Spider-Man: Brand New Day: 5 Things We Need To See From Hulk's Return

There are so many things to look forward to: not just the follow-up to No Way Home’s twist ending, or Tom Holland reprising his role as Peter Parker after a five-year hiatus, but also Bernthal’s big-screen debut as the Punisher, Destin Daniel Cretton’s return to Marvel filmmaking, and Mark Ruffalo’s long-awaited comeback as the Hulk. And I don’t mean Smart Hulk; I mean the proper Hulk.

We’ve been burned before — remember how badly Captain America 4 squandered Giancarlo Esposito!? — so I’m not taking any chances. Here are all the things that the Hulk’s MCU return needs to be truly satisfying.

A Substantial Amount Of Screen Time

For starters, I really hope that both Bruce Banner and the Hulk have a substantial amount of screen time in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. If Bruce is in one scene, delivering exposition to Peter in a classroom, and then the Hulk is in one other scene, showing up to save the day during a fight, then it’ll be a massive, crushing disappointment. That’s the absolute bare minimum, and that’s what Marvel has been doing with a lot of its coolest ideas lately, from Red Hulk to Old Man Blade.

In a lot of recent blockbusters, the studios have hyped up a fan-favorite character’s appearance as a big deal, then they’ve barely been in the movie at all. Matthew Lillard literally phoned in his role in Scream 7. Jeff Goldblum seemingly shot all his scenes for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom on the same day, on the same set, sitting in the same chair. If I had a One Wish Willow and I could only make a Hulk-related wish, I’d wish that he has a significant amount of screen time in Brand New Day (and then the wish would backfire, and I’d be forced to watch days and days of Hulk scenes).

Bonding Moments Between Bruce & Peter

While it’ll be fun to see Spidey and the Hulk finally share the screen, it’s also important to take the time to build a real relationship between the human beings behind the superhero alter egos. Bruce Banner and Peter Parker have a lot in common — they’re both shy, awkward nerds with a genius intellect and a passion for scientific innovation — so they’re tailor-made to be both B.F.F.s and mentor and mentee. They both had a close working relationship with Tony Stark, and might be able to fill the Tony-shaped void in each other’s lives.

There’s a lot going on in Brand New Day’s plot, and it’ll be really tricky for the movie to keep track of it all, but it needs to find the time to slow down so that Bruce and Peter can bond with each other. We’ve seen plenty of great bonding moments with Peter’s previous mentors — Tony, Nick Fury (or so it seemed at the time), Doctor Strange, Happy Hogan — and Brand New Day needs to continue that tradition.

A Proper Spider-Man Vs. Hulk Fight

From Thor to Wolverine to Iron Man, it’s always fun to see our favorite Marvel heroes go up against the Hulk. The Hulk is a litmus test for strength in the Marvel universe — anyone who can survive a few rounds with the big green meanie is certifiably one of Marvel’s strongest supes — so it would be a huge missed opportunity if the Hulk’s appearance in the next Spider-Man movie doesn’t lead to a Spider-Man vs. the Hulk fight scene.

The latest trailer for Spider-Man: Brand New Day teased a fight between Spidey and Savage Hulk. Seemingly, the Hulk will lose control — either due to the mysterious telepathic villain or just due to the unpredictable nature of being the Hulk — and Spider-Man will have to fight him. The Hulkbuster scene from Age of Ultron is one of the MCU’s all-time best action sequences, and this could achieve something similar.

A Proper Spider-Man & Hulk Team-Up

After Spidey and the Hulk have it out in a vicious fight scene, the movie needs to do a 180 and have them team up, too. In Spider-Man: No Way Home, we got to see Spidey fight Doctor Strange over the fate of his interdimensional villains, but we never really got to see a proper Spidey/Strange team-up. The only thing they joined forces on was erasing Spider-Man from the collective consciousness of the entire world.

In Brand New Day, after seeing Spider-Man and the Hulk come to blows, I want to see them team up against a common enemy (or, ideally, a battlefield full of common enemies). I doubt the Hulk is the one missing from that shot of Spidey jumping towards the Hand, because it’s unlikely that the Hand’s assassins would look so confident if they had the literal Hulk flying at them. But I’d really love to see at least one scene where Spidey and Hulkie take on a bunch of bad guys side-by-side. I want it. I need it.

Anger

The cornerstone of Bruce Banner’s character is rage. The Hulk is a visual manifestation of Bruce’s anger; when he loses his temper, the big green monster takes over and leaves a path of destruction in its wake. It’s the dramatic hook of this character — he’s a Jekyll/Hyde figure — but the recent MCU movies have forgotten that. The MCU hasn’t directly addressed Bruce’s uncontrollable anger since Age of Ultron. It came up in Thor: Ragnarok, but mostly as a joke, and then he had an existential crisis.

Ever since he fused his two selves into Smart Hulk, Bruce has just been really genial and mellow. It was great for his personal growth, but terrible for his dramatic potential. In Spider-Man: Brand New Day, we need to see the anger that Bruce can barely keep at bay; the simmering rage that threatens to take over his psyche at any moment. We need to feel the fear we felt when the Hulk came after Black Widow on the Helicarrier.