It’s official — The Hulk will return in Spider-Man 4
Welcome back, Mark Ruffalo.

Mark Ruffalo is making a long awaited return to the Marvel Universe with his old friend Spidey. According to a new Hollywood Reporter article, the big green guy is coming back in Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
Ruffalo will be reprising his role as Bruce Banner aka The Hulk in the next Tom Holland flick. Outside of a few episodes of the animated Marvel "What if...?" episodes, this will be the first live action Hulk appearance since the 2022 "She-Hulk: Attorney at Law" show on Disney Plus. Ruffalo's last Marvel movie appearance was a brief cameo in "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" in 2021.
Production of the latest Spider-Man movie is supposed to begin at the end of this month in the United Kingdom.
Additionally, the article claims that Michael Mando, formerly of "Better Call Saul," will be returning as the Scorpion, which he first played in 2017's Spider-Man: Homecoming, the first Holland Spider-Man movie.
Perhaps its not surprising that Ruffalo will be in the new Spider-Man, as the previous trio had a habit of pairing Tom Holland with a seasoned Marvel actor; Robert Downey Jr. (Spider-Man: Homecoming), Samuel L. Jackson (Spider-Man: Far From Home) and Benedict Cumberbatch (Spider-Man: No Way Home).
In addition to Ruffalo, Jon Bernthal will reportedly reprise his role as The Punisher, the character's first appearance in the MCU outside of the Netflix superhero shows.
So far, all we know about the plot is that someone will pull strings inducing Hulk, Punisher, and Spider-man into fighting one another.
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The film is being directed by Destin Daniel Cretton (previously behind "Shang-Chi") and written by Chris McKeen and Erik Sommers. They combined on the scripts for the previous Spider-Man flicks as well as "Ant-Man and the Wasp."
Everything we know about 'Brand New Day' so far
The rumor mill for "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" has been surprisingly quiet but here's everything we've learned so far:
- Release date is July 31, 2026
- Likely set in 2027 in the MCU timeline
- Dubbed "a fresh start" by star Tom Holland
- Directed by "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" director, Destin Daniel Cretton
- Stranger Things" star Sadie Sink will appear in an unknown role
- Picks up 2-3 years after the events of "Spider-Man: No Way Home" (set in 2024), which ended with Doctor Strange wiping everyone's memory of Peter Parker and his secret identity as Spider-Man.
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Scott Younker is the West Coast Reporter at Tom’s Guide. He covers all the lastest tech news. He’s been involved in tech since 2011 at various outlets and is on an ongoing hunt to build the easiest to use home media system. When not writing about the latest devices, you are more than welcome to discuss board games or disc golf with him. He also handles all the Connections coverage on Tom's Guide and has been playing the addictive NYT game since it released.
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