Leaked Spider-Man: Brand New Day Trailer Reportedly Shows Jean Grey Turning Bruce Banner Into The Hulk

A full trailer for Spider-Man: Brand New Day has reportedly leaked online and is already spreading everywhere, and it appears to show Jean Grey taking over the mind of Bruce Banner and unleashing the Hulk. I'm Colton, and I want to walk through what this leak shows and what it could mean for the movie.

This matters because the trailer seemingly confirms Jean Grey is the antagonist, or at least the central threat, for a large chunk of the film, before the true villain is revealed and she ends up working alongside Spider-Man. That would set up her future involvement in Avengers: Secret Wars as well as the upcoming X-Men films.

I should mention this isn't the first time footage from this movie has leaked. A trailer leaked several months ago, and then when the first official Brand New Day trailer actually dropped, it turned out to be a very different cut. But I do think this newly leaked trailer is the version we're actually going to see released publicly very soon, likely around when tickets go on sale.

Spider-Man Fights Hand Ninjas, and I Still Think a Daredevil Cameo Is Coming

In the trailer, Spider-Man is shown fighting the Hand ninjas and other villains while doing his usual hero work. I'm still convinced it's no coincidence that Matt Murdock is currently in prison at the same time we're seeing Hand ninjas fighting Spider-Man inside a cell block. From what I'm seeing, we are getting a Daredevil cameo out of this.

Peter Asks Bruce Banner for Help Repressing His Powers, Straight From the Comics

Spider-Man begins having issues controlling his powers, which plays a lot like what we saw in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 2, and this idea is pulled directly from the comics. Peter goes to Bruce Banner for help repressing his mutation, telling him he wants to keep "the good parts and getting rid of the bad." Banner responds by asking, "Well, how do you determine what parts of nature are good and what parts are bad?" which is a little ironic coming from someone who has clearly decided which parts of the Hulk are good and bad. This exchange looks like it's laying groundwork for the mutant saga and the broader mutant controversy expected after Secret Wars.

Bruce Banner's Inhibitor Joke Echoes Age of Ultron, But Something May Have Changed

Bruce references an inhibitor that keeps him in human form, joking that if Peter ever sees him without it on, he should run and hide, complete with a fake roar as if he's about to turn into the Hulk, similar to that scene in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Importantly, this inhibitor has previously only changed Bruce physically between human and Hulk form, not mentally. As established when the device was introduced, and reinforced in She-Hulk, Bruce keeps his own calm, collected personality whether he's in human form or in his Professor Hulk form. But I wonder if that's no longer the case here, and if Bruce is now struggling to contain the Hulk's consciousness, needing the inhibitor at all times to keep the beast at bay.

The DODC Will Likely Want This Same Technology to Suppress Mutants

What the inhibitor essentially does is strip away someone's mutation or power entirely. As I've discussed with Ryan over on ScreenCrush, I think the Department of Damage Control is going to want this exact kind of technology to build an MCU version of the mutant inhibitor collar we've already seen in Deadpool 2, and something similar to what Wanda experienced in Civil War. Wanda is a mutant in the comics, and I believe she'll eventually be revealed to have always been a mutant in the MCU too.

Jean Grey Is Being Hunted by the DODC While Jumping Between Minds

The trailer reveals a powerful telepath being hunted by the DODC who is jumping between people's minds and causing chaos. The character isn't explicitly named Jean Grey, but she is clearly meant to be Jean Grey, seemingly played by Sadie Sink. That said, it's possible the film pulls a bait and switch and reveals this isn't actually Jean, but someone else using her powers. The DODC recruits Spider-Man because he can reportedly sense this telepathic threat and is immune to it. One shot in the trailer appears to show Jean taking over every mind in the city, engulfing it in what looks like a cloud of smoke or dust. In another scene, she jumps from mind to mind taunting Peter, threatening to go after MJ if he doesn't stay out of her way.

Jean Reportedly Takes Over Bruce Banner and Unleashes the Hulk for the First Time Since Infinity War

The trailer then shows Jean taking control of Bruce Banner's mind and unleashing the Hulk, marking the character's first appearance since Infinity War. That separate Hulk personality has been suppressed in the back of Banner's mind, much like how Banner himself was suppressed while the Hulk was in control during his time on Sakaar, which he described as, "I always felt like Hulk and I each had a hand on the wheel, but this time it's like he had the keys to the car and I was locked in the trunk." It's unclear to me whether Jean or this mystery telepath is actually remote controlling the Hulk during the fight with Spider-Man, or if they simply unleash him and let him rampage on his own.

Why Spider-Man and Jean Grey May Be Pitted Against Each Other by the DODC

Since Jean Grey is known to eventually become a heroic X-Men character rather than a straightforward villain, it looks like she and Spider-Man are being pitted against one another by the DODC for much of the film. That would make sense if Peter has been convinced she's dangerous and needs to be hunted, and honestly, I could see him being gullible enough to fall for that. If the DODC does send him after her, I don't blame her for fighting back. I'm also wondering if the scene of her being detained is actually after she's captured, or if she's been held captive the entire time while the DODC uses her powers to cause damage and make mutants look dangerous, essentially using Spider-Man from the start. That would let the department justify its own existence in a world that is now post Kingpin, post anti-vigilante task force, post President Ross, and post New Avengers with Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, a world where superheroes are liked again. I could see the DODC orchestrating these attacks specifically to make superpowered people look like a threat so people believe they need the department to keep them safe.

Keith David May Be Playing Miles Warren, the Jackal, Controlling Jean's Powers

On the theory of who else might be behind this, it has been theorized that Keith David, who narrated the first Brand New Day trailer with the line, "And for those spiders who make it through, it amounts to a kind of rebirth," could be playing Miles Warren, also known as the Jackal, who in the comics is notorious for using science to transfer his consciousness between different minds and bodies. We could learn he's a professor at the same school as Bruce Banner and that he's secretly working with the DODC, using Jean's telepathy to move his own mind between bodies. In this scenario, Jean could be strapped to a chair with a helmet on her head while Warren exploits her powers, and Spider-Man, Punisher, and possibly the Hulk would need to break her free once the DODC's true villainy is exposed in the third act.

Those are just my thoughts on the leaked trailer, and I'd love to hear other theories once people have seen it. I'll be talking about it more once the official trailer drops, alongside a fuller breakdown Ryan will put together over on ScreenCrush.

Do you think this leaked footage shows the real Jean Grey, or could the Jackal be secretly pulling the strings behind her powers?