‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ Villain Theories Are All Wrong, Insider Teases Unexpected Twist

A new report from insider Cryptic4KQual is pumping the brakes on one of the bigger assumptions surrounding ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

The Hulk will reportedly not be the film’s primary antagonist, even as promotional material continues to tease a major showdown between Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner and Tom Holland’s Peter Parker. The clarification matters because the wall-crawler’s fourth MCU solo outing has been generating intense speculation about just who is pulling the strings.

Hasbro’s toy line for the film, which was given an exclusive first look by Screen Rant, includes multiple items specifically described as “Savage Hulk” products, including the Marvel Savage Smash Hulk figure and the Savage Hulk Talk’n Electronic Mask, fueling the theory that Ruffalo’s green giant would be a central threat.

Official posters for the film also tease a direct confrontation between Spider-Man and a furious Hulk against a New York City backdrop, with another image showing Spidey seemingly trying to repair a Hulk Inhibitor Device.

Scooper MyTimeToShineHello on X also reported alleged dialogue from the film in which Peter Parker reacts to Hulk’s appearance by saying “I didn’t know you can get that big,” followed by the claim that a Grey Hulk variant would be larger than the Green Hulk, suggesting a dramatic physical transformation for the character. The reported dialogue has led to widespread speculation that the Smart Hulk audiences have grown used to over recent years is about to undergo a significant evolution.

Theories about what triggers that transformation range from Sadie Sink’s rumored role as Jean Grey using psychic abilities to force Banner’s change, to an unknown figure seen controlling people in the first trailer being the puppet master behind the Savage Hulk’s return. The film has kept its actual plot mechanics tightly under wraps, which has only amplified the guessing game.

As for who the real villain is, industry insider Cryptic HD QUALITY, the same source cited in the MCU Film News post, previously claimed that Tombstone’s role in the film is actually small, contradicting a wave of fan speculation that Marvin Jones III’s crime lord is the secret overarching bad guy of the piece. Brand New Day reportedly features over a dozen villains, with Tombstone rumored to be positioned as an “overarching” foe for Spider-Man’s next trilogy rather than a full-blown main antagonist in this installment.

Confirmed villains for the film include Scorpion, Boomerang, Tarantula, and Tombstone, with the sheer volume of antagonists making it difficult to pin down which one carries the most narrative weight. Some fan theories point to Tombstone as the behind-the-scenes power broker bankrolling the other villains, though Marvel has given no official confirmation of that reading.

‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ is directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and stars Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Sadie Sink, Jon Bernthal, and Mark Ruffalo, with the film set to open on July 31. With that date drawing closer, answers about who is really running the show in this one should not be far behind.

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