We get some big news – via Nerdrotic – that Jon Bernthal is joining Spider-Man 4 as The Punisher.
Of course, Bernthal recently returned as Frank Castle in the Daredevil: Born Again series on Disney+. Bernthal is also currently developing a spinoff special, and in no coincidence, Marvel Comics recently announced they are bringing back Frank Castle as The Punisher after canceling the character a couple of years ago due to Marvel’s woke politics.
What is said about The Punisher and Spider-Man 4?
The news about Jon Bernthal appearing as The Punisher in Spider-Man: Brand New Day comes from Gary Buechler on his Nerdrotic YouTube channel, during an interview with legendary comic creator Mark Millar, who was promoting his new creator-owned comic Psychic Sam, which is also being adapted into a movie.
Millar goes over how he was going to do big projects for DC and Marvel, but instead, opted to reteam with legendary artist John Romita Jr. on a new creator-owned project. Millar says that as of late, there has been a void in comics regarding certain types of characters and points to how Marvel Comics changed The Punisher, so he came up with the idea for a similar type of character, Psychic Sam, which he said in his e-mail newsletter is “Death Wish meets Minority Report.”
So while discussing the project and pop culture, Buechler says that the Hulk will be in Spider-Man 4, which dropped on Monday. Buechler and Millar discuss how they don’t want Mark Ruffalo’s goofy Smart Hulk in the movie. Millar says he hopes it’s similar to the John Buscema Hulk running wild from the comics and not Ruffalo talking about the environment. Buechler adds that he hopes Ruffalo doesn’t appear at all and that they CGI the Savage Hulk the entire time.
Buechler then drops the bomb that The Punisher will be in Spider-Man 4:
“The Punisher is going to be in it, too. That hasn’t been announced, yet.”
Marvel moving toward World War Hulk
Update: John Rocha on The Hot Mic back in January also said Spider-Man and Punisher would be battling the Hulk. It’s said Marvel wants to get away from the Smart Hulk and move to the rampaging Savage Hulk. At the time, Jeff Sneider also added it seems as if Marvel is moving toward World War Hulk in the MCU, which has been rumored for some time.
Spider-Man 4 villains
Regarding the Savage Hulk, it recently became known from the Disney Blockbuster Consumer Products presentation that the Savage Hulk will be the main villain.
Additional villains mentioned include Scorpion, Boomerang, Tombstone, and Tarantula. Another rumor offers Lady Chameleon.
Release info
Spider-Man: Brand New Day gets released July 31, 2026, directed by Shang-Chi‘s Destin Daniel Cretton.
Joining Tom Holland are Zendaya and Jacob Batalon, and new to the cast are Sadie Sink and Liza Colón-Zayas.
The plot follows the events of No Way Home where everybody has forgotten about Peter Parker.
“We have to deal with the fact that he decided he was going to give up being Peter Parker and he was gonna focus on being Spider-Man because being Peter Parker was too hard. So that’s what the movie is about,” producer Amy Pascal said in a recent interview.
