Spider-Man is set to swing into a new adventure, and this time, he’ll be meeting Frank Castle, aka The Punisher. Jon Bernthal’s iconic character will make his MCU big-screen debut in “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and starring Tom Holland as Spider-Man.
What’s happening in “Spider-Man: Brand New Day”?
- The movie takes place between “Avengers: Doomsday” and “Avengers: Secret Wars,” with Peter Parker trying to focus on college and leave Spider-Man behind.
- However, a new threat emerges, forcing him to team up with an unexpected ally – none other than Frank Castle, aka The Punisher.
- The film’s plot is a fresh start for the character, following the events of “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” where Doctor Strange’s spell made everyone forget Peter Parker existed.
Having successfully broken free of a Wilson Fisk mandated cell during Daredevil: Born Again‘s dramatic mid-credits scene, Bernthal’s anti-hero is set to appear alongside Tom Holland’s wall crawler for the first time in Cretton’s upcoming fourth Sony/Marvel Spidey movie. He joins an increasingly eye-catching cast that also includes Stranger Things breakout Sadie Sink, The Bear‘s Liza Colón-Zayas, and — at least as Deadline understands it — returnees Zendaya and Jacob Batalon, who’ll reprise their roles as MJ and Ned Leeds respectively. Exactly how any of these actors and their characters will factor into Brand New Day — especially in a post-No Way Home timeline where MJ and Ned have forgotten all memory of Peter Parker — remains to be seen, though this film’s title, cribbed from an (in)famous comic book storyline which also deals with a large=scale memory wipe, suggests Cretton and co will be directly dealing with the aftermath of Pete’s last outing.
As Marvel Comics aficionados will doubtless know, Punisher and Spidey go way back in print, with Frank Castle having made his debut as a new antagonist for the webhead to handle in The Amazing Spider-Man #129 back in 1974. And as two New York natives trying, in their own very different way, to make their city a safer place, Frank and Pete have in fact teamed up and locked horns countless times over the years since. We’ll find out whether Punisher is friend or foe to our friendly neighbourhood when Spider-Man: Brand New Day thwips its way into cinemas on 31 July, 2026.
