No one expected Spider-Man: Now Way Home to be an origin story, but in a sense, that’s exactly what we got. The third Spidey movie to star Tom Holland (and the 10th in total to star Peter Parker) ended on a surprising note. For the first time since his debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, our hero was finally on his own, with no Avengers to help him and no Tony Stark supersuit to enhance his powers. The stage was finally set for a classic adventure about everyone’s favorite friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, and rumors suggested we’d be getting a smaller-scale “street-level” sequel. However, a new report suggests that may no longer be the plan.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the upcoming Spider-Man: Brand New Day will be jam-packed full of familiar MCU characters, including the Incredible Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) and the Punisher (Jon Bernthal). The article also reveals Michael Mando will return as Scorpion, finally paying off a post-credits teaser that dates all the way back to 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming.
The biggest news of the batch is undeniably the return of the Hulk. Even since Mark Ruffalo took over the character in 2012’s The Avengers, he’s been a mainstay of the MCU, appearing in various movies and TV shows as a supporting character, but never getting his own solo adventure due to complex legal issues. So it makes sense that the big guy would show up in a Spider-Man movie next. It’s a classic pairing, after all, and the two superheroes have battled several times in the comics.
My problem here has less to do with the Hulk himself than what he represents. His appearance in Spider-Man: Brand New Day seemingly confirms that all four Tom Holland movies will feature an older Avengers character whose job is to essentially babysit Peter Parker throughout the movie. In Homecoming, babysitting duties fell to Iron Man. In the sequel, Far From Home, Nick Fury took over. And in No Way Home, Doctor Strange stepped in. None of these roles felt forced or unnecessary, but they did detract from Spider-Man’s ability to be his own, well, Spider-Man — a character who frequently makes mistakes and is forced to fix his own problems.
The inclusion of the Hulk in Brand New Day suggests that, despite the way the last movie left off with Spidey living alone in a small apartment and sewing his own supersuit, a massive green babysitter is right around the corner. Maybe that’s not the case. Maybe the Hulk just has a brief cameo (or even a post-credits scene to help set up Avengers: Doomsday), but it’s increasingly starting to look like Brand New Day won’t fulfill the promise of a solo Spider-Man movie in the MCU when it hits theaters on July 31, 2026.
