Even though the Hulk has only had one self-titled solo film in the MCU under his belt (played by Edward Norton at the time and not even the current Bruce Banner played by Mark Ruffalo), he is the character that has probably seen the most supporting roles and different iterations of any other mainstay Avenger. We’ve had the original Bruce that can’t control the Hulk side, we’ve had the always angry original ‘Savage Hulk’, we’ve had the Thor: Ragnarok Planet Hulk gladiator version, the Endgame Professor Hulk, and the She-Hulk mentor. Now, if new rumors are accurate, we will be getting another version in Spider-Man: Brand New Day by circling back to an even more ‘Savage Hulk’. ‘Savage Hulk’ is technically just a callback to the original version, but it’s been a while sine we’ve seen him in “Hulk smash” form. According to scooper Alex Perez, he will definitely be earning that ‘savage’ nickname this time around by being almost irredeemable by the end of the Spidey-film.
Not a whole lot is known about what the next entry in the MCU Spider-Man franchise is going to hold for Peter Parker, but among one of the most consistent details about the film being circulated is that the Hulk will be playing a prominent role in the film. And not just any Hulk, but he will officially be taking up the mantle of the ‘Savage Hulk’ from the comics. ‘Savage Hulk’ refers to the original, savage version of the character that likes to say “Hulk smash” as he blasts Thor a la the first Avengers movie. We’ve technically already seen the savage Hulk a couple times, but ever since his transition to smart/Professor Hulk the ultra-strong, rage-fueled version has been MIA and in my opinion, missed by many. According to the film scooper, Perez claims that Brand New Day will explore uncharted (see what I did there, Tom Holland?) territory for the personal history of both Bruce Banner and Peter Parker, dating all the way back to the beginning of the MCU:
“The events of Brand New Day are going to force both of these characters to come face-to-face with their own personal trauma and guilt over the events of their past as they come bubbling to the surface. And you have to think about what effect that can have on these two characters, particularly.
With Spider-Man, it’s about having the emotions, thoughts, and feelings of guilt he’s suppressed over the years come back out and how being Spider-Man has completely suppressed the man behind the mask.
For Hulk, it’s similar, except it unleashes a big green monster on the rampage, angrier than he’s ever been before.”
It’s hard to imagine a Hulk angrier than he’s ever been in any of the previous MCU chapters, considering we’ve seen an irrationally angry Hulk before in both the first two Avengers movies and his own self-titled solo film all the way back in the Edward Norton days. The difference is that those films took place while he was still understanding his powers and prior to the Professor Hulk evolution, so although he now seems to be at peace with his transformative half, something big must occur in this upcoming film that brings out his old, irrationally angry side. Perez mentions that although Hulk has been ‘savage’ to a certain degree, he has still always shown some level of restraint and has always refrained from actually killing anyone who wasn’t a hostile alien attempting to invade Earth. I won’t speak for gladiator Hulk days while on Sakaar because he may have mortally wounded an alien or two off screen, but in that scenario he was a puppet of the Grandmaster and probably didn’t have a choice.
In Spider-Man: Brand New Day, it sounds as if he might cross that line without being forced by the hand of an intergalactic dictator, which could lead to some hard-to-redeem choices:
“In previous iterations, Hulk, dare I say, shows restraint in the MCU? Even during the events of Age of Ultron when he was under the control of the Scarlet Witch, people were seriously injured and scared, but if I recall, he never killed anyone. In Brand New Day, he might get pushed to the point where he might just kill somebody.”
When asked if the Hulk would have some sort of redemption arc by the end of the story, Perez made it sound like quite the opposite might occur:
“BraveFire: From what you’ve heard, will Hulk have a redemption arc?
Alex Perez: PFFFFFFT. Quite the opposite. If what I’ve heard happens in Brand New Day comes to pass, he might just get hated even more.”
By the sounds of it, Peter Parker and the Hulk are going to be facing a lot of self-reflection in Brand New Day. Who Hulk supposedly kills or how exactly it impacts the plot of the movie are both completely unknown, so for now make sure to take any rumor about a film not coming straight from a studio itself with a grain of salt, but these details are making the new Spider-Man film seem much more grounded and emotionally driven then any of the past Spider-Man movies. We’ve already seen the classic teenage drama about getting into college, teenage relationships, and even Peter dealing with death, but we’ve never had an emotionally maturing Peter reflecting and dealing with his guilt about his time under the mask. Adding a character like the Hulk to an emotionally driven story-line dealing with the repercussions of anger is kind of a genius move in my opinion, and while Hulk may be instrumental in helping Peter deal with whatever he will be going through, it sounds like Peter may need to be just as instrumental to the Hulk in return (if not more so).
So for now, we will go ahead and let these details marinate. Brand New Day is said to be a much more street-level and focused film rather then the fantastical story-lines from Far From Home and No Way Home that propelled ideas like magic and the multiverse, which is a welcomed change we haven’t seen since 2017’s Homecoming and is basically ingrained in the characters origins. The idea of dealing with pent up anger is something a lot of Marvel fans can probably relate to and having Hulk be a characterization of that pent up anger alongside Peter is a great way to include a throwback to the original ‘Savage Hulk’ while also moving the characters own story-arc forward. If Bruce Banner does something irremediable, where does Hulk go from there? He’s already isolated himself in space after Age of Ultron and all he did in that film was kill some robots. If he actually kills a person in Brand New Day, where does Banner go from there? Well, it looks like we are going to have to wait until July 31st, 2026 when the film debuts in theaters to know for sure!
Are you excited for Spider-Man: Brand New Day? Do you like the idea of showing the dichotomy of Peter and Bruce’s anger and how each character can help one another through their story-arcs? How do you think Bruce Banner will deal with the repercussions of actually killing someone as Hulk? Let us know your thoughts about all of this down in the comments! And remember, these are all just rumors for now!
Source: The Cosmic Circus
