Tom Holland and Jon Bernthal have revealed fresh details about the relationship between Spider-Man and the Punisher in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, the MCU film due in cinemas from July 29.
The pairing matters because this is the Punisher’s first MCU theatrical appearance and because Bernthal already carries the role’s history — he originated Frank Castle in the Netflix Defenders shows and reprised the part in Daredevil: Born Again. Tom Holland made the tonal stakes plain: "I think one of my favourite aspects of this new film is the relationship between The Punisher and Spider-Man." Bernthal framed his version of Castle in a single line that signals how dark the movie lets him be: "Frank Castle is perfectly at peace in a world of absolute darkness."
The film is positioned four years after the reset that followed the events that erased Peter Parker’s identity, and Holland said much of what appears on screen was shaped in production. "What is in the film is very different to what was on the page, and I’m so grateful to Destin for giving us the freedom to play with it and create something really special," he said, pointing to director Destin Daniel Cretton’s hand in remaking the material for this pairing.
The obvious friction is the Punisher himself: an R-rated character who swears and kills people, and thus a difficult fit for a mainstream Spider-Man movie aimed at broad audiences. Holland acknowledged those concerns head-on: "I know that there are concerns about taking a sort of R-rated character and putting him into one of these movies, but the way that we’ve designed the world around him feels very authentic to the Frank Castle we know" — and added, "There are fun ways to get around the fact that he swears all the time and kills people." That combination — keeping Castle recognisably brutal while adapting his presentation — is the production’s central creative problem.
Bernthal’s description of his character shows how the filmmakers resolved the choice to soften nothing of Castle’s interior life even if some surface elements must be tempered for a broad release. "He’s not looking for a buddy, he’s not looking for a friend, he’s not looking for a hand to pull him out of the hole that he’s in," Bernthal said. "He’s fine living in there. In fact, all he wants to do is dig deeper." Still, Bernthal conceded a grudging emotional link: "I think, begrudgingly, Frank would tell you, if he had to be honest, he does care about Peter." The actor joins the film fresh off The Punisher: One Last Kill, bringing recent momentum to the character’s relocation into the MCU.
Holland suggested the encounter is not a one-off: "It’s no secret that I absolutely love Jon Bernthal, and sharing the screen with him and building this new onscreen relationship was so fun," he said, adding that he "would not be surprised if Spidey and the Punisher become a recurring duo." The practical takeaway for audiences is simple and immediate: see how those choices land when Spider-Man: Brand New Day opens in cinemas on July 29, and look for Empire’s full cover story in its July 2026 issue on sale Thursday June 4 for more on the production.
What to watch when the film opens is not only the action but how the filmmakers balance Castle’s uncompromising psychology with the MCU’s broader audience. The claims from Holland and Bernthal promise an authentic Frank Castle who is still adapted to a different tempo of storytelling — and the July release will show whether that balance preserves the Punisher’s darkness without diluting the movie’s ability to play to Spider-Man’s mainstream fanbase.
