Jon Bernthal’s Frank Castle, AKA The Punisher, is set to be one of the most frequently recurring characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the immediate future. The acclaimed actor reprised his role as the iconic vigilante in Daredevil: Born Again earlier this year and will reportedly return in the series’ second season, in addition to headlining his own special presentation for Disney+. It was recently announced that Bernthal will also appear as the Punisher in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, the fourth solo film starring Tom Holland’s Peter Parker, which is currently set for a July 2026 release.
Although those wishing to learn about or rediscover the character in light of this would certainly benefit from watching Season 2 of the original Daredevil Netflix series, which introduced Frank to the MCU, and/or Born Again Season 1, there is also a specific episode from Bernthal’s two-season Punisher spin-off series that is equally important to understanding his iteration of the famed anti-hero.
One Episode of ‘The Punisher’ Defines Jon Bernthal’s Version of the Character
In The Punisher Season 1, Episode 12, “Home,” Frank and his ally, David Lieberman, AKA Micro (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), are working with the Department of Homeland Security to combat a criminal conspiracy led by corrupt CIA agent William Rawlins (Paul Schulze), which orchestrated the murder of Frank’s family. After being captured, Frank is tortured by Rawlins and his former friend, Billy Russo (Ben Barnes), until he reveals the access codes to Micro’s computers. Russo and Rawlins are attempting to stop Frank and Micro from publicly releasing a video file exposing their illegal activities during the war in Afghanistan (some of which Frank himself was also involved in), unaware that Lieberman had already provided Homeland with another copy. An increasingly maniacal Rawlins even continues to torture Frank afterward before disrespecting Russo, leading the latter to quietly release Frank so he can kill Rawlins before Homeland storms their location.
During his elaborate torture, Frank frequently slips in and out of consciousness, jumping back to memories of his relationship with his now-dead wife, Maria (Kelli Barrett). While the contrast between images of Frank being brutally beaten and those of him dancing and being intimate with Maria is initially heavy-handed, this storyline eventually progresses in more nuanced and effective ways. One of Frank’s last visions is a recreation of the moment when he woke up the morning after returning from his last tour of duty, which is also ultimately the day Maria and his children were killed during the family’s annual trip to Central Park. Twisted recreations of this moment from Frank’s nightmares had previously shown an armored version of him shooting Maria in the head himself, but this iteration, although lit unrealistically, is implied to depict the conversation they actually had that morning. Maria says that the hardest part of Frank’s military service for her is that the more time he spends in combat, the more parts of himself he leaves in war zones, making him less and less present when he is with the family.
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For Jon Bernthal’s vigilante, it’s business as usual.
Many modern Marvel comics have focused on the particularly dark idea that Frank has, to at least some extent, always been The Punisher, having an unshakable attraction to, or even love for, violence and killing, with the murders of his family simply providing an ideal excuse for him to go on a never-ending violent rampage that he can justify to himself. Writer Garth Ennis’ work with the character in Marvel’s adult-oriented MAX imprint, specifically the miniseries The Punisher: Born, even suggests that Frank, or at least the older version of him that served in the Vietnam War, may have made a deal with a supernatural force, possibly the Devil, to allow him to fight “A war that lasts forever,” unaware that the price for this “reward” would be Maria and the children’s lives.
The depiction of Bernthal’s Frank throughout the MCU has alluded to similar ideas, but the writers of his solo series cleverly complicate them in ways that keep the character somewhat sympathetic while arguably making his story even more tragic. Having him choose to remain with his family rather than going back to war highlights the additional bit of humanity that makes Bernthal’s Punisher one of the best versions of the character, if not the best. It’s only after Maria and their children are killed that Frank fully becomes The Punisher and loses the ability to separate himself from the role, as highlighted in his final vision in the episode, in which he appears covered in blood as in the real world and refuses the ghostly Maria’s offer to “come home” (presumably meaning die, and be reunited with her and the kids in spirit). Instead, Frank says, “I am home,” before regaining consciousness and launching into a brutal revenge against Rawlins.
Will ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ Be Darker With Its Introduction of Jon Bernthal’s Punisher?
“Home” also contributes to developing other Punisher characters and setting up key ideas for the rest of the series. Frank’s visions of Maria don’t always come across as especially realistic, but they still allow Barrett to imbue the character with more of an individual personality than she has in the prior flashbacks and dream sequences. The second and final season of the series also establishes some important character growth, with Frank eventually coming to believe that he was always at least partially The Punisher, and that Maria knew this and loved him anyway, but now that her and the children are gone, he needs to simply be the vigilante and cut himself off from most of the more innocent, moral, friends in his life, including teenage runaway Amy Bendix (Giorgia Whigham) and legal investigator Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll).
These and other dark, disturbing ideas related to the character are why Bernthal’s casting in the Spider-Man series, the past films of which are especially family-friendly, is surprising, despite Frank having originally debuted as an antagonist in Spider-Man comics. Past Marvel movies featuring characters with similarly violent source material, like Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), have shown that they can be limited to levels of onscreen violence appropriate for the PG-13 rating (which is almost certainly what Brand New Day will receive), but capturing the twisted emotions and psychology key to Frank’s story in the context of a Spider-Man movie may still be a challenge. That said, the Punisher’s inclusion in Brand New Day could make for a fascinating subversion of the MCU’s trend of having Peter be mentored by older crime fighters.
