A few weeks ago, we learned that Jon Bernthal would suit up as The Punisher in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. It’s the first chance to see Frank Castle in an MCU movie, after appearing in the first season of Daredevil: Born Again. So what’s that going to look like, anyway? Punisher isn’t exactly a cute and cuddly character, but Spidey is fairly light-hearted. Marvel Kevin Feige talked about that in conversation with THR…
“When Punisher is in the Spider-Man movie, it’ll be a different tonality,” Feige said, confirming Punisher’s role in the film.
Feige clarified to Collider that Peter Parker’s current situation, having been forgotten by the world at the conclusion of Spider-Man: No Way Home, opens the door for a more faithful interpretation of the character…
“I think there’s a promise at the end of ‘No Way Home,’ that for as sad as it is that Peter is forgotten by everyone in his life, we are seeing for the first time in the Tom Holland Spider-Man stories him being a proper Spider-Man. Him being by himself, dedicated to saving the city, and dealing with, for lack of better terms, street-level crime, as opposed to world-ending events…So when you do that, you say, okay, who are the other street-level characters that we’ve never seen him interact with? And of course, I love that The Punisher started in a Spider-Man comic. That great cover…I don’t want to say too much, but Destin, I will say too much, Destin is doing an amazing job right now on that movie, which starts shooting very soon. And he’s got eight or nine comic covers up on his wall in his art department that he is bringing to life in this movie, which is super cool.”
When Feige says this, it reminds me of the Spider-Man/Daredevil crossover comic books that I loved so much. The two were especially jokey when paired up. Spidey would be the same when teaming with Human Torch. What I expect from Brand New Day is that you might see a lot of dark humor from Punisher and Spidey engaging in some of that, too. This could be a lot of fun.
However, if you were hoping that Miles Morales might come swinging onto the scene, probably because some lousy fan-site said he would be, well, Feige says not to get your hopes up due to Sony Pictures utilizing the character…
“That is nowhere…Sony has their brilliant, genius, incredible Spider-Verse animated franchise going, and until that finishes, we’ve been told to stay away,” said Feige.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day opens on July 31st 2026.
