After 19 Years, Spider-Man: Brand New Day Theory Reveals Marvel is Finally Giving Us the Hulk Story We’ve Always Wanted

A new Spider-Man: Brand New Day theory reveals the Hulk is secretly the film’s main villain, more than fulfilling a 19-year-old promise. Marvel’s always had a reputation for the long game, but we tend to forget just how much plans for the early MCU changed. Most of the Phase 1 post-credit scenes were left unfulfilled, and The Incredible Hulk‘s was the worst offender; Marvel actually released a one-shot (“The Consultant”) to explain it away. That was because The Incredible Hulk strongly suggested the Hulk would be the Avengers’ first mission, an idea lifted straight from the comics.

We did get some Hulk-on-hero fights, of course. The Avengers featured a delightful Hulk versus Thor brawl, while Tony Stark donned Hulkbuster armor after Scarlet Witch sent the Jade Giant on a rampage in Avengers: Age of Ultron. And yet, for all that’s the case, the promise of a full-on “Hulk Smash” scene has never been fulfilled. Avengers: Endgame committed the MCU to Professor Hulk, seeming to make it impossible. Until Spider-Man: Brand New Day, that is, with the Hulk finally showing how dangerous he is.

We’re Finally Getting the Savage Hulk in Spider-Man: Brand New Day

The final Spider-Man: Brand New Day trailer confirms what we’ve all been hoping for: that we’re going to get the Hulk on a full-scale rampage. The Spider-Man versus Hulk match-up is a classic one from the comics, simply because they’re the ultimate David and Goliath; Spider-Man is nowhere near as powerful as the Hulk, meaning he depends on his agility and spider-sense to survive. We already see it in the trailer, because Spider-Man’s instinct is to run, to get out into the open where he has (more of) an advantage. The Hulk, however, uses his trademark thunderclap to get a blow in even as Spider-Man flees.

The trailer appears to suggest we’re getting this match-up because of the film’s mysterious body-hopping villain. We don’t know much about Brand New Day‘s real bad guy; Holland says the real villain hasn’t been revealed yet, and is “unlike anything we’ve seen in these movies before.” That presumably means this isn’t Sadie Sink’s mystery character, generally believed to be the mutant psychic Jean Grey. Something else is going on in New York, something that’s been carefully concealed from the trailer. Marvel’s Spider-Man films have had epic twists – think the Vulture reveal in Spider-Man: Homecoming – but this could be the biggest yet.

Is Bruce Banner the Secret Villain?

One possibility is largely being missed, though: the mystery villain could in fact be Bruce Banner himself. The Hulk’s story has continued in the MCU’s background post-Endgame, but Brand New Day suggests there have been major twists. Yes, Banner says the right thing when he asks Peter how he’d identify which mutations were benign and which needed to be suppressed; but he does so while wearing technology to suppress his own mutation. In fact, he seems to be back to consider the Hulk an antagonistic force, joking about Hulking out if the tech was disrupted. The Endgame balance between Banner and the Hulk is gone.

Tying in to this, Banner is playing a very interesting role in Brand New Day. That DNA suppressor is familiar tech for any X-Men fans, where it was created by the mutant inventor Forge and used against mutants. Banner’s device has a Stark Industries logo, a company with strong ties to the “Damage Control” organization who police superhuman affairs in the United States. Most significantly, the MCU’s Damage Control is led by a Z-list anti-mutant X-Men villain named William Metzger. Peter may have gone to Bruce Banner for help, but the ex-Avengers is moving in dangerous circles right now.

All this raises the intriguing possibility Bruce Banner – not the Hulk – is Brand New Day‘s secret villain. According to this theory, the trailer conceals more than it reveals; Spider-Man is actually confronting Banner when he says the villain will “not get away with this,” not (as implied) a body-hopping psychic or mystical force. There’s comic book precedent for this; the Hulk and Banner were once separated in the comics, with Banner becoming a stereotypical “evil scientist” and the Hulk opposing him. If this theory is correct, an OG Avenger has gone bad.

What is the Hulk’s Real Role in the Multiverse Saga?

Assuming this theory is correct, we don’t have enough information to say why Bruce Banner has had a heel-turn. But it’s worth remembering we’re headed to Avengers: Doomsday, the build-up for the Secret Wars event. In the comics, this phase of the story saw the heroes divided; some realized a multiversal apocalypse was on the way, and compromised their morality in ill-advised attempts to avert it. Something similar could have happened to Bruce Banner in the MCU, meaning he actually has a solid reason for going bad.

Whatever the reason may be, Brand New Day is one of the last films in the Multiverse Saga. That means the heroes and villains are being set up in a new status quo, ready for the ultimate showdown with Robert Downey, Jr’s Doctor Doom. It would certainly be exciting to see an OG Avengers take a dark turn in the 616 universe, setting up the return of another familiar face – but now as a villain.

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