Spider-Man: Brand New Day Brings Back Jon Bernthal's Punisher
Spidey's swinging back to street level, and he's not coming alone.
Jon Bernthal is officially suiting up as Frank Castle in Spider-Man: Brand New Day — his first big-screen appearance as the Punisher, and the first time the character's been in theaters since 2008's Punisher: War Zone. So yeah, it's been a minute.
Bernthal first introduced his version of Castle in Daredevil season 2 on Netflix, then carried that energy into two seasons of The Punisher. The Netflix-era shows went dark when Marvel pulled the plug on the Defenders lineup — but now, with Daredevil: Born Again officially in the MCU, Castle's back in business.
Not only is Bernthal showing up in Spider-Man, he's also writing his own Punisher special for Marvel Television. According to Marvel TV head Brad Winderbaum, it's "a shotgun blast of a story," which sounds about right for Frank Castle.
Rumors of Bernthal joining Brand New Day first popped up on The Hot Mic podcast back in January, but now it's confirmed: Castle is crossing paths with Peter Parker.
So what's he doing in a Spider-Man movie? Well, don't expect space travel or timeline-hopping this time. Brand New Day is shaping up to be a street-level reset for Peter — which makes sense, considering the whole world forgot who he is after No Way Home. He's back to square one, no Stark tech, no backup, just him and his busted-up camera.
Which is where Punisher fits in. You don't bring Frank Castle into a cosmic crossover — you bring him in when someone needs to get punched through a windshield in a Brooklyn alley.
Bernthal joins a cast that includes returning leads Tom Holland, Zendaya, and Jacob Batalon, plus newcomers Sadie Sink (Stranger Things) and Liza Colón-Zayas (The Bear). The film's being directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, who's co-writing with longtime Spider-Man writer Chris McKenna.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is set to hit theaters on July 31, 2026 — so you've got two years to mentally prepare for the day Frank Castle and Peter Parker share a screen and (probably) don't get along at all.