Spider-Man 4, officially titled Spider-Man: Brand New Day, starts production later this summer, which means the cast is rounding out, and easily the biggest—and most surprising—piece of casting news is that Jon Bernthal is joining the film as the vigilante Frank Castle, aka the Punisher.
There was a report from scooper Jon Rocha earlier this year that Bernthal would join the film, in which Spider-Man and the Punisher would team up to fight the Hulk. The Hulk part doesn’t make a ton of sense given where we’ve left Bruce Banner in the MCU, he’s got the Hulk under control and is generally living a peaceable life post-Endgame. There is also no confirmation at this time that Mark Ruffalo is joining the film. So who knows about that part, but Rocha was right about Bernthal.
This will be Bernthal’s first appearance in an MCU film, following Frank Castle’s debut in the MCU in Daredevil: Born Again. But this is what Marvel can do now that they couldn’t—or wouldn’t—do ten years ago, when Marvel TV was still responsible for characters like Daredevil and the Punisher. Now, they can have these characters move fluidly between movies and TV shows. Whether or not that’s a GOOD idea at this point—anything that makes the MCU feel like homework should probably be avoided—is debatable, but comic book nerds are certainly excited to see Peter Parker mixing it up with guys like Frank Castle.
Spider-Man is one of Marvel’s marquee characters, but he is special among Avengers in that he functions on both the grandiose Avengers level, and the grittier street level of characters like Frank Castle. In the comics, Avengers and other, “smaller” superheroes cross paths frequently, but it hasn’t happened much in the MCU—Daredevil appearing in Spider-Man: No Way Home, and Wong turning up in She-Hulk are the most notable examples of movie/TV crossover to date (excepting title characters who get their own TV show, like Wanda Maximoff and Clint Barton).
But putting Frank Castle in a Spider-Man story is the kind of crossover comic book readers are used to, and it is a dynamic largely missing from the movies until now. It’s also intriguing because the Punisher is VERY different from Spider-Man in terms of tone, so there is now a question of how Bernthal’s Punisher, easily the most violent character in the MCU, will mesh with the more family-friendly Spider-Man franchise. Like they’re definitely not going to be able to deliver on the standard of blood-soaked action that defines Bernthal’s run as the Punisher.
But that doesn’t mean Bernthal will have to water down the intensity of his performance as Frank Castle, and honestly, the appeal to me is less about action and more about seeing Tom Holland and Jon Bernthal go toe to toe as actors. I think a wearied Peter Parker meeting trauma-riddled Frank Castle is a really exciting proposition, for both characters and their actors. This should be very fertile creative ground. Also, I bet Holland and Bernthal get along like a house on fire. They both love dogs. If Marvel marketing knows what they’re about, they’ll find a way to incorporate their dogs into the marketing plan.
