Marvel’s Cinematic Universe is going all-in on the Punisher.
The ruthless vigilante has been a Marvel staple for decades, but it wasn’t until Jon Bernthal brought the character to life in Netflix’s Daredevil that the Punisher had a worthy screen presence. Though Netflix’s brand of Marvel shows were canceled a few years back, Bernthal has since made the jump into the MCU proper. Following his long-awaited return in Daredevil: Born Again, the Punisher is set to make his mark in his own feature-length Disney+ special, one that will explore a “psychologically complex, unforgiving, no-holds-barred” version of Frank Castle. And there’s still more to come after that, with Bernthal’s Punisher making his big-screen debut in Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
Bernthal is the latest actor to board the next Spider-Man adventure. Not much is known about the project yet, although director Destin Daniel Cretton previously described Brand New Day as “a ride that we haven’t really seen before.” Star Tom Holland, meanwhile, calls the film “a fresh start” for his superhero. When we last saw Peter Parker, he’d used a spell to erase himself from the memories of everyone in the multiverse. Brand New Day will likely follow his efforts to establish a new life with the help of new allies... and some old ones too.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Jacob Batalon and Zendaya are set to reprise their roles as Ned Leeds and MJ Watson, respectively, in Brand New Day. Though they don’t remember who Peter is, there’s a chance our hero is aiming to start fresh with his former best friend and the love of his life. With the Punisher also in the mix, however, his private and public life could be primed for even more chaos. Like Daredevil (Charlie Cox), Spider-Man is all about saving the world as peacefully as possible. That inevitably grates against the Punisher’s scorched earth approach to crimefighting, setting these two up for a major clash in Brand New Day.
It’ll be interesting to see how the MCU’s Spider-Man will work alongside the most brutal version of the Punisher we’ve seen in live-action. With Daredevil: Born Again and the upcoming Punisher special, Frank Castle has only grown more ruthless. That said, these two vastly different heroes will probably have to team up against an even bigger evil (Kingpin, maybe?), which makes the mystery conflict in Brand New Day all the more intriguing.
