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Jon Bernthal is Back as The Punisher in Tom Holland’s ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’

Lock up your criminals and hide your bad guys because Jon Bernthal’s Punisher is officially locked and loaded for the MCU. Bernthal, who is still fresh off the success of Accountant…

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – APRIL 21: Jon Bernthal attends the New York screening of “The Accountant 2” at iPic Fulton Market on April 21, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)

Lock up your criminals and hide your bad guys because Jon Bernthal’s Punisher is officially locked and loaded for the MCU. Bernthal, who is still fresh off the success of Accountant 2, a sequel to the 2016 movie with Ben Affleck, is also set to appear alongside everyone’s favorite webbed superhero in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. It’s the crossover you didn’t know you needed, unless you’ve ever daydreamed about Frank Castle giving Spider-Man a very intense pep talk involving grenades. 

Jon Bernthal is Back as The Punisher 

Bernthal first played the character in Netflix’s 2016 series Daredevil. He instantly became a fan favorite, resulting in him having his own spin-off series, The Punisher. Bernthal appeared earlier this year in the series Daredevil: Born Again, and again in the second season, scheduled for release in March 2026. He will also reprise the role for a Disney+ special about the character, directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green. 

As reported by Variety, Bernthal will also join Tom Holland’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day

Plot details about the fourth Spider-Man film are still kept under wraps, but it is scheduled for a theatrical release on July 31, 2026. 

Is it the Right Move for the Character? 

Fans are excited about this casting announcement. However, Game Rant theorized it’s not the right move for the character since Punisher is an anti-hero, and Spider-Man is a family-friendly superhero. Spider-Man movies’ ratings often fall in PG-13, while The Punisher has R ratings. If they will include a dark, complex, and violent character to Spider-Man: Brand New Day, they will need to tone him down, which is not who the character is. Of course, the studio will not risk losing its PG-13 rating, since Spider-Man's target audience is young people. 

ComicBookMovie raises the same concern, especially when Bernthal’s “nonnegotiable” in reprising his role was “maintaining the character’s violent, R-rated feel.”