The Punisher has a reputation as a very gritty, very violent anti-hero. And he headlined the bloodiest live-action Marvel series ever. But as a character, the Punisher began in The Amazing Spider-Man. So it’s fitting that Jon Bernthal’s version of Frank Castle would be in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, even if it seems like a mismatched pair to the casual fan. But in a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Bernthal (who is also starring with Tom Holland in The Odyssey), shared how his character makes it a point to show Peter Parker that his path is not one he should follow. Here’s what he had to say about Frank’s unusually kind mentoring moment to our friendly neighborhood Spidey.
Frank is purpose-driven, mission-driven, ‘leave me the f*** alone’ — and I love when there are little cracks in that. He’s like, ‘Why are you being a dick to her [MJ]? Don’t do that — that’s what I do.’ To see himself in this and then be a little bit protective like, ‘You’re trying to do the whole dark thing, don’t do that shit, I do that shit, it’s not fun, do your shit’ — I love that, and I really buy that.
Another reason it makes sense that Bernthal’s Punisher is in Brand New Day, over a more obvious Marvel hero? It’s because he and Tom Holland go way back. They met on the set of an Irish film called The Pilgrimage, and remained friends after the shoot. And they both auditioned for their respective Marvel roles at the same time, in 2015. And they were even in each other’s audition tapes. So, in a very real way, it was meant to be that Frank would lend some fatherly advice to Peter one day on screen. Punisher is trying to steer Peter Parker clear of “the whole dark thing.” It’ll be interesting to see if that advice sticks when/if Venom comes into the picture.