Featured artwork taken from Mark Bagley‘s cover for Amazing Spider-Man #381 (1993).
Via The Hollywood Reporter, Mark Ruffalo will return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Dr. Bruce Banner/Hulk in the next Spider-Man film, Spider-Man: Brand New Day. The trade paper also states Michael Mando will reprise the role of Mac Gargan (now the supervillain Scorpion) from 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming in the sequel, due out July 31, 2026. The report coincided with Spider-Man Day (commemorating the cover date of Peter Parker’s first appearance in 1962’s Amazing Fantasy #15), which was also marked with the release of a half-minute clip revealing Tom Holland‘s new costume:
Although Spider-Man and the Hulk appeared together briefly in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, this will mark the first time both of Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Steve Ditko‘s iconic creations have headlined a big screen adventure. The movie will mark Ruffalo’s first appearance in the MCU since 2022’s She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, and seemingly resolves the mystery of Marvel’s plans for him, following his conspicuous absence from this year’s Captain America: Brave New World (which featured two of his villains, the Leader and the Red Hulk), and the official cast list for Avengers: Doomsday (due out December 18, 2026).
Prior to this, Holland had expressed enthusiasm in a 2017 interview about Spidey having an antagonistic relationship with the Hulk, stating “it would be quite interesting to see [him] try and squash him like a bug, like a sort of big brother-little brother type fight situation rather than a proper fight, just to see them have it off with each other, it would be really fun.” While Endgame left Banner in a relatively happy place, with his struggle to control his alter-ego having been seemingly resolved during the film’s five-year time jump, it is possible that (like his comics counterpart) we could see him revert to a more aggressive state.
Additionally, it remains to be seen if Banner’s cousin Jennifer Walters/She-Hulk (Tatiana Maslany), or son, Skaar (Wil Deusner, who was introduced on She-Hulk), will also factor into Brand New Day, although it’s doubtful the former will appear, given she works on the opposite side of the country to the New York-based Spider-Man. Similarly, it’s unknown if Brie Larson will appear as Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel, although she has worked with director Destin Daniel Cretton on all of his films since Short Term 12 (including Shang-Chi, where she cameoed in the mid-credits scene with… Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner!) Like Ruffalo, Larson was absent from the official Doomsday cast reveal.
Regardless, Cretton will have his hands full with Brand New Day, as the movie will also feature Jon Bernthal as the Punisher/Frank Castle, Sadie Sink‘s unnamed character, and the return of Zendaya and Jacob Batalon as MJ and Ned Leeds. Photos taken from location filming in Glasgow, Scotland, suggests the villains will include Martin Li/Mr. Negative (a character who, much like the Hulk, has a dual personality), although there is no indication as to who would play him at the time of writing.
In the meantime, Cretton’s next MCU project, the Disney+ series Wonder Man, will premiere in December, while Marvel’s latest media projects, The Fantastic Four: First Steps and Eyes of Wakanda, are out now respectively in theaters and on Disney+.
