Actor Jon Bernthal, known for portraying the role of vigilante Frank Castle a.k.a. The Punisher, is joining the cast of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day, making this a top search on Google Trends. The film will mark Bernthal’s Marvel big screen debut. He previously appeared as The Punisher on Marvel’s Netflix series Daredevil, followed by starring in his own series which lasted for two seasons. Recently, he also acted in the Disney Plus show Daredevil: Born again.
Bernthal’s addition to the movie is being viewed as a sign that it will be darker and grittier since The Punisher is a tough, violent character. The fourth Spider-Man standalone movie, which is scheduled to release on 31 July 2026, will be a sequel to Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021). Destin Daniel Cretton, who has previously worked on Marvel’s ‘Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’, will be taking over as the director, while Holland will reprise his role as Spider-Man.
Besides Holland and Bernthal, Zendaya is set to return as MJ and actor Jacob Batalon will play Ned, Peter Parker’s best friend. Additionally, Stranger Things and The Whale actress Sadie Sink will also be a part of the film. Shooting will reportedly start in England in the summer of 2025. The movie will follow the events of ‘Spider-Man: No Way home’ and will reportedly be set in a world where everyone’s memory of the titular character has been erased.
Tom Holland, in a recent CinemaCon event, spoke about the film, saying, “I know we left you with a massive cliff-hanger at the end of ‘No Way Home’, so ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ is a fresh start. It is exactly that. That’s all I can say.”
Interestingly, this is not Tom Holland and Jon Bernthal’s first time crossing paths. The two helped each other with their auditions while working in the 2017 historical drama, Pilgrimage.
Bernthal will also appear in a 2026 standalone Punisher special on Disney Plus, which will be directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green.