Is This AVENGERS Star Joining Tom Holland’s Next SPIDER-MAN Movie?

Published: September 9, 2025

By Gavin Boyle

Hulk actor Mark Ruffalo hopes he actually gets to join SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY’s production so he can work with Jon Berenthal, who plays The Punisher.

“If I’m doing that — which the rumors are that I am, once I get a script, I’ll know it’s real — but I love [Berenthal] and we have a common friend in Lena Dunham, believe it or not, who just adores him,” Ruffalo said.

“I can’t wait to work with him, he’s so funny and he’s such a great actor,” he continued “He plays that character like nobody else. I’m really excited to meet him, I’ve never met him!”

While Ruffalo and Tom Holland have worked together on previous AVENGERS movies, SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY will be the first time the Hulk has appeared in a Spider-Man movie. Meanwhile, the fourth Holland-led Spider-Man movie will serve as Benethal’s The Punisher’s big-screen debut.

Other actors set to star in the movie include Zendaya and Jacob Batalon, reprising their roles as MJ and Ned, respectively, as well as Sadie Sink, a newcomer to the series.

While MJ and Ned served as Peter Parker’s best friends and support during the first three movies, their role in the fourth is unknown, given their memories of Peter Parker/Spider-Man, along with the rest of the world’s, were wiped at the end of SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME. Some fans speculate the series may take a turn and spin Ned into a bad guy now that he is not associated with the hero.

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“I’m open to anything, and I think we all are open to anything,” Batalon said in 2024. “Unless you’re like a superhero, like big time, one of the main ones they’re trying to make movies about, you don’t really know what’s going to happen…I would hopefully [return]. I’m down for anything. I would love to be a part of something special again.”

“Honestly, I’m not sure. Again, we may have talked about things, for sure, but I don’t know if it would’ve really led to anything serious about being a villain, or anything like that,” he added about being a villain in the movie.

Filming for SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY began last month, and the movie is set to release on July 31, 2026. Until then, fans will be left to speculate about the movie’s plot and how the franchise will follow up the smash hit of the third movie.

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