that no one should struggle alone, in the latest movie in the Spider-Man franchise. “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” certainly feels purposeful, rather than churned out.

[Related: Film review: It’s a ‘Brand New Day’ for Spider-Man with stunning performances, cinematography]

But for all its polish, “Brand New Day” leaves Spider-Man largely stuck in place. Tom Holland’s fourth solo film as Spider-Man preserves the character’s recognizable surface while foregoing the financial strain, competing responsibilities and overdue growth that “Spider-Man: No Way Home” appeared to promise. The movie illustrates a larger Marvel Cinematic Universe problem: established characters retain their names and costumes from their source material without the qualities that made them worth adapting.

To see this unfold, look no further than how the MCU has handled Holland’s Peter Parker, even before “Brand New Day.”

Unlike in “The Amazing Spider-Man” comics and their adaptations, Holland’s Peter does not tragically lose an Uncle Ben, isn’t a photographer working at the Daily Bugle and doesn’t have any financial burdens.

These elements matter. Not for comic accuracy, but because they are what gives Peter’s heroics weight. No matter the demands of his life or the heartbreak he faces, he always gets back up and does the right thing.

Though Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige said in an interview with publication Collider that Holland’s first three “Spider-Man” films were intentionally set up to follow Peter through high school, this extended origin story has led to an inexperienced Peter who lacks the defining challenges of his predecessors.

“Spider-Man: No Way Home,” the third film in Jon Watts’ Spider-Man trilogy, seemed like it could be the start of a multiversal course-correction to this underdeveloped incarnation of the character. Peter experiences tragedy with the death of Aunt May and finally gets a traditional, non-high-tech suit, modeled after those of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, who played Spider-Man before Holland.

“Brand New Day” was, therefore, given a great responsibility: to deliver a Peter that experiences a lasting consequence, the accompanying guilt, independence, interpersonal conflict, financial struggle and meaningful relationships with his supporting cast – defining traits of the character that had been delayed.

So how does “Brand New Day” follow this up? By giving Peter a “fresh start” that feels painfully familiar – and fundamentally misunderstands his character.

The film finally removes Tony Stark’s influence from Peter’s story but offers no explanation for how “Palantir Parker” – a satirical nickname given by fans – obtains or maintains advanced surveillance equipment. “No Way Home” removed his support system, but “Brand New Day” preserves the cushion that came with it. The film wants the emotional weight of Peter being alone without forcing him to experience the practical consequences of that isolation.

“Peter Thiel Parker” aside, Spider-Man should be struggling to make ends meet while juggling the competing demands of his personal and superhero life, like in director Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man 2.” Fans of the comics and previous film incarnations of the hero know that he should not be spying on 8.5 million New Yorkers, nor should he be the guy with a seemingly unlimited fund for ordering Little Caesars. He should be the one delivering it.

The four-year gap between films should be where the “new” in “Brand New Day” lives.

Instead, the only glimpse of the gap is a brief montage of Peter fighting with classic Spider-Man villains – Scorpion, Tombstone, Boomerang, Tarantula and even Ramrod. This amounts to nothing more than key-jingling fan-service that recreates several comic book covers.

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The missing four years sound like the more compelling film. The way they’re portrayed in “Brand New Day” is a disservice to both the weight of Peter’s sacrifice and the opportunity it created for him to finally grow into a fully realized version of himself.

Speaking of disservices to “No Way Home,” how brand new can this day really be if Peter is still interacting with Jacob Batalon’s Ned Leeds and Zendaya’s Michelle Jones-Watson who still feel as one-note as they were in high school? Their return cheapens the ending of the third movie, and is yet another instance of Marvel wanting to adapt these recognizable characters without doing the work to narratively develop them.

Peter’s relationships with Ned and MJ are propped up as the heart of the movie, but these moments are as one-dimensional as the characters themselves. What defines Ned beyond comic relief and LEGO Star Wars or MJ, the observant and skeptical love interest? Four years of college have seemingly given neither of them independent ambitions.

Thin characterization becomes especially apparent beside their original counterparts.

The comic Ned Leeds is an investigative reporter whose career, marriage to Betty Brant and involvement in the Hobgoblin mystery give him a life beyond his connection to Peter. The MCU’s Ned may have the name Ned Leeds, but he more closely behaves like the character Ganke Lee, Miles Morales’ guy in the chair.

Michelle Jones-Watson may not literally be Mary Jane Watson, but her being both “MJ” and Peter’s central love interest position her as the MCU’s counterpart to an iconic character traditionally defined by her own acting career, difficult family history and long progression into becoming Peter’s equal partner.

The MCU replaced those histories without developing equally substantial characters in their place. Comic accuracy is not necessary, but filmmakers need to understand the characters and commit to the source material beyond names or comic covers. These characters, like their friend “Peter,” are only “Ned Leeds” and “MJ” in name.

Marvel Studios’ fourth Spider-Man film has grossed more than $2 billion worldwide, so one might argue that the general audience clearly does not care about how faithful the franchise is to the comics. However, anything with Spider-Man or Avengers in its title is bound to do well at the box office. That success proves nothing more than the power behind those names – which Marvel has taken for granted.

“Brand New Day” did not need to be another “Spider-Man 2.” But as a film that also promised a more intimate story, it needed to understand Peter as deeply as Raimi did, placing his interpersonal drama at the forefront instead of burying it beneath more MCU schlock like Jean Grey. Even if Cretton understands Peter’s guilt from losing his parent better, he does not meaningfully deliver on the growth that should come from it.

Four films in, this Peter is somehow still learning to become Spider-Man, rather than the fully realized version of the character his story has long promised. The result is another movie that feels hollow, showing that even Marvel’s flagship character is not safe from its tendency to discard what makes characters interesting in the first place.

The MCU has made Spider-Man more connected than ever, but it has left Tom Holland’s Peter Parker with increasingly little to connect to.