I watched Spider-Man: Brand New Day. In the latest instalment, Tom Holland’s Peter Parker can be seen using an AI-powered assistant to engage in mass surveillance. This is not the first Marvel movie to use futuristic surveillance on unsuspecting citizens, and it is definitely not the last. Remember Captain America: The Winter Soldier, where Nick Fury describes Project Insight as “We’re going to neutralise a lot of threats before they even happen”? This led to Steve Rogers’ famous counter: “I thought the punishment usually came after the crime.”

In Brand New Day, Parker uses an AI assistant to access every security camera in the entire city and run facial recognition algorithms to track a specific person. While this looks slick, in the process, our friendly superhero ends up violating the privacy of millions of innocent civilians.

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In 2026, this is no longer fiction, and that is something which is deeply concerning. The system here eerily feels similar to the type of technology developed by AI surveillance companies like Peter Thiel’s Palantir or Flock Safety. However, the film barely explores the implications, making one wonder if mass surveillance is being normalised at scale. The movie casually slips in the technology; there is even a short conversation with Peter’s friend who works for the NYPD where she briefly mentions surveillance with facial recognition tech being illegal.

A closer look reveals that in most MCU narratives, surveillance tech is justified in the same way as CEOs and governments worldwide do: Advocating it as a tool for safety, something that is necessary to catch terrorists or dissidents, or to save innocents. On July 26, CNN reported on the mounting concerns over police misuse of Flock Safety’s automated licence-plate reader cameras.

Flock Safety is a US-based surveillance tech company that offers hardware and software, including automated licence-plate readers (ALPR). Its camera network currently operates across 49 US states, making it one of the largest ALPR networks in the country. In simple words, the technology allows law-enforcement agencies to record vehicle movements, creating reports that can show where people travel. The CNN report studied cases in which police officers allegedly accessed Flock Safety’s system for reasons that were unrelated to lawful investigations, and this has raised concerns about abuse of surveillance tech and inadequate oversight. There have been instances where police officers were caught using Flock to spy on their exes or stalk women.

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A report by the Electronic Frontier Foundation in November 2025 claimed that law enforcement agencies are using Flock’s technology to monitor protesters and activists, raising concerns about the use of surveillance systems in politically sensitive contexts. Though Flock Safety does not use facial recognition in its licence-plate reader systems, its technology is yet another example of mass automated surveillance.

Palantir has been increasingly deploying AI-powered intelligence tools into military operations through its platforms like Gotham, Foundry, and Skykit. Earlier this month, Al Jazeera reported that Palantir had significantly expanded its work with the Israeli military after announcing a strategic partnership in January 2024. The report claimed that the company subsequently expanded operations supporting Israel’s military operations in Gaza, amid scathing criticism over its role in AI, military technology and warfare.

The technology and the companies that are building it seem to be oblivious to the ethical concerns surrounding their use. Unfortunately, this remains true even for Spider-Man, who may be systematically violating the privacy of denizens of his fictional universe. Regardless, Brand New Day has triggered a spate of social media content that uses the movie to talk about the perils of AI and mass surveillance. It is a good start.

The writer is assistant editor, indianexpress.com. bijin.jose@indianexpress.com