Marvel has solved a problem that has plagued filmmakers for decades: New York looks too much like New York. The solution, apparently, is Glasgow.
The Scottish city is now standing in for Manhattan in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which means audiences will spend two hours watching a superhero swing between brutalist architecture and the Clyde, all while pretending it’s Times Square. The production company’s official statement mentions “authenticity” and “local flavor,” which is corporate speak for “we got a tax break and a city council that doesn’t ask many questions.”
This is not a slight against Glasgow. It is a slight against the entire blockbuster industrial complex, which has decided that “authenticity” means hiring local extras and filming in places with cheaper crane rental. Somewhere in a Marvel executive’s presentation deck is a slide that says “Why CGI New York when we can rent Glasgow for three months?” The answer, of course, is that you cannot. But you can try.
The film will release in 2027, giving Glasgow eighteen months to prepare for the inevitable moment when someone on Reddit points out that the Statue of Liberty is nowhere in sight. By then, Marvel will have already moved on to filming Thor in Coventry and Black Panther 4 in Sunderland. The quest for “authentic” blockbuster locations will continue, each city a little cheaper than the last, until we reach the logical endpoint: superhero films shot entirely in a warehouse in Slough.
At least the catering will be good.