In the long arc of American cinema, records are not merely numbers — they are measures of collective longing, of what a culture chooses to gather together and witness. This week, 'Spider-Man: Brand New Day,' starring Jon Bernthal, surpassed 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' to become the highest-grossing domestic film in United States history, a throne that had stood since 2015. The achievement speaks not only to the enduring pull of the superhero myth, but to the stubborn, almost defiant desire of audiences to experience certain stories in the shared dark of a theater.