Putting Jon Bernthal’s Punisher into the Tom Holland-led Spider-Man: Brand New Day always sounded both exciting and mildly terrifying. Frank Castle is not exactly the kind of guy who usually plays well inside the brightly lit moral framework of a friendly upcoming superhero movie. Frank's more “broken bones in an alley” than “quippy web swing past the deli.” That is why Holland’s latest comments on Spider-Man: Brand New Day have me feeling better about the whole thing.
While speaking with Empire Magazine for its July 2026 cover story, Holland addressed concerns about bringing an R-rated character into Peter Parker’s world, and it sounds like the movie is not sanding Frank down into a Disney-safe action figure. According to Holland:
I know that there are concerns about taking a sort of R-rated character and putting him into one of these movies, but the way that we’ve designed the world around him feels very authentic to the Frank Castle we know.
That is exactly what I wanted to hear. The fear was never really that Punisher would appear in a Spider-Man movie. On paper, that dynamic has a ton of potential. I mean, it's worked for decades in the comic books. The fear was that the MCU’s next big-screen entry might bring him in, file off the uglier edges and turn him into a grumpy guest star who just scowls while Peter learns another lesson about responsibility.
Holland also teased that there are “fun ways” to get around the fact that Frank swears and kills people, which is a very funny sentence to say about one of Marvel’s most violent characters. But, hey, at least it's clear the filmmakers are aware of the tonal problem instead of pretending it doesn’t exist.
The best part is that Bernthal’s own comments make Frank sound as emotionally wrecked and stubborn as ever. He is not describing a softer Punisher who suddenly wants to join Peter Parker’s neighborhood watch. He is describing a man who has made a home out of the hole he is in. He added:
He’s not looking for a buddy, he’s not looking for a friend, he’s not looking for a hand to pull him out of the hole that he’s in. He’s fine living in there. In fact, all he wants to do is dig deeper. I think, begrudgingly, Frank would tell you, if he had to be honest, he does care about Peter.
That is the sweet spot. Frank should not become Peter’s pal. He should make Peter uncomfortable. He should force Spider-Man to confront the ugly endpoint of grief, rage and vigilante justice. Peter saves people because he believes responsibility means restraint. Frank punishes people because restraint is the thing he buried with the rest of his life. That contrast could really work, especially after Spider-Man: No Way Home's ending set up Peter as isolated and having to start over.
Bernthal recently returned as Frank Castle in Daredevil: Born Again and The Punisher: One Last Kill, streaming with a Disney+ subscription, which kept the character rooted in the darker, street-level corner of Marvel. One Last Kill does not directly set up Brand New Day, but it does leave Frank in full Punisher mode ahead of his appearance in the next new Spider-Man film, which is definitely exciting.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day swings into theaters July 31, 2026. Check your local listings for showtimes closer to release.
