Thunderbolts*, aka The New Avengers, finally gave the MCU what had been missing from the Multiverse Saga all along. The MCU finally has an official Avengers team in place ahead of the final films of the saga, Doomsday and Secret Wars.
Will the scrappy Thunderbolts be able to fight against Doctor Doom (Robert Downey Jr.) and defend the universe like the original Avengers team did? Not alone. Not everybody sees them as the real Avengers, including the new Captain America.
Sure, they have a Bob (Lewis Pullman), aka The Sentry, which is easily one of the most overpowered Marvel heroes so far. But the original Avengers had a Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), and that wasn’t enough to beat Thanos (Josh Brolin) the first time around. Also, like Hulk, Sentry has a big problem. Well, it’s bigger than Hulk, as The Void is a threat to everyone around him.
My point is that the New Avengers will need help from all the other Avengers teams, including the team Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) is putting together and the forgotten Avengers, like Spider-Man (Tom Holland).
That’s right. The world has forgotten who Spider-Man is, but they all remember what Spidey does on Earth. It’s very likely they remember Spidey was on the Avengers team when they faced Thanos together; they just don’t know who Spider-Man is.
Spider-Man: Brave New World will be all the more exciting for that reason alone. Spider-Man has to become an Avenger by the time Doctor Doom attacks. Considering the recent release date changes that Marvel announced and what happened in The New Avengers, I’m thinking Spider-Man 4 will have to tease a Doomsday connection, maybe even an official ask for Spider-Man to join the Avengers again.
I’ll now mention an amazing Avengers cameo rumor for Brave New World that fits extremely well with the current course of events. It’s because of all these events that I actually want this rumor to come true.
Beware, some spoilers will follow beyond this point.
The Void’s attack
Before watching Thunderbolts*, I thought Spider-Man would be the film’s obvious plot hole. The Void attacks New York in such a way that you’d expect Peter Parker to intervene on his own, without knowing that would-be Avengers are also on the street.
Now that I have seen the movie, I know that’s no longer the case. Whatever Spider-Man was doing, he probably wouldn’t have time to intervene. If anything, he experienced the darkness the Void brought to the entire city, just like everyone else, reliving some sort of trauma.
That should act as a big catalyst for Spider-Man to want to get in contact with the Avengers again. Suddenly, the world’s entire existence came under a massive threat, proving the world needs Avengers.
Also, the New Avengers credits scene tells us the new team is aware of threats coming from a different reality. They will need all the help they can get, and Spidey must be on their roster.
Avengers delays
Until a few days ago, Spider-Man 4 was supposed to premiere a couple of months after Doomsday and nearly a year before Secret Wars.
Rumors say Spider-Man will appear in Avengers 5, so I always wondered where Brand New Day sits on the Marvel timeline, considering the release order above. That’s an important detail, as Spider-Man has to become an Avenger again.
But Marvel announced another round of delays for the big Avengers movies. Doomsday and Secret Wars will premiere in December 2026 and December 2027, respectively. That’s more than six months later than initially expected.
This can change the MCU timeline. Spider-Man 4 hits theaters in July 2026. Therefore, the film could give us the missing link. Spider-Man could become an Avengers team member after the Brand New Day events or during them.
Brand New Day cameo
To date, all MCU Spider-Man movies have had big Avengers cameos. It started with Iron Man in Homecoming, which set up the key relationship between Tony Stark and Peter.
We then got Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) in Far From Home. They were Skrulls in disguise, but we only learned that at the end of the movie. We thought they were the real deal all along.
Finally, Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) was the big Avengers team member showing up in No Way Home. Well, Wong (Benedict Wong) popped up, too, for a little while. That movie has bigger multiverse cameos than Strange and Wong, but what matters here is that we got Avengers characters.
If what NexusPointNews says is correct, Spider-Man 4 might feature a big cameo from Mark Ruffalo, who will reprise his Hulk role for another MCU adventure.
The report says Banner’s role will be much larger than a simple cameo. Hulk will have a substantial role in the film, although it’s unclear what that means.
Why Hulk is so important
We last saw Hulk in She-Hulk. After mentoring Jennifer Walters (Tatiana Maslany), he went to find his son.
Before that, Hulk had a key appearance in the credits scene of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. At the time, Marvel made it seem like Hulk was watching over the safety of the planet with other key Avengers. That’s Wong and Carol Danvers (Brie Larson). We thought at the time that we were witnessing the New Avengers team in action.
It’s unclear what happens in Spider-Man 4, especially considering the wild rumors we witnessed in the past few years. Those leaks suggested a conflict between Marvel and Sony concerning the plot, and mentioned all sorts of crazy cameos. But Hulk’s presence sounds more exciting than all of that.
At the very least, Hulk interacting with Spider-Man, and maybe even fighting Peter, will be exciting. Hulk might get to meet Spider-Man again. He might play the role of the new mentor Spidey needs. Or he’ll provide the help Spidey might require, given that he’s been all alone since No Way Home. Remember that both characters are also scientists, which might be a great reason to have them meet in the first place.
Also, if Banner gets a larger role, I’d expect him to facilitate some sort of meeting between the New Avengers, Cap’s Avengers, and Spider-Man ahead of that massive Doctor Doom threat.
