‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ Reveals If Hulk Still Remembers Peter Parker’s True Identity

‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ has given fans plenty to talk about since its release, but one detail has generated more discussion than almost any other story thread. After Doctor Strange’s spell erased the world’s memory of Peter Parker at the end of ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’, audiences have wondered whether that magic was truly absolute, and the film’s answer involves one of the MCU’s biggest and greenest heroes.

According to Tom Holland himself, one person in the world still remembers that Spider-Man is secretly Peter Parker, despite the sweeping effects of Strange’s spell. That revelation, confirmed ahead of the film’s release, sent fans straight to the comics for context, and the movie has now backed up their suspicions on screen.

Hulk Remembers Peter Parker While Bruce Banner Does Not

The film draws directly from Marvel Comics history, where the Immortal Hulk once retained memories of Peter Parker’s identity even after Mephisto wiped the rest of the world’s knowledge of it. That same idea now plays out in live action, with Hulk instinctively recognizing Peter as a friend during a confrontation, letting him go the moment Peter reveals his real name.

What makes the moment resonate is the contrast with Bruce Banner. While Banner has no recollection whatsoever that Spider-Man is Peter Parker, something in Hulk clearly does, confirming that the spell did not fully take hold of both sides of the character. It is a distinction that mirrors the comic arc many fans had already been pointing to online in the months before release.

Part of what makes this plausible within the story is a structural choice the filmmakers made regarding the character himself. Rather than bringing back the fused “Smart Hulk” persona from recent Avengers films, Brand New Day reverts to a version where Banner and Hulk function as more distinctly separate personalities, which opens the door for one half of the character to hold onto information the other has lost.

Bruce Banner Hulk Split Explains the Memory Loophole

The practical result of that separation is a fairly grim state for Bruce Banner in the film’s current timeline. Banner is depicted as having suffered what is publicly described as a mental breakdown, and he is currently confined to a psychiatric ward, with no understanding of who Peter Parker is. It is a far cry from the composed, integrated Banner audiences saw in the years following ‘Avengers: Endgame’.

Yet even locked away, the Hulk persona inside him carries forward a piece of Peter’s story that the rest of the world has lost. The film frames Hulk’s recognition of Peter’s name as genuinely significant news for Spider-Man, especially when paired with another small crack in the spell involving Ned Leeds. At the same time, the film is careful not to overstate what this means for Bruce’s condition, since nothing about Hulk’s memory changes the fact that Banner himself remains unaware and unwell.

This is not the first time the MCU has hinted that Hulk operates outside the normal rules governing memory spells. Hulk was previously established as one of the few people who continued to remember Sentry after Doctor Strange erased public memory of that character at Sentry’s own request, giving the movie a built-in precedent for treating Hulk as something of an exception whenever Strange’s magic is involved.

Doctor Strange Spell Loopholes Fuel Fan Theories

Long before the film confirmed any of this, fans had already built an extensive case for why Hulk might be immune. Online discussion pointed to the identical comic book scenario as the most likely explanation, with some fans also floating the idea that heroes who were off-planet during the spell, including Thor, Captain Marvel, Nick Fury and the Guardians of the Galaxy, might have avoided its effects entirely.

Those theories gained real momentum once Holland began discussing the film in interviews. Speaking with IGN Benelux, Holland was asked directly whether even the Avengers still remembered Peter, and his answer, along with an on-camera interjection from his wife and co-star Zendaya before he could say more, all but confirmed the Hulk theory to attentive fans.

The film does not stop at Hulk, either. Ned Leeds also shows a flicker of connection to Peter, instinctively performing their old personalized handshake without any explanation for why it feels familiar, even though he has no conscious memory of their friendship. Between Hulk and Ned, the film leaves open the possibility that traces of Peter Parker still exist somewhere inside everyone the spell affected, MJ included.

What This Means for Spider-Man Going Forward

The stakes of this memory subplot are significant for Peter’s arc across the film. MJ and Ned may recall their individual interactions with Spider-Man, but neither of them know that Spider-Man is actually Peter, forcing him to essentially meet his closest friends for the first time all over again. That isolation is central to the film’s emotional core, with Peter navigating the pain of watching the people closest to him move on without any awareness of who he really is.

Against that backdrop, Hulk’s recognition carries outsized emotional weight. It is not a fix for Peter’s situation, since Banner remains unaware and hospitalized, but it does confirm that Strange’s spell has cracks in it. Whether those cracks widen into something larger for ‘Spider-Man’ or the broader MCU going forward remains to be seen, though the film has clearly planted the idea that the world’s memory of Peter Parker is not gone for good.

For a movie built around loss and reinvention, the sight of Hulk instinctively protecting Peter the moment his real name is spoken stands out as one of the more quietly moving beats in ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’. What did you make of the way the film handled Hulk’s connection to Peter, and do you think Bruce Banner deserves to get his memory back too?