The Forgotten Denzel Washington Movie You Have To Watch After ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’
Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026) approaches its central villain very differently from most Marvel movies. Instead of facing an obvious bad guy head-on, the film follows Spider-Man (Tom Holland) as he tries to stop Jean Grey (Sadie Sink) from using her telepathic powers to turn innocent people into her unwilling accomplices as she searches for her missing sister.
The list of people under her control continues to grow throughout the movie and eventually includes Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo). This forces Peter to constantly rethink how he approaches each confrontation because every fight carries the risk of hurting someone who isn't actually responsible for what they're doing. If that concept sounds familiar, you might've seen it before.
The 1998 movie Fallen built its entire premise around a similar concept. The supernatural thriller stars Denzel Washington as Philadelphia homicide detective John Hobbes, who believes he's investigating a series of murders connected to serial killer Edgar Reese (Elias Koteas). It isn't long before Hobbes discovers the real culprit is a demon named Azazel (Renee Spei) that moves from person to person.
‘Fallen’ Uses the Same Premise to Tell a Very Different Story
Once Azazel's abilities are revealed in Fallen, Hobbes quickly realizes he can't investigate the case the way he normally would. Arresting a suspect doesn't solve anything because the real killer moves to someone else. Peter runs into much the same problem. Every time Jean takes control of another person, Spider-Man is forced to pull his punches and find another way to stop her.
It isn't enough to identify where Jean is because, by the time Peter gets there, she could already be controlling someone else. That constant uncertainty gives both movies a similar rhythm even though they belong to completely different genres. The heroes spend just as much time trying to work out who they're looking for next as they do confronting the actual threat.
That's part of what makes body-hopping villains so effective. They completely change the rules of a story because very ordinary conversation suddenly has the potential to become dangerous since anyone could be under the villain's control. It's a concept that's been around for years, but it's one Marvel hasn't really explored in quite this way before.
Although Brand New Day and Fallen tackle the same idea, each film takes it somewhere completely different. Spider-Man spends the movie trying to protect people and figure out the truth behind Jean's search for her sister, while dealing with his new powers. So the body-hopping element just gives the film a different kind of villain without ever losing sight of the fact that it's still a Spider-Man story.
‘Fallen’ Eventually Became a Cult Favorite
Fallen leans fully into the psychological side of the concept. As Azazel continues moving from person to person, Hobbes becomes increasingly isolated, never knowing who he can trust or whether the person standing in front of him is really the one he's speaking to. The supernatural thriller uses that uncertainty to create an especially eerie atmosphere from beginning to end.
Fallen wasn't especially popular when it debuted in cinemas and earned mostly mixed reviews. While some critics enjoyed Washington's performance, others felt that the execution didn't really do the concept justice. It also had a fairly modest box office run, bringing in just over $25 million in ticket takings before largely fading into the background.
Over the years, though, the film has found a much more appreciative audience, with many fans pointing to its unsettling atmosphere, ambitious premise and one of Washington's more overlooked performances. Looking back, it's also much easier to appreciate just how unusual its central idea was at the time, especially now that movies like Brand New Day are exploring similar territory.
That's what makes Fallen (streaming on Apple TV and Prime Video) such an easy recommendation after Brand New Day. Although they couldn't be more different in some ways, both films ask their heroes to solve the same problem. When the villain can become almost anyone, stopping them is no longer about winning the fight. It's about figuring out who the real enemy is before it's too late.
