A newly released image from Marvel Studios' Spider-Man: Brand New Day sparks a new theory about how Spider-Man will beat the Hulk in the new film. After months of speculation, the first Spider-Man: Brand New Day trailer revealed that Mark Ruffalo's Bruce Banner will be in the movie, but fans are waiting to see his alter ego, the Hulk. Merchandise for the fourth MCU Spider-Man film has confirmed it's a matter of when, not if, Banner Hulks out, which will cause big green problems for Tom Holland's web-slinger.
The Hulk has fought against various Avengers many times in the MCU, and even Thor had trouble keeping him down in Thor: Ragnarok. Avengers: Endgame seemed to solve this problem with the introduction of Smart Hulk, a combination of the Hulk's body with Banner's mind still in control. But coming into Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Banner is back to his human self, thanks to a new Hulk inhibiting device (which was set up in She-Hulk).
A new image from Spider-Man: Brand New Day, shared by Empire, suggests this inhibitor device will be the key to Spider-Man defeating the Hulk in the movie. The picture shows Zendaya's MJ standing over Spider-Man's shoulder at his workbench as he engineers a small device.
The schematic on his computer screen closely resembles the design of Banner's Hulk inhibitor device, which he wears on his forearm in the Spider-Man: Brand New Day trailer.
It seems that Spider-Man may, at some point, get a hold of the plans for Banner's Hulk inhibitor and either try to repair it or recreate it in the movie to use against his angry green foe.
From what's been revealed about Spider-Man: Brand New Day so far, Peter Parker is seen coming to Bruce Banner for help with the strange mutation he is going through with his Spider-powers. Even though Banner, like everyone else, has forgotten his past with Peter Parker, he remains an expert in medicine and biochemistry and is therefore the right person to help Peter out. This is likely when Peter will be introduced to the idea of the Hulk inhibitor, which may help him out later on.
It's not been revealed what causes Banner to eventually Hulk out in the movie, but, as mentioned, the Hulk has dispatched opponents far greater than Spider-Man in his time in the MCU. Even though Spider-Man is strong and quick, his strength can't compete with that of the Hulk, so he may need to look for smarter alternatives, one of which would be to revert Hulk back to Bruce Banner using the inhibitor.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day picks up four years after the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home, and follows Peter Parker in a new era after Doctor Strange's memory spell wiped all recollection of his existence from everyone on Earth. The film, directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, stars Tom Holland, Zendaya, Mark Ruffalo, Sadie Sink, and Jacob Batalon. Spider-Man: Brand New Day will be out in theaters on July 31, 2026.
Spider-Man Needs to Exploit Hulk's Weaknesses In Brand New Day
The Hulk has been established as one of the MCU's physically strongest characters. It's nigh impossible to beat him in a fight, but he does possess other weaknesses.
The most obvious is to target Banner while in his human form rather than his Hulk form, which is why Peter is smart to potentially look at the Hulk inhibitor as a solution rather than trying to beat the Hulk in a fight.
On top of that, the Hulk is quite an emotional being. Banner's alter ego is often triggered into existence by intense feelings of anger or pain, but the Avengers have proved he can be calmed by the right person. This may not be a tactic Peter Parker can rely on in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, given Hulk has no memory of him, but it could still be useful.
Without help from the other Avengers, Spider-Man will need to rely on his wits, and potentially some gadgets, to quell the Hulk, and the Hulk's inhibitor device may be the perfect solution to the problem.
