It’s been almost a year without any upcoming Marvel movies being released, but that’s about to change later this summer with Spider-Man: Brand New Day. The movie not only follows Tom Holland’s Peter Parker after the events of No Way Home, but it also features all sorts of Marvel characters, including the return of Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner/Hulk. Now, one popular theory about the return of the original Avenger seems to be very likely after a new merch drop.
Ever since Mark Ruffalo was spotted on the set of Brand New Day shooting a scene where he looked disoriented on a stretcher, fans have been thinking that this is the movie where Bruce Banner finally loses control of Hulk again. Now, a new Marvel figurine of Hulk connected to the new Spider-Man movie may confirm fans’ thoughts. Per France Figurines’ description of their product:
In Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Bruce Banner utilizes an inhibitor that has kept him in human form since the events of Endgame. However, this constraint has its limits: the film marks the return of the Hulk in his savage form—a departure from the ‘Smart Hulk’ of previous films. Banner and Peter Parker, both grappling with uncontrollable transformations, find themselves caught in a narrative parallel at the very heart of the film.
Oops! Now, this isn’t the first time a piece of merch has allegedly spoiled this. News of Hasbro’s Savage Hulk Talk’n Electronic Mask also pointed fans in the same direction.
We’re still a couple of months out from Spider-Man: Brand New Day, so we don’t imagine this aspect of the film was supposed to be out in the world, but it very much is. There have been no official images of Bruce Banner in Hulk form in Brand New Day, so we can’t be completely sure the movie will have this, but it definitely solidly places the storyline in that direction, and it's an exciting possibility.
When we first met Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner in Avengers, he didn’t have control of his other form – which is known as Savage Hulk. But as the movies went along, he found a way to balance his two sides, notably by debuting his Smart Hulk form in Avengers: Endgame. And in She-Hulk, we learned that he created something called the Hulk Inhibitor Device that allows him to change form at his will, which he wears in the footage we’ve seen of him from Brand New Day thus far.
Since not only Bruce Banner, but Punisher will be in Brand New Day, and both have storylines that are specifically connected to anger, fans have already been talking about how it might inform the upcoming movie. When we catch up with Spider-Man, he’s lost a lot. His friends don’t remember him, and he’s still dealing with the grief of losing Aunt May. While it’s becoming clearer every day that we’ll see a Hulk out in Brand New Day, it’s still yet to be seen how these characters will all tie together. The new Spider-Man movie comes out on July 31!
