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Tom Holland is returning as Peter Parker in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, but instead of having RDJ's Tony Stark as a mentor, he's got Jon Bernthal's "incredible" Frank Castle as a "big brother." In fact, Holland says Spidey's relationship to the Punisher might be his favorite onscreen dynamic he's ever had.
"I think one of the things I've enjoyed most about my tenure as Spider-Man is sharing the screen with Robert Downey, Jr., and really building that Spider-Man/Iron Man relationship," Holland says in an interview at the Empire State Building celebrating the release of the first trailer for Spider-Man: Brand New Day. "But I am so excited for people to see Jon Bernthal as the Punisher in this movie. He's come from a very different world, you know, the R-rated kind of universe, and we've basically picked him up and plonked him into our world. And he absolutely sings in this movie. He is incredible."
In comics, Spider-Man and Frank Castle generally don't get along. In fact, Punisher originally debuted as a Spidey villain all the way back in 1974's Amazing Spider-Man #129 before his popularity pushed him into being an anti-hero.
There's still a bitterness between them, with Spider-Man vehemently disapproving of Frank Castle's deadly methods. Nonetheless, they've occasionally had to grudgingly team up, with Spidey usually doing everything in his power to stop Frank from killing people.
"The relationship between Spider-Man and the Punisher is so funny," Holland continues. "And it changed a lot, it evolved a lot as we were shooting, because Jon and I would improvise. It started as this relationship of two people who kind of hate each other, I guess, and as we started improvising, it became this kind of big brother/little brother rivalry. It might be my favorite dynamic I've ever seen with Spider-Man."
Spider-Man: Brand New Day, starring Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Sadie Sink, Michael Mando, Mark Ruffalo, and Jon Bernthal, is set to hit theaters on July 31. For more, check out our guide on upcoming Marvel movies and how to watch the Spider-Man movies in order.
