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After The Punisher helps Peter Parker save the city in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Tom Holland wants his Spidey to do the same for Frank Castle and appear in a Punisher project.
"I would love to pop up in one of [Punisher’s] shows," said Holland in an interview with Empire. "Let’s see what an R-rated version of Spider-Man looks like. I’m so grateful for Jon for taking the leap and being a part of the film, and I would love to repay the favour."
The Punisher projects are known for being quite violent, more so than Holland's family-friendly Spider-Man movies. Castle's latest outing, Marvel Special Presentation The Punisher: One Last Kill, was rated TV-MA for severe, graphic violence, gore, and strong language. Appearing in a project like One Last Kill would put Spidey in a whole new playing field, as Holland highlights.
The upcoming Spider-Man movie marks the first time the pair have crossed paths, which is funny as they do live in the same city, and Holland's Spidey met Punisher's frenemy Matt Murdock in Spider-Man: No Way Home. We got our first glimpse of Spider-Man and Frank Castle in the first trailer for Spider-Man: Brand New Day, where it looked like Spidey didn't approve of the Punishers' no-nonsense take on fighting crime.
However, Holland and Bernthal have already worked together. Around the same time as they were auditioning for the respective Marvel roles, Holland and Bernthal starred in a movie called Pilgrimage. Bernthal recalls that, as he "wasn't a huge comic-book guy," Holland filled him in on the character Punisher. "Tom was really the one who said, 'Man, this character’s so great,' and he explained it to me," said Bernthal.
Now the duo has two huge movies coming out in the same year, as in addition to Brand New Day, both Holland and Bernthal play central roles in Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, based on Homer's legendary epic of the same name. Holland plays Odysseus' son Telemachus, and Bernthal plays the King of Sparta Menelaus, who started the Trojan War. "We’ve remained friends over the years, but what a beautiful opportunity to do two movies back to back with him with The Odyssey and Spider-Man," added Bernthal.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day arrives in theaters on July 31, and The Odyssey premieres just a few weeks earlier, on July 17, 2026. In the meantime, get up to speed on the rest of Marvel Phase 6 with our guide to the other upcoming Marvel movies and shows.
