- Spider-Man: Brand New Day could feature another major Marvel superhero
- The latest cast rumor suggests one of the original Avengers will have a sizeable role to play
- If true, Marvel and Sony might retread old storytelling ground with their inclusion
Spider-Man: Brand New Day will apparently feature another major Marvel superhero – and, if true, I’m worried that the film will retread old storytelling ground in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
Yesterday (May 26), a report from superhero fansite Nexus Point News suggested one of the original six Avengers will show up in Spidey’s next big-screen adventure. Nexus Point News also indicated that said individual would have a substantial role to play in the Marvel Phase 6 movie, too. Potentially big spoilers immediately follow for Spider-Man 4, so proceed at your own risk.
According to Nexus Point News’s sources, Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner/The Incredible Hulk will have a large supporting role in Brand New Day. There’s no information on how Banner or his gamma-irradiated alter-ego will fit into proceedings, but there are murmurings that he could be the latest scientific genius to mentor Tom Holland’s Peter Parker.
Now, it’s unclear if Nexus Point News’ latest claim is true. For what it’s worth, the outlet’s overall track record can be described as pretty accurate. Per the ResetEra forums, they were the first website to break the news that Alex Garland was set to direct an Elden Ring film adaptation. That claim, which was made on May 6, was made almost three weeks before A24 and Garland were confirmed to be working on an Elden Ring movie.
If this Hulk rumor ends up being true, though, it raises two major concerns about the film’s plot for me – both of which lean into some tired and cliched narrative beats that the MCU has already explored.
The first worry I have is that Holland’s Spider-Man might get another mentor figure. After making his MCU debut in Captain America: Civil War, the webslinger was taken under the wing of Robert Downey Jr’s Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, until his death in Avengers: Endgame. It can also be argued that Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange temporarily assumed the role of a mentor figure, albeit a slightly antagonistic one, in Spider-Man: No Way Home, too.
The prospect of Ruffalo’s Banner becoming the wallcrawler’s third tutor-style figure in just four Spider-Man films to date would be overkill as far as I’m concerned. It would also undo the ending of Spidey’s third solo outing in the MCU, with No Way Home being the hard reset that the webhead needs to not only grow up as an individual, but thrive as a hero without supervision.
Banner’s (and, by proxy, Hulk’s) inclusion also presents an uninspired storytelling situation we’ve seen before. That being, a Marvel hero potentially having to battle the big, green, lean machine.
Whether it’s Avengers: Age of Ultron or Thor: Ragnarok, we’ve already seen the likes of Iron Man and Thor square off against Hulk. More recently, we’ve also witnessed Sam Wilson’s Captain America go toe-to-toe with a similar foe in US President Thaddeus Ross’ Red Hulk – the duo fighting in the final act of Captain America: Brave New World.
Now, given their respective strengths, a Spider-Man versus Hulk fight could be interesting, but do we really want to watch another superhero brawl with Banner’s superhuman alias? I certainly don’t.
There are numerous Spider-Man villains who deserve to show up in his next film. In fact, three are reportedly set to feature in Brand New Day. That’s before you look at other members of his rogues gallery who are rumored to feature, such as Mister Negative, Silver Sable, and Tarantula. Unless Spidey teams up with Hulk to defeat this collection of villains, what purpose would it serve to include the Savage Hulk side of Banner’s persona as another ‘bad guy’ for the webslinger to deal with?
Of course, this is all speculation at this point, so we’ll have to wait until filming gets underway (it’s expected to start in August) to see if Ruffalo is spotted on one of Brand New Day‘s sets. If Banner does show up in Spider-Man 4, I really hope it’s not in a new advisor capacity or as an antagonistic figure because the MCU needs to take some creative steps forward and not look back at what’s worked before. So, Marvel and Sony, lean into the ‘new’ aspect of Brand New Day‘s title, please.
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tom.power@futurenet.com (Tom Power)
