Savage Hulk Officially First Look Revealed in ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ and the MCU Will Never Be the Same
Tom Holland’s fourth outing as the wall-crawler has been shrouded in secrecy since it was announced, with Marvel and Sony guarding nearly every plot detail with unusual care. The film follows Peter Parker as he anonymously protects New York City while his superpowers undergo a surprising and potentially dangerous evolution. Director Destin Daniel Cretton has crafted what Holland himself described, in an interview with Esquire, as “a real mystery” where “even Spider-Man is a little bit at odds and lost.” That mystery-box approach has kept anticipation at a fever pitch, and the newly released second trailer just blew the lid off one of the film’s most closely held secrets.
Marvel Studios has released the second trailer for ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’, no longer hiding Savage Hulk’s appearance and giving fans their first official look at Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk in his most dangerous form. The footage establishes Bruce Banner as a physics professor at Empire State University, where a Peter Parker stripped of all his personal connections has turned for help. Banner wears a gamma inhibitor device on his wrist to remain in human form, and Peter turns to him for guidance as his own powers continue to evolve, causing black eyes, intense pain, and cocoon-like transformations.
The trailer confirms that Spider-Man’s new mutations now include organic webbing, and Holland’s Peter laments the fact that MJ and Ned have both forgotten who he is after the events of ‘No Way Home’. The most jaw-dropping moment, however, arrives when Banner’s inhibitor is apparently damaged or ripped away. The classic rage-fueled Hulk grows to an enormous size right in front of Peter, prompting a stunned Spider-Man to say, “I did not know you could get that big.” The sequence draws from a place fans have not seen since the opening moments of ‘Avengers: Infinity War’, and the scale of the transformation makes clear this is not the composed, conflict-free Smart Hulk the MCU has leaned on for years.
The footage suggests that after Sadie Sink’s mystery character uses her telepathic abilities to influence Banner, Bruce begins losing control. Sink’s role remains one of the most fiercely guarded secrets in recent Marvel history, though industry insider Jeff Sneider has stated he believes Sink is playing Jean Grey, with clues including her red hair, a yellow-and-green costume tease, and the apparent telepathy shown in early footage. If that theory holds, the narrative logic of a powerful psychic triggering the Hulk’s most primal form is almost too elegant to dismiss.
The cast themselves have practically confirmed there is more to the Hulk than what audiences saw in the trailer. Speaking with Fandango as part of the film’s promotion, Holland casually remarked “Hulk is green,” before Zendaya quickly countered with “Is he though?” and Jacob Batalon jumped in to note that “there are other colors.” A flustered Holland quickly backtracked, saying “I didn’t say that, I’m getting hot,” in what has since become one of the most-discussed moments in recent Marvel promotional history. The exchange has sent fan theories about a Grey Hulk debut into overdrive, with merchandise details already having hinted at the possibility weeks before the trailer dropped.
The return of a more aggressive Hulk also raises the question of whether this could set him up to be part of either ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ or ‘Avengers: Secret Wars’, particularly as the franchise prepares to take on Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom. ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ is directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and written by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers, with the film set to release in theaters and IMAX on July 31. With the Savage Hulk now confirmed, one question demands an answer from every fan heading into this summer’s biggest Marvel event: is the Green Goliath really green at all?
