If there’s one thing we all know and love about Spider-Man movies, it’s that the ragamuffin Tom Holland (who is 29 years old) can’t be allowed outside without an older, bearded gentleman to escort him around. In Spider-Man: Homecoming, that was Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr). In Spider-Man: Far From Home, we got Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson). And in Spider-Man: No Way Home, it was Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch). Well, Holland’s MCU escort has been ordained for the upcoming Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and it’s none other than Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner, aka The Hulk.
While it’s unknown how much of a beard Ruffalo will sport a la his other adult counterparts in the movie, which just started filming today with an extremely revealing 8-second teaser, we do know that the long-rumored casting is accurate for the upcoming film, thanks to THR. And Ruffalo will be joining Michael Mando as Scorpion, returning from the dangling plot point in the post-credits scene in Homecoming, where he was left in prison.
Also joining them in the movie (alongside Holland, of course) is Zendaya as Michelle Jones, Jacob Batalon as Ned Leeds, Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle/The Punisher, and Sadie Sink in a mystery role the trades keep speculating is the X-Men’s Jean Grey, so it probably is, but maybe it’s just that she has red hair.
While it’s always nice to see Ruffalo in anything, it is weird to see The Hulk in the mix given that Marvel’s Kevin Feige has called this upcoming film a more “street-level” movie… Something he noted while discussing Bernthal’s addition to the cast.
“I think there’s a promise at the end of No Way Home, that for as sad as it is that Peter is forgotten by everyone in his life, we are seeing for the first time in the Tom Holland Spider-Man stories him being a proper Spider-Man,” Feige told Collider. “Him being by himself, dedicated to saving the city, and dealing with — for lack of better terms — street-level crime, as opposed to world-ending events. So when you do that, you say, okay, who are the other street-level characters that we’ve never seen him interact with? And of course, I love that The Punisher started in a Spider-Man comic.”
While I guess The Hulk gets involved in street-level stuff when he’s breaking the concrete on a street, it is a curious mix with what we already know about the movie. Also I don’t trust Marvel to keep things small and intimate for a Spider-Man movie, sorry, there’s too much money on the line.
Also, while I’m making gripes, this marks yet another project including the Hulk that is not a Hulk movie. Maybe it has to do with Ruffalo’s busy schedule at this point, but we’re potentially past the time when Marvel can’t make a solo Hulk movie as the rights to the 2008 Incredible Hulk have reverted to Disney/Marvel from Universal — so why not go for it? Or not, I guess. Maybe Universal still has the distribution rights. Who knows? I don’t know.
Anyway, good luck keeping notorious leakers Tom Holland and Mark Ruffalo from not spoiling your entire movie for a year, Marvel! Spider-Man: Brand New Day opens on July 31, 2026.
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