A few seconds of Russian-language music in "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" have become one of the film’s most culturally resonant moments.
The movie features "Monopoly," or "Monopoliya," a 2024 song by Monetochka, an exiled Russian singer who has publicly condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The track plays as Peter Parker, portrayed by Tom Holland, arrives in Brighton Beach, the New York neighborhood long associated with Russian-speaking immigrant culture, to meet Yelena Belova, the Russian former Black Widow assassin played by Florence Pugh.
The choice gives the scene a distinctly Russian-speaking atmosphere while also introducing a global audience to an artist whose career has become closely tied to anti-war activism and exile. The song is heard for only about ten seconds, but Monetochka is credited under her stage name in the closing titles, marking a significant international milestone for the singer.
The inclusion drew an enthusiastic response from Russian-speaking fans, who celebrated it as a rare milestone for a contemporary Russian-language artist in a major Marvel production.
Monetochka
(Photo: Instagram)
Monetochka's post after seeing 'Spider-Man: Brand New Day' and hearing her song featured in the film
Film critic Tamara Khodova said she and several colleagues contacted director Destin Daniel Cretton to tell him about the reaction. According to Khodova, Cretton replied that he loves the song and was pleased that Russian-speaking viewers were so excited by its appearance in the film.
The track does not appear on composer Michael Giacchino’s official score album, which contains the film’s original orchestral music. Instead, it is used as a licensed song within the movie itself. "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" opened in the United States on July 31, 2026.
A cheerful sound with a darker message
"Monopoly" appeared on Monetochka’s 2024 album "Molitvy. Anekdoty. Tosty," or "Prayers. Jokes. Toasts."
Built around the imagery of the familiar board game, the song uses playful language and upbeat pop production to satirize greed, corruption and ruthless competition. Its fictional game descends into bribery, extortion, offshore dealings, betrayal and violence, turning a symbol of casual entertainment into a portrait of power and moral collapse.
That contrast is characteristic of Monetochka’s music. Her songs often sound light, witty and deliberately naive while addressing politics and social inequality.
Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, whom Peter Parker meets in Brighton Beach as Monetochka’s Russian-language song plays
(Photo: X)
From ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’
(Photo: Courtesy of Forum Film)
The song’s brief placement in a Hollywood blockbuster has exposed the artist to an audience far beyond the Russian-speaking world. After seeing the film, Monetochka posted what she described as her first English-language video, welcoming listeners who had discovered her through "Spider-Man."
She introduced herself, described beginning to write poetry while growing up in Yekaterinburg and recalled moving to Moscow, where she began making music with the man who later became her husband and producer. She said she had been stunned to hear her song in the movie and invited new listeners to suggest whether she should translate more of her work or publish additional videos in English.
"Something incredible happened. One of our songs was featured in the Spider-Man movie, and I couldn’t believe it until the day I saw the film personally," she said. "It was amazing sitting there and hearing my song."
The song’s newfound attention also prompted Monetochka to release an AI-generated music video for "Monopoly," though the project quickly became controversial among her own fans.
Styled after VHS-era music videos of the 1990s, the clip depicts lavishly dressed figures dancing against images of the Kremlin and Moscow traffic. Its visuals were created with artificial intelligence by director Nina Guseva and AI artist Fedor Maximishin.
The video drew criticism from viewers who argued that generative AI threatens artists’ livelihoods and carries environmental costs. Monetochka briefly removed the clip before restoring it, saying the technology was essential to creating her exaggerated vision of Russia in the 1990s and 2000s.
She defended the use of AI as an artistic tool, arguing that the central element of art remains the human message behind it. Monetochka also urged fans not to dismiss the work of AI artists or resist technological progress, saying music exists for listeners rather than to guarantee employment for artists.
From teenage internet sensation to exile
Monetochka, whose real name is Yelizaveta Gyrdymova, was born in Yekaterinburg in 1998. Her stage name means "little coin" in Russian.
She began attracting attention as a teenager after posting homemade songs online. Her early recordings, made with a synthesizer, combined intentionally simple melodies with ironic observations about Russian society and youth culture.
Monetochka
(Photo: Instagram)
Her popularity rose sharply with the release of her 2018 album "Coloring for Adults," which blended pop, electronic music and references to Soviet and post-Soviet culture. She later released "Arts and Crafts" in 2020 and continued touring and recording with producer Viktor Isayev, whom she married.
Her career changed dramatically after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Monetochka publicly condemned the war and left Russia. She later performed a series of benefit concerts with Russian rapper Noize MC, raising money to assist Ukrainian refugees. Their "Voices of Peace" project raised more than 420,000 euros for medical, humanitarian and legal assistance for Ukrainian refugees. In December 2024, professors at Oslo Metropolitan University nominated Monetochka and Noize MC for the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of the initiative.
Monetochka performs before more than 1,000 fans at an anti-war concert in Warsaw in 2022
(Photo: Janek Skarzynski/AFP)
Russian authorities designated her a "foreign agent" in January 2023, a label that imposes extensive reporting and disclosure requirements and is widely used against critics of the Kremlin. Authorities later opened a criminal case accusing her of failing to comply with those rules.
On July 7, 2026, a Moscow court sentenced her in absentia to one year in prison for violating the "foreign agent" law. She remains outside Russia and continues to record and perform.
In her English-language video, Monetochka said Russia’s decision to invade Ukraine had been cruel and devastating for her personally and for many Russian musicians, journalists, actors and artists who subsequently left the country.
A song caught between Russia and Ukraine
The placement of "Monopoly" in "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" also became entangled in the political consequences of the war.
The film has no official theatrical release in Russia. Sony Pictures suspended distribution there after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, leaving Russian theaters without an authorized version of the blockbuster.
At the same time, the scene containing Monetochka’s song was removed from the version distributed in Ukraine.
The deletion came to public attention after Ukrainian moviegoers asked whether a Russian-language song would remain in the local release. Planeta Kino, a Ukrainian theater chain, said cinemas had not altered the movie themselves and that the short segment had been removed from the version supplied by the distributor. The distributor, B&H Film Distribution, had not publicly explained the decision.
Fans with anti-war signs during a 2022 concert by pop singer Monetochka in Warsaw
(Photo: Janek Skarzynski/AFP)
The move prompted debate because Monetochka has been one of the most visible Russian artists to oppose the invasion. She left Russia, denounced the war and participated in fundraising efforts for Ukrainians, actions that contributed to her prosecution at home.
Some Ukrainian viewers nevertheless reject Russian cultural material regardless of the artist’s political position, arguing that Russia’s continuing war makes such content painful or inappropriate. Others viewed the removal as unfair to an artist who had openly supported Ukraine and suffered retaliation from the Russian state.
The result is a striking contradiction: Monetochka’s song appears in a global Hollywood release but is absent from official screenings in both her home country, which persecutes her, and Ukraine, whose cause she has publicly supported.
Monetochka
(Photo: Instagram)
For most moviegoers, "Monopoly" is little more than a fleeting piece of music heard as Spider-Man visits Brighton Beach. However, for Monetochka, those few seconds represent one of the biggest international moments of her career. For Russian-speaking viewers, it also carries wider significance: hearing a contemporary Russian-language track in a major Hollywood blockbuster offers a rare sense of cultural visibility at a time when Russian identity and opposition to the war are often politically fraught.