The Hulk’s MCU Return Can End A Ridiculous 13-Year Streak

By bringing the Hulk back to the Marvel Cinematic Universe after a four-year hiatus, Spider-Man: Brand New Day can finally break a surprising and disappointing 13-year-long streak. Bruce Banner has been a staple of the MCU since the franchise’s early days, even though he’s only been the subject of one solo movie, where he was played by Edward Norton. Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk has appeared in all four Avengers movies, and has crossed over with the likes of Thor, Shang-Chi, and She-Hulk, and 2026 will see him join forces with Tom Holland’s Peter Parker in Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home ended the complete origin story of Peter Parker in the MCU, ending Jon Watts’ trilogy and allowing new director Destin Daniel Cretton to explore exciting new avenues in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. The MCU’s fourth solo Spider-Man movie was confirmed to be in development in 2023, with Tom Holland set to return as a now-anonymous and forgotten Peter Parker. Filming for Spider-Man: Brand New Day started on August 3, 2025, and, since then, we’ve been given some major updates, including the confirmed return of an original Avenger, which promises to break a long-running MCU trend.

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The Hulk Hasn’t Transformed On-Screen Since 2012’s The Avengers

On August 1, 2025, The Hollywood Reporter announced that Mark Ruffalo would be reprising the role of Bruce Banner in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Ruffalo will be joining Holland and Jon Bernthal in a suspected three-way battle between Spider-Man, Frank Castle’s Punisher, and the Hulk, with the latter perhaps reverting to his much-wanted savage form. We haven’t seen the Hulk in this unabashed and unhinged form since 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron – which saw the Scarlet Witch put him under a destructive spell – but the Hulk’s appearance in Brand New Day will break an even more surprising streak.

Reverting the Hulk to his savage form in Spider-Man: Brand New Day means we might finally see the former Avenger transform on-screen. We haven’t seen this happen since 2012’s The Avengers, which saw Bruce Banner declare he’s “always angry” before quickly turning into the Hulk in time to punch a Leviathan. In Age of Ultron, we saw the Hulk turn back into Banner, but not the other way around, and the same occurred in Thor: Ragnarok. In Avengers: Infinity War, the Hulk’s impotence meant we saw no transformations at all, while Avengers: Endgame revealed Banner had become the Smart Hulk.

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Smart Hulk requires no transformation, as he is a combination of the human and Hulk personas. This iteration returned in 2022’s She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, though we did briefly see the beginning of Banner’s transformation into the Hulk, but not the full sequence. We’ve seen Jennifer Walters (Tatiana Maslany), Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth), Todd Phelps (Jon Bass), and Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford) all Hulk-out in recent years, but not Bruce Banner. Spider-Man: Brand New Day promises to change this, which makes Mark Ruffalo’s return even more exciting.

Mark Ruffalo’s Return as the Hulk in Spider-Man: Brand New Day Explained

Mark Ruffalo’s return in Spider-Man: Brand New Day will mark his first appearance in the MCU since 2022’s She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, and could prepare him to reprise the role yet again in the Russo brothers’ upcoming Avengers: Doomsday. Ruffalo took over from Norton as the Hulk in 2012’s The Avengers, and he has remained as one of the franchise’s most prominent characters in the years since. The distribution rights to the Hulk still reside with Universal Pictures, making the development of new solo movies very difficult, but this doesn’t stop the character from appearing in other heroes’ adventures.

He has been central to the Avengers team, fought alongside Thor in 2017, appeared to welcome Shang-Chi to the MCU in 2021, and partnered with his cousin, Jennifer Walters, in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, all before his upcoming adventure with Spider-Man in Brand New Day. After Spider-Man: No Way Home, however, Bruce Banner will seemingly have no memory of Peter Parker, even though they fought the Mad Titan, Thanos (Josh Brolin), together during Avengers: Endgame. This has spurred speculation that Banner and Parker will not be teaming up, but could actually be enemies in Brand New Day.

It’s possible that, after brief battles, Spider-Man and the Punisher could team up to take on a savage version of the Hulk. With Michael Mando returning as Mac Gargan’s Scorpion, and rumors of Mister Negative, the Inner Demons, and perhaps even Mephisto’s (Sacha Baron Cohen) appearance in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, these antagonists could revert the Hulk to his original form. This would provide Banner with a fantastic transformation sequence, and pose a significant threat to New York’s heroes, as an unhinged and uncontrollable Hulk could cause an immense amount of damage.

Are you excited to see Bruce Banner’s Hulk appear in Spider-Man: Brand New Day? Let us know in the comments!