Spider-Man: Brand New Day is now officially in production, with star Tom Holland sharing the on-set photos to prove it. (He also showed off his new spider-suit.) For his fourth spider-outing, Holland’s Peter Parker will be in a world that no longer knows about his secret identity as Spider-Man—in fact, it no longer remembers he exists at all.
At least, that was the state of things at the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home, but that was four years ago. It’s not yet clear how much in-world time will have passed at the start of the new movie. Are the returning spider-friends, MJ (Zendaya) and Ned (Jacob Batalon), college graduates by now? How does Peter Parker pay his rent? I have very important questions.
But Marvel has much more important casting updates. In June, news broke that Peter would get a new problematic father figure: Jon Bernthal’s Punisher. (Bernthal, notably, required that the film maintain “the character’s violent, R-rated feel.”) Punisher will not be the only grown-ass adult on the scene, though. The Hollywood Reporter has word that Mark Ruffalo will also be back as the Hulk.
Ruffalo’s last Marvel appearance (in person, not counting What If…?) was his brief time on the under-appreciated She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. Wonder what he’s been up to since then?
THR notes that another blast from Parker’s past will return as well: Michael Mando as Scorpion/Mac Gargan, who first appeared in Spider-Man: Homecoming, is set to appear in Brand New Day. Scorpion really, really wanted to know Spider-Man’s secret identity. Perhaps he’ll finally get his wish.
Joining all these fine folks are The Bear’s Liza Colón-Zayas and Stranger Things’ Sadie Sink, both in mysterious roles. But when you put a redhead like Sink in a Marvel movie, people have theories, and yes, some of those theories—only theories, I must stress—do consider whether she might be Jean Grey. Others think she might be Gwen Stacy. No one actually knows anything.
Well, they know one thing: Holland’s set photos revealed yet another iteration of Spidey’s shiny new web shooters.
Destin Daniel Cretton (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) directs Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which has a screenplay from returning spider-writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers. The movie is expected in theaters July 31, 2026.
