In 2015's Avengers: Age of Ultron, filmmaker Joss Whedon planned to have Mark Ruffalo's Bruce Banner transform into the Grey Hulk for his battle with Tony Stark in his Hulkbuster armour. The Hulk had fallen under the Scarlet Witch's influence, but plans to head down the grey-skinned route were ultimately scrapped.
Since then, we've seen Bruce become a Gladiator Hulk and even Smart Hulk, but his skin has remained green the entire time. For months, there were rumours that old Jade Jaws would finally go grey in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, with fans convinced that they saw that version of the Avenger in leaked trailers for the movie.
The Hulk is expected to fall under the control of Sadie Sink's mystery character, reverting to his classic "Savage" persona in the process. However, it's now been confirmed that, even then, he'll remain green.
In AIPT's preview of Spider-Man: Brand New Day's "Art of" book, it's confirmed that Marvel Studios explored designs of the Grey Hulk "before ultimately deciding that audiences needed the familiar green version."
Concept artists also worked to dial back Ruffalo's facial features when transformed, ensuring The Hulk would look less human-like, and a little more monstrous, just like in the comics.
The site also explains that, in one of the movie's biggest action scenes, there's a horror-like sequence where "Hulk becomes increasingly frustrated because Spider-Man simply moves too quickly...it turns what could have been a straightforward slugfest into something closer to a predator-versus-prey dynamic."
While the art book is largely spoiler-free (there's not a single mention of Sink's character, for example), it also confirms that The Punisher gets involved with Spidey's fight with The Hulk. That's not because either one of them is his target, but a result of "his own mission [colliding] with theirs."
Talking of Frank Castle, the change to his iconic skull logo is said to be down to Spider-Man: Brand New Day's creative team wanting to pay homage to John Buscema’s classic Punisher design. With that in mind, the skull now serves as a "bullet magnet" over his body armour.
In Spider-Man: Brand New Day, it's a Brand New Day for Peter Parker. Fighting crime full-time as Spider-Man in a world that doesn’t remember him—and the pressure of seeing his old friends move on without him—sparks a change in Peter he may not have the power to control.
But that transformation might also be the only thing that can stop a shocking new threat to the city and those he loves - a powerful villain no one can even see. The world may have forgotten Peter Parker, but he hasn’t forgotten them.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day swings into theaters on July 31.