The Hulk’s MCU Return Kills One Spider-Man Trend That Had To Die

The Hulk‘s MCU return in Spider-Man: Brand New Day effectively destroys the one chance the Marvel movie had at continuing a film trend that the franchise has upheld with Spider-Man’s films up until this point – and it’s high time for it. The MCU timeline took a fresh film route with its depiction of Spider-Man, introducing the young hero in Captain America: Civil War, and then letting us watch Tom Holland’s Peter Parker grow up on-screen throughout his initial trilogy and crossover releases Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.

Having a considerable period to witness Spider-Man come into his own provided many strong moments for the character that endeared audiences to him further, and ensured that Peter could be used to tie the MCU’s world closer together, as the New York hero’s stories intersected with plenty of other MCU heroes, and some other Marvel movie characters who crossed worlds to meet him in Spider-Man: No Way Home as well.

The stellar reaction all of these stories have received paints a seriously promising picture for Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which is also confirmed to have its own extensive hero and villain cast that Peter will get to encounter. Interestingly, though, Brand New Day is bucking one convention that’s previously been held to throughout Spider-Man’s on-screen roles – and it already looks like this could pay off in a major way for the movie and its protagonist alike.

Brand New Day’s Hulk Vs Spider-Man Fight Avoids A Key Spider-Man Trend That Ran Its Course

Spider-Man: Brand New Day‘s trailers have shown that a confused Peter Parker ends up turning to Bruce Banner in order to understand more about his mutation and why it appears to be further evolving and changing his body and powers. Banner seems more than happy to talk about his own mutation and how he keeps it under control, but it doesn’t seem things go so smoothly between the pair the whole time, since a notable part of the trailers show a berserking Hulk turning on Spider-Man in dramatic fashion.

This works first and foremost to build interest further in the events of Brand New Day, of course, but also serves to establish that Brand New Day appears to be the first MCU movie with Spider-Man to not feature some sort of mentor figure who the hero places his trust in entirely and doesn’t have to stand against, which is a big development given the complaints about Peter’s MCU story being overly reliant on him having mentor or guiding figures who he follows the orders or teachings of rather than going his own path.

With the MCU’s crossover movies and Spider-Man: Homecoming making Iron Man Spider-Man’s mentor, Spider-Man: Far From Home giving this role to “Nick Fury”, and Spider-Man: No Way Home giving Peter’s alternate multiversal selves a version of this role – as well as Doctor Strange, though Peter and Strange do also fight in the course of the film – Brand New Day‘s approach to the Hulk is all the more interesting, since it seems custom-made to add friction and complicate the dynamic between the two.

It’s also all the more needed, since the film’s premise would be undermined if Peter was able to fully and entirely turn to someone like Iron Man once again in this chapter of his life.

Why Spider-Man Vs The Hulk Being In Spider-Man: Brand New Day Is Near Perfect For The MCU Movie

Credit: Sony Pictures Releasing

Of course, knowing Spider-Man and the Hulk face off in some capacity is an immediate draw for the movie in terms of getting to see two of Marvel’s most beloved – and most historically battle capable – heroes face off against one another in the MCU. This is a move the franchise has not been afraid to use over the course of its history, with the Hulk having fought Thor more than once in its run thus far, since comic and movie audiences alike love to know what such showdowns would look like, and this helps show off the Hulk’s power level too.

However, having the Hulk and Spider-Man enter conflict in this way also works very well for Spider-Man: Brand New Day specifically because of the point in Peter’s personal story this plot point comes at.

Given much of Brand New Day‘s story appears to be Peter struggling with his mutation and with how to handle whoever his mind-controlling central antagonist is, giving Spider-Man too concrete of an ally in the Hulk could well undermine the entire premise of the film. If it seems to viewers as though all of Spider-Man’s problems could simply have been made easier or solved by trusting in Bruce Banner and explaining everything to him, the drama and tension of the story might be sabotaged, which would be a shame for such an interesting story premise.

Instead, having the Hulk be depicted as somewhat unstable – and The Punisher be similarly hard for Peter to fully place his trust in because of his penchant for murder – puts Spider-Man in a place where he can turn to these figures, but isn’t encouraged to trust them entirely. This justifies why it seems he’s on his own in a good chunk of Spider-Man: Brand New Day‘s story, and ensures the hero has to work through his personal demons solo more in order to build his own path forward.

Release Date

July 31, 2026

Runtime

150 Minutes

Director

Destin Daniel Cretton