There have been rumblings online about this for a while, but The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed that Mark Ruffalo and Michael Mando will star in Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
Ruffalo, an MCU veteran who has appeared in everything from The Avengers to Thor: Ragnarok and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law will reprise his role as Bruce Banner, a.k.a. the Incredible Hulk. Mando, meanwhile, makes his return to the franchise as Mac Gargan, after first playing the character in 2017's Spider-Man: Homecoming.
He's expected to suit up as the Scorpion, and according to chatter from those who have visited the set, he's likely at the centre of the action sequence that's about to be shot in Glasgow, Scotland. From what we've ascertained, Gargan is being transported in the DODC convoy before being targeted by The Punisher. It's then that Spidey steps (swings?) in.
Mando will be known best to many of you for his impressive work in Breaking Bad prequel Better Call Saul. In Spider-Man: Homecoming, after being badly injured by Spidey, Gargan attempted to get The Vulture to reveal the Spidey's secret identity. He's presumably been in prison ever since; there's also no word on whether J. Jonah Jameson will play a role in the villain's transformation into Scorpion.
The trade has also shared what could be the first Spider-Man: Brand New Day plot details. In its piece, the site writes, "You can bet that, in the mighty Marvel manner, Spider-Man, Punisher and Hulk will all fight one another before figuring out who the real bad guys are."
Spider-Man: Brand New Day being a street-level adventure rather than another Multiversal blockbuster was recently confirmed by Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige.
"I think there’s a promise at the end of No Way Home, that for as sad as it is that Peter is forgotten by everyone in his life, we are seeing for the first time in the Tom Holland Spider-Man stories him being a proper Spider-Man," the executive explained. "Him being by himself, dedicated to saving the city, and dealing with, for lack of better terms, street-level crime, as opposed to world-ending events."
"So when you do that, you say, okay, who are the other street-level characters that we’ve never seen him interact with? And of course, I love that The Punisher started in a Spider-Man comic."
"That great cover," Feige added, "I don’t want to say too much, but Destin, I will say too much, Destin is doing an amazing job right now on that movie, which starts shooting very soon. And he’s got eight or nine comic covers up on his wall in his art department that he is bringing to life in this movie, which is super cool."
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings helmer Destin Daniel Cretton directs Spider-Man: Brand New Day from a script by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers. Tom Holland leads a cast that also includes Zendaya, Sadie Sink, and Liza Colón-Zayas.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day will be released in theaters on July 31, 2026.