A trio of Marvel heroes is teaming up ahead of their big-screen crossover in the MCU later this year. Marvel Studios' Spider-Man: Brand New Day is the next major team-up event in the MCU ahead of Avengers: Doomsday at the end of the year, featuring Spider-Man and a few surprising allies. Before that, however, Spider-Man, Hulk, and the Punisher will be uniting in a new Marvel Comics series.
Marvel Comics announced Spider-Man: Long Way Home will release in June 2026, ahead of the July 31 release of Tom Holland's Spider-Man: Brand New Day. The new five-issue limited series comes from Jonathan Hickman and Adam Kubert, and will see Spider-Man, Punisher, and Hulk on a high-stakes collision mission together.
Spider-Man: Long Way Home was revealed alongside the official cover art by Adam Kubert, which features elements from all three main Marvel stars.
The variant cover art for Spider-Man: Long Way Home by Dave Johnson features an even better look at Hulk, Spider-Man, and Punisher fighting side by side in the South American wilds.
According to Marvel's official announcement, Spider-Man: Long Way Home is set in a world "before the Punisher" and where Hulk's existence is "a whisper of a rumor." The story finds the three heroes on a mission to keep A.I.M.'s Cosmic Cube away from the hands of evil, but it seems this will also put them at odds with each other:
It’s a world before the Punisher. A world where the existence of the Hulk is but a whisper of a rumor. A world where A.I.M. has just developed a Cosmic Cube in the jungles of South America. Frank Castle, Bruce Banner and Peter Parker are all on a mission to keep the Cube out of the wrong hands – including each other’s. In this three-way free-for-all for the power of the cosmos, who will come out on top?
Notably, Spider-Man: Long Way Home's title emulates the style of Marvel Studios' Spider-Man "Home" trilogy, which included Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spider-Man: Far From Home, and Spider-Man: No Way Home. While Spider-Man 4 has broken this tradition with its Brand New Day subtitle, the return to the Home format only reinforces the idea that there could be a connection between this comic and the MCU's next movie.
The comic does seem to mirror some of the goings-on in the MCU, particularly the impending team-up of Holland's Spider-Man with Mark Ruffalo's Hulk and Jon Bernthal's Punisher on the big screen.
Bernthal was announced for a role in Spider-Man: Brand New Day shortly after returning to Marvel as his Netflix era character, Frank Castle. After a stint in Daredevil: Born Again and his upcoming The Punisher TV special, Bernthal was called into the prime time for a role in the next Spider-Man film. Meanwhile, Ruffalo hasn't been officially confirmed for Spider-Man 4, but the persistent rumors of the Hulk and his presence on Spider-Man: Brand New Day merchandise have done all the talking.
Audiences will be able to enjoy Spider-Man's next comic adventure a few weeks before his big screen one, as Spider-Man: Long Way Home Issue #1 releases on June 17, 2026.
Does Spider-Man's New Comic Reveal Anything About 'Brand New Day'?
Fans are rabid for more details on Spider-Man: Brand New Day, particularly as, a few months out, the MCU film has yet to release a proper trailer. While Marvel Comics and Marvel Studios operate independently, the similarities between Spider-Man: Long Way Home and Spider-Man: Brand New Day's core characters are hard to ignore.
That's not to say that the two stories will completely mirror each other, but is it possible there are some hints to glean about Spider-Man: Brand New Day from Spider-Man: Long Way Home's direction?
According to the synopsis, Hulk, Punisher, and Spider-Man will all be chasing the Cosmic Cube. In Marvel Comics, A.I.M.'s Cosmic Cube is an all-mighty force that is linked to the power of the Beyonders - an omnipotent race of cosmic beings existing beyond the Multiverse.
Interestingly, the Beyonder is typically linked to the events of Secret Wars, which is what the two-part story of Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars is expected to follow. Spider-Man isn't expected to appear in Avengers: Doomsday, but is suspected to have a role in Secret Wars, so if the Cosmic Cube is being introduced in some way in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, as it is in Long Way Home, that could be one way the next MCU film will connect to the upcoming Avengers movies.
Spider-Man: Long Way Home also features A.I.M (Advanced Idea Mechanics), an organization that has already been introduced in the MCU as Aldrich Killian's company, and was considered largely defunct after the events of Iron Man 3. Of course, that doesn't mean AIM couldn't make a return, and in fact Spider-Man 4's set photos have hinted at the arrival of a large weaponised force (although rumors point to this being linked to a different Marvel organization).
As with most Marvel Studios films, Spider-Man: Brand New Day will forge its own path with its Spider-Man story, but come July 31, it will be interesting to see if Spider-Man: Long Way Home shared anything more than core characters with the MCU film.
