SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY Originally Had Spidey Knock Out Hulk, but Test Audiences Didn't Like It

Spider-Man apparently came really close to straight-up knocking out the Hulk in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and I kind of wish we could have seen it.

One of the movie's Hulk stunt performers has revealed that the climactic fight between Spider-Man and the mind-controlled Hulk originally ended very differently.

Rather than Hulk bringing the attack to an end himself, an earlier version had Spidey use a Shocker gauntlet to deliver a massive punch that actually knocked Hulk unconscious.

The moment made it far enough to be shown to test audiences, but they weren't buying it. James Unsworth, who worked as a stunt double for Hulk, discussed the alternate ending during a now-deleted interview with Scene Wire. A copy of the interview later surfaced on Reddit:

"There were a few other versions that we worked on," Unsworth said. "In some, Spider-Man basically used a Shocker gauntlet to Superman-punch him and knock him out.

“From what I understand, the test audiences didn't take to it. They thought Hulk got knocked out too easily. We then went back into the studio and refilmed the ending where he gets thrown into the building and basically stops the attack."

That's a pretty wild alternate version of the Spider-Man vs. Hulk fight. Seeing Spider-Man power up with a Shocker gauntlet and land a punch strong enough to put Hulk down could have been an awesome theater moment.

At the same time, it's easy to understand why some viewers objected. Hulk has spent years being established as one of the MCU's biggest physical powerhouses. Having Spider-Man knock him unconscious with one souped-up punch could make Hulk look weaker than he should, depending on how the scene played out.

The version that ultimately made it into Spider-Man: Brand New Day gives Hulk more control over his exit from the fight. Instead of Peter definitively defeating him, Hulk sacrifices himself to break Jean Grey's psychic takeover and stop the attack.

It allows Spider-Man to survive the encounter without making Hulk look like someone Peter can simply KO when he finds the right piece of tech. It also gets Hulk off the board in a way that works better heading into Avengers: Doomsday.

As for Spider-Man fighting Hulk in the comics, in The Amazing Spider-Man #328, when Spidey is imbued with the Uni-Force, Peter punches Hulk and sends him flying into space. Also, this one time in the comics, Spider-Man made the Hulk laugh so hard at a joke he told that he reverted back to Bruce Banner. That one way to beat Hulk!

Still, test audiences aren't always right, and this is one of those deleted Marvel scenes I'd love to watch for myself before deciding which version works better.

Spider-Man using Shocker technology to Superman-punch Hulk sounds ridiculously cool. Maybe it didn't work within the context of the full scene, but that's exactly why alternate cuts and deleted footage are so much fun. Sometimes an idea that sounds questionable in a description plays incredibly well when you actually see it.

It's also another interesting example of how much Brand New Day changed before becoming a multi-billion-dollar theatrical hit.

Holland has talked about the movie going through several different cuts during the testing process, and apparently there was at least one version shaped heavily by audience feedback that he absolutely couldn't stand. Holland previously explained:

“We’ve seen loads of different cuts of this movie, and one of the cuts, they took all of the notes from all of the random people who saw the film. Then they changed the movie, and we watched it, and we hated it. It totally didn’t work.”

That's the tricky thing about test screenings. Audience feedback can catch genuine problems, and in this case it may have saved Hulk from a defeat that made him look too easy to take down. But trying to satisfy every note can also take away the personality of a movie.

With Spider-Man: Brand New Day, the filmmakers clearly kept tinkering until they found the version they wanted audiences to see. Considering how massive the movie became, things obviously worked out pretty damn well.

But come on, Marvel. Put that alternate Spider-Man vs. Hulk ending on the home release. I need to see Spidey punch Hulk out and decide for myself whether the test audiences made the right call.