Besides Charlie Cox cameoing as Matt Murdock in Spider-Man: No Way Home, characters from the Marvel Netflix era have largely been kept out of the film corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but that’s about to change. Not only is Cox rumored to suit up as Daredevil in next year’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day, but we’ll also see Jon Bernthal reprising Frank Castle, a.k.a. The Punisher. With a little over half a year to go until Brand New Day’s release on the 2026 movies schedule, Bernthal shared what was “really important” to him when it came to including the gun-toting vigilante in the upcoming Marvel movie.
Although it’s been confirmed that Bernthal will not be back for Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 following his big return to the Marvel space in Season 1, next year will also see him leading his own Disney+ subscription-exclusive Punisher TV special. This special will be released on the 2026 TV schedule around the same time as Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s arrival. As the actor told ScreenRant, it was important to both him and Destin Daniel Cretton, the director of the upcoming Spider-Man movie, that there be the right kind of cohesion between the two projects:
Around that same time, there will also be this Punisher special that’s coming out, that I think will be as high-octane Punisher as you’ve ever seen. I think what was really important to me and to Destin and to Tom is that we believed that The Punisher could walk off of the Spider-Man set and could walk onto the special set, and I do believe that we achieved that.
So the events of this Punisher special will occur after what goes down in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and from Jon Bernthal’s perspective, it’ll be a seamless transition from one to the other. I’m glad he feels this way, especially considering the differing maturity levels of the movie and TV special. Brand New Day will be Bernthal’s first time playing The Punisher in a PG-13 story, whereas the special will bring him back to more comfortable R-rated territory.
It sounds like there won’t be a drastic tonal shift between Punisher’s depiction in Spider-Man: Brand New Day and the Punisher special, in contrast to when we saw the more lighthearted Daredevil in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law before the gritty Echo and Daredevil: Born Again. Granted, there’ll be less gore and cursing when Frank Castle crosses paths with Tom Holland’s Peter Parker in Brand New Day, but the character’s overall gruff demeanor will remain intact. It’s fitting that we’re finally getting to see these two characters interact in live action considering that Punisher made his first comic book appearance in 1974’s The Amazing Spider-Man #129.
Officially, we still don’t know how Punisher fits into Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which will also include Mark Ruffalo returning as Hulk, Michael Mando’s Mac Gargan becoming The Scorpion, and Sadie Sink playing a still-yet-to-be-identified character. Unofficially, it’s rumored that Spidey and Punisher will team up to battle Lonnie Lincoln, a.k.a. Tombstone, played by Marvin Jones III. We’ll know for sure when the movie swings into theaters on July 31, 2026.
