For no money at all, you can now put Jon Bernthal’s Frank Castle on your PlayStation profile.
Through the PlayStation Store, Sony Pictures is handing out a set of five Spider-Man: Brand New Day avatars to people on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. Sony’s announcement made the offer sound like it was reserved for members, but that’s not how it works. Claiming the set doesn’t require a PlayStation Plus subscription, so every PS4 and PS5 owner can pick it up.
Time is the one limit. The avatars are available for a limited period only, and Sony hasn’t given an end date.
What Sony’s wording suggests
Plenty of players may skip this offer because of how Sony phrased it.
“Starting today for a limited time, PlayStation Plus members can unlock Spider-Man: Brand New Day Avatars through the Sony Pictures Core app, in celebration of the film being available to watch at home,” Sony’s statement read. “PlayStation Plus members can claim a set of special PlayStation avatars at no extra cost, while non-members can claim the avatars when they buy or rent the movie.”
From that statement, anyone without a subscription would expect to rent the film before getting anything. That isn’t what happens: every PlayStation user can claim the avatars, with or without PS Plus.
The five characters
The set covers the film’s lead characters: Peter Parker (Tom Holland), MJ (Zendaya), Jean Grey (Sadie Sink), Ned Leeds (Jacob Batalon) and Frank Castle (Bernthal). My own choice would be Sink’s Jean Grey, though plenty of players will probably want Bernthal scowling from their friends list.
To claim them, open the PS Store and redeem the code for your region. Reports say the European code also works for players in Asia, Australia, the Middle East and Africa.
The timing
Sony is running the giveaway as Brand New Day comes out for home viewing, roughly three months after its theatrical release earlier this year. The film is the fourth entry in the MCU Spider-Man series and follows 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home. In it, Peter protects New York by himself against a new telepathic threat.
Reviews from critics and audiences were positive, and the film broke several box office records. If you bought a ticket and helped set those records, five free avatars is a modest thank-you, and you’ll have to claim them before they disappear for good.