It’s been more than a decade since we’ve seen Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner unleash The Incredible Hulk on-screen, and now that Ruffalo is officially filming Spider-Man: Brand New Day, fans are starting to notice something kind of wild… the last time Banner actually transformed into the Hulk in front of our eyes was all the way back in 2012’s The Avengers.
A fan post on Reddit recently brought the realization into focus, pointing out that we haven’t seen a full Hulk transformation in over 13 years.
“It’s actually kinda insane to think about the fact that this moment was 13 years ago,” one fan wrote. Another added, “Damn, that’s kinda crazy when you realize it. It’s like if they only had a single on-screen instance of Iron Man getting in or out of his suit.”
In The Avengers, Bruce Banner’s transformation was one of the film’s biggest and most iconic moments, brought to life. Since then, the Hulk has shown up plenty of times in Avengers: Age of Ultron, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, but we’ve never actually witnessed that transformation moment again.
Instead, Marvel has tended to cut around it, showing Bruce in one scene and the Hulk already in full green glory in the next.
Fans have theories about why that might be. Some think it’s just a matter of saving money on effects. “Honestly, Hulk transformations probably stand out as great scenes to cut if you wanna save a couple truckloads of money,” one commenter pointed out.
Others think it could be a creative choice tied to Bruce’s evolution into Smart Hulk. As the original Reddit poster noted, “With Bruce still being in the whole Smart Hulk form and occasionally using a Hulk inhibitory device to return back to his human form, do you think we will get a similar Hulk-out scene anytime soon?”
That question might finally get an answer soon. Ruffalo has just started filming for Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which stars Tom Holland as Peter Parker. Details about Ruffalo’s role are still under wraps, but fans are hoping the film might give us a long-overdue glimpse of Bruce Banner transformation into Hulk again.
What’s interesting is that Ruffalo isn’t currently listed as part of the cast for Avengers: Doomsday, the next big crossover event, but there are a ton of cast members in the movie already, and more additions to come, so he might show up.
If Spider-Man: Brand New Day really does mark Ruffalo’s big return, here’s hoping Marvel finally lets him Hulk out again. It’s been 13 years, after all, and fans are more than ready.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day swings into theaters on July 31, 2026.
