The Punisher plays a major role in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and Frank Castle’s part in the MCU movie also drops a strong hint about Jon Bernthal’s Marvel future. The summer blockbuster follows Tom Holland’s Peter Parker a few years after Spider-Man: No Way Home, protecting New York completely alone after Doctor Strange’s spell erased him from the world’s memory. Bernthal, who debuted as Castle in Netflix’s Daredevil, shares the screen with Holland for the first time in the new film.
Director Destin Daniel Cretton confirmed that Frank was written into Brand New Day as a warning for Peter, living proof of where a life with nobody in it eventually leads. The vigilante also fills the hole left by Zendaya’s MJ and Jacob Batalon’s Ned, giving the hero a friend in the superhero world at his loneliest point. With the film now in theaters, it has major implications for where Bernthal's Frank Castle goes next in the MCU.
Why The Punisher Is In 'Spider-Man: Brand New Day' - Reasons Explained
Frank crashes into the story during a car chase, tearing through New York in his heavily armed Battle Van while Spider-Man tries to talk him out of shooting his way across the city. The two already share history. Brand New Day repeatedly references an earlier incident on Staten Island where Peter saved Frank’s life, a debt that keeps dragging the vigilante back into the hero’s orbit.
That connection lets the film show another crimefighter working the same streets as Spider-Man, one who handles the job in a far more brutal fashion. Peter believes criminals deserve second chances. Frank, on the other hand, enjoys putting them in the ground. Their opposing methods spark several clashes throughout the movie, including a rash moment where a shot Frank aims at Sadie Sink’s Jean Grey hits Peter instead and sends the web-slinger to the hospital.
Bernthal describes his dynamic with Holland as a big brother and little brother relationship, and that bond becomes evident as the story progresses. Frank gradually evolves into Peter’s unlikely confidant, keeping watch at his bedside after the shooting and even posing in the Spider-Man suit at the hospital so nobody realizes Peter Parker is missing.
Cretton spelled out the thinking behind Castle’s screen time to Movieweb, saying the vigilante "doesn’t necessarily want anybody to have the life that he has:"
"The way that Jon [Bernthal] plays him in our movie is, in a way, a warning to Peter, because he doesn’t necessarily want anybody to have the life that he has, and he does, at a point in the movie, tell Peter, ‘You don’t want my life,’ you know, you don’t want this existence. And he feels like he’s gone too far, and that there’s no turning back. But he doesn’t want the same thing for Peter."
Bernthal echoed that idea, sharing that there is "no light in Frank’s life" and that the character stopped trying to escape the darkness long ago. The film drives this home when Peter visits Frank’s houseboat and finds photos of the family he lost. Late in the story, an emotional Frank tells Peter he would never walk away from his loved ones if they were still alive, a moment that pushes the hero back toward the people who forgot him. Despite Frank being an R-rated character, he fits into this PG-13 world so well because of the role he plays in Peter's life.
Jon Bernthal’s Punisher Story Is Far From Over
Brand New Day capped the busiest period of Bernthal’s decade as Frank Castle. After returning in Daredevil: Born Again Season 1, the actor co-wrote and headlined The Punisher: One Last Kill, the Disney+ special that premiered on May 12, before making his big-screen Marvel debut this summer. The movie then opened to $360 million domestically, the biggest opening weekend in box office history, beating the $357.1 million record Avengers: Endgame held since 2019.
Numbers like that make more Punisher close to a certainty, and Bernthal wants in, under one condition. The actor recently admitted to Esquire that he is "really down to keep doing more" in the MCU while stressing, "I think I have to be the one that’s making it," pointing back to the creative control he had while writing One Last Kill with director Reinaldo Marcus Green.
Bernthal also revealed the direction he hopes Frank takes after Brand New Day, explaining to Rotten Tomatoes that he wants the character to "honor the dead" through something bigger than revenge:
"I want to see how Frank can serve. I want to see how Frank can honor the dead, how Frank can honor the people that he lost by serving, not just by avenging. I think that we get there with Frank in some lines of the comic, and I want to get there. I want to get there on screen with him."
Several doors are already open for that story. Daredevil: Born Again Season 3 is in production with the Defenders returning, though Marvel is yet to announce the Punisher as part of the cast. There have been whispers of a follow-up to One Last Kill making rounds online, but Marvel Studios has not confirmed or commented on this. A follow-up project could be another series telling a different story from the Netflix era or Punisher finally getting his own movie. Bernthal could also appear as a supporting character in another major movie, as he did with Brand New Day.
Geraldo Amartey is a writer at The Direct. He joined the team in 2025, bringing with him four years of experience covering entertainment news, pop culture, and fan-favorite franchises for sites like YEN, Briefly and Tuko.
