Frank Castle is back on our screens, beating up bad guys and battling his inner demons in The Punisher: One Last Kill. The new Marvel special reintroduces the character following on from his brief appearance in Daredevil: Born Again season 2, ahead of his upcoming appearance in Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
The TV movie tells a standalone story as we get deeper into Frank’s past as he faces a new enemy. However, given that we’re only a few months away from Spider-Man 4, you might be wondering if there’s any set-up in the new release. Well, we get into the details of all of that below in our spoiler-filled guide.
Make sure you’re up to date before reading on – and check out our breakdown of where Punisher: One Last Kill sits on the Marvel timeline too while you’re here.
Does Punisher: One Last Kill set up Spider-Man: Brand New Day?
The answer to this one is a little complicated. There is no explicit set-up of Spider-Man: Brand New Day in the Marvel special. Tom Holland doesn’t appear in a cameo role, nor do any of the other main characters in the franchise. There’s also no explicit mention of Spider-Man or the wider MCU or any shared villains.
However, the special does fill in the gap between the Frank Castle we saw at the end of Daredevil: Born Again season 1 and the one we saw in the trailer for Spider-Man: Brand New Day. The former was reluctantly going back to his vigilante ways while the latter seems to be in full superhero mode in his Punisher costume.
The Punisher: One Last Kill documents this journey for Frank. At the beginning of the special he tries to leave his past behind him. However, when Ma Gnucci threatens him and his neighborhood, he answers the call and defends those around him, including some innocent civilians.
One particular person who makes a big impact on him is a young girl who reminds him of his daughter. After he saves her family, Frank goes to his daughter’s grave and decides he wants to become the Punisher once again. He then returns to the streets of Hell’s Kitchen and dishes out some justice on the thug who killed a dog at the beginning of the special.
This is the Punisher we expect to meet in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. From what we’ve seen in the trailer, he’s fully back in action as the vigilante, driving a tank through New York City. Just expect him to be slightly less sweary and brutal in the upcoming Marvel movie.
Speaking about the connection between the two, Bernthal recently spoke to Kelly Clarkson about bridging this gap between the two projects. “With Spider-Man, I think what was most important, because, obviously, tonally it’s different and such an honor to be a part of it, especially with my dear friend Tom Holland,” he said per Comic Book Resources. “It was important to us that one Punisher could walk off one set and walk onto the other. Tonally, they couldn’t be more different, but I hope we were able to achieve that – it’s very important.”
The Punisher: One Last Kill is on Disney Plus now. For more on the MCU, here’s our breakdown of how to watch the Marvel movies in order ahead of Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s arrival in theaters on July 31, 2026.
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