This summer’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day is a huge draw for the obvious reason that Tom Holland’s webslinger is back in the MCU, but it’s also a big deal for Hulk fans. Not only will Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner return, but we’ll see the first real Hulk-out in years, and the added promise that at one point, as shown in the trailers, Hulk will be the Savage Hulk. That’s something Marvel fans have waited a long time for, with only a hint of it in Avengers: Age of Ultron, thanks to Scarlet Witch. This time, it appears Hulk will once again be under the mental control of an unknown villain, but one assumption about the character has now been surprisingly ruled out.
The upcoming Art of Spider-Man: Brand New Day offers the usual deep dive into the lore and design behind Spidey’s next outing. Alongside first looks at jaw-dropping art, the book drops some story details. An early look at the book was posted by AIPT Comics (and has since been deleted), but social media accounts picked up on the details, including a major Hulk reveal. The details were all revealed on a Reddit thread. Despite official hints that Gray Hulk would make an appearance in Brand New Day, the Reddit recap says “Hulk receives an entire chapter exploring his return to Savage Hulk after years as Smart Hulk. Early concepts experimented with Gray Hulk before ultimately returning to the classic green version.” So despite those Gray Hulk hints, the Savage Hulk will be green.
While fans won’t be getting the Gray Hulk in Brand New Day, the same Reddit thread reveals more details on Spider-Man’s mutation and heroic career. In the wake of No Way Home’s mass amnesia storyline, Art of Spider-Man: Brand New Day authors describe the film as “Spider-Man Too Much,” with Spidey dedicating himself to full-time heroics and neglecting his real life as Peter Parker. The report says his organic web-shooters inspired by 2005 comic arc “The Other”.
On the subject of monsters, both Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk and Jon Bernthal’s Punisher, and there’s a detail that Frank won’t be outright hunting either Hulk or Spidey. Instead, the Peter’s mission will crossover with Frank’s accidentally, as the first trailer hinted. The Department of Damage Control, the shady government cleanup crew tasked to manage superhero havoc, will also be complicating Spider-Man’s life. The Department gets a whole chapter of the artbook, showing a headquarters built of salvage from some of the nastiest foes of the MCU to date, including the Chitauri of The Avengers, the Sakaarans of Avengers: Endgame, and even a few toys swiped from Rocket Raccoon. Given Damage Control’s appearance as the shadowy, half-villainous superhero law enforcement agency in Wonder Man, we can expect a villainous presence.
The rundown of the artbook also reveals that Liza Colon-Zayas’s Jean DeWolff will be “an important sounding board for Spider-Man as their relationship develops over the course of the film.” There’s also a mention that the scenes shown in the marketing campaign of Spider-Man visiting sick kids in the hospital are framed as awkward because Peter has lost touch with real life in his dedication to heroics. There’s also word of more subtle behind-the-scenes touches too. It gives Spidey an official address close to the Queensboro Bridge and has him building his own gadgets again with a custom sewing machine-cum-3D printer he calls the Fabricator. It also reveals why the villains were chosen: an attempt by the filmmakers to introduce adversaries he could beat quickly, as well as some more substantial ones.
So, in short, despite the absence of the Joe Fixit take on the Hulk, comic fans have plenty to get excited about in Brand New Day‘s artbook. Spider-Man: Brand New Day is out July 31. What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
