the surprising filming spots used in the new Marvel blockbuster, Canada Reviews

New York stars in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, but the Big Apple barely featured in the making-of Marvel’s new superhero adventure.

Instead of NYC, that other city that doesn’t sleep very much – Glasgow – stood in for Peter Parker’s (Tom Holland) Queens and Manhattan. The young supe tackles a host of new perils, all while coping with the biggest upset of them all: the heartbreak of losing MJ (Zendaya) after Dr Strange’s magical reset at the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home. 

It’s a fun, thoughtful and grown-up new adventure for the MCU’s most popular character, that has him swinging from his beloved local bodega to the heart of the city, via regular visits to Aunt May’s graveside. 

Amazingly, none of this was filmed in New York. Instead, via the magic of VFX, immersive set building at Pinewood Studios – where three entire city blocks were constructed – canny location scouting, and background plates of the Big Apple skyline, Peter’s web-swinging deeds were all captured in the UK. 

Where was Spider-Man: Brand New Day filmed?

You don’t have to be a locations nerd to find the film’s shoot almost as interesting. The MCU has long used the UK for its blockbusters, with Avengers Assemble, Thor: the Dark World, Fantastic Four and many others filming in and around London.

In the past, Atlanta, Chicago and LA have all played Spidey’s New York in the Marvelverse, as has the city itself, but this is the first time it’s been recreated entirely overseas. (A scene in Far From Home was filmed in Manhattan.)

Take an unexpected journey from Pinewood Studios to Scotland and even the heart of Wessex, where Tom Holland even spent time in the heart of Thomas Hardy country during the film’s 2025 shoot.

Glasgow was used for a big New York chase sequence

The Scottish city stands in for New York in a big early action set piece involving an armoured car careering through Manhattan. Tom Holland’s Spider-Man and Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal) are both involved in a sequence that, according to The Scotsman, took the cast and crew down Hutcheson Street, St Vincent Street and Bothwell Street. 

‘The biggest productions in Glasgow city centre do bring a feel-good factor, as thousands of people come in to watch the shoots for films such as World War Z, Indiana Jones and Spider-Man,’ a Glasgow city council spokesman told The Telegraph. ‘The scale of these mean they essentially become an event.’ 

Fanum House in Basingstoke

Hands up who had the Hampshire town of Basingstoke on their Spider-Man bingo card? The old, ’70s-era HQ of the Automobile Association saw action as a prison in a scene involving a runaway armoured car that Spider-Man is trying to stop. 

Senate House in Bloomsbury, London

‘Central City Research Center’ in The Flash, the University of London’s administrative building Senate House stands in for the Department of Damage Control HQ in Spidey 4. Here, Spider-Man pays a visit to Bill Metzger (Tramell Tillman) to find out more about a mysterious item the villain is hunting. In the movie, the 19-storey building is digitally augmented to make it stretch skywards.

Battersea Park in London

The production closed down West Carriage Drive in this Grade II-listed Thameside park for shooting in September 2025. The lakeside Pear Tree Cafe was reportedly used for scenes involving Tom Holland and Zendaya.  

Dorchester Prison in Dorset 

A climactic fight sequence was filmed in the unlikely west country town of Dorchester, right in the heart of Thomas Hardy country. The production descended on Dorchester Prison in November 2025 to shoot scenes involving Holland’s Spider-Man and representatives of the shadowy Hand gang. The shuttered 19th century jail, closed for good in 2014, was also used in Luther: The Fallen Sun and BBC crime drama The Gold. 

Turks Boatyard in The Historic Dockyard Chatham, Kent

Frank Castle/The Punisher (Jon Bernthal) has a hideout in an old boat at a New York docks. Those scenes were filmed at this old Royal Navy dockyard on the River Medway. Other productions to take advantage of its period architecture include Call the Midwife, Les Misérables, and Bridgerton. Filming tours are available. 

Ravenscourt Park in west London

A scene in which a Damage Control snatch team in an SUV and a [redacted] character have a showdown was filmed in this west London green space.

Brookwood Cemetery, Surrey

Tom Holland filmed scenes at this home counties cemetery in August 2025, with Zendaya popping by for a set visit while he was there. Peter Parker visits to the grave of his much-missed Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) were filmed here. The biggest cemetery in the UK, it also goes by the Batman-y name of London Necropolis. Fun(ish) fact: the cemetery once had its own railway line that ran from a special station adjacent to Waterloo. Return tickets were issued for mourners and single tickets for the dead. 

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is in cinemas worldwide on Friday July 31.

Read our review of Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

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