First Spider-Man: Brand New Day Clip Reveals the Comic Book Relationship Readers Have Waited Decades to See

Ever since Tom Holland’s version of Spider-Man made the leap to the big screen, he’s been doing something that no other take on the friendly neighborhood hero has been able to do: interacting with the other Marvel heroes. First appearing in Captain America: Civil War, Holland’s Spidey would share the screen with a new hero in every movie that he appeared in, from Iron Man to Doctor Strange and even other Spider-Man. To that end, it was no surprise when confirmation came that Spider-Man: Brand New Day would deliver more Marvel heroes to appear alongside him, but one was a surprise.

In addition to Mark Ruffalo appearing as Bruce Banner, aka The Hulk, in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, the film will bring in the most R-rated character the MCU can find in Jon Bernthal‘s Frank Castle, aka The Punisher. As long-time comic readers know, The Punisher actually made his debut in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man, filling an antagonist role before becoming a character in his own right that readers loved and who could carry his own comics. The characters ran into each other with frequency in comics for years, but in 2026 will finally share the screen together for the first time, and a full clip of their dynamic has arrived online.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day Clip Reveals Spidey & Punisher’s Dynamic

Though the clip itself is very fast, it gives fans a glance at the camaraderie that Frank Castle and Spider-Man have in the film. Despite there being a bit of antagonism between them, it’s certainly playful on both of their parts and feels more like brothers, such as the moment Spidey webs up one of Frank’s guns out of his reach and Frank, in turn, shoots him with a grenade launcher. The scene shows a distinct difference in their relationship compared to how, say, Frank and Daredevil interact with each other, revealing a Marvel hero who doesn’t completely detest The Punisher.

It’s worth remembering two things about this scene. The first is that there’s a four-year time jump between Spider-Man: No Way Home and Brand New Day, meaning that these two characters will arrive on screen with some history. Second, up until recently, these two legally couldn’t have shared the screen, as the film rights to The Punisher were elsewhere, while Spider-Man was still squarely with Sony. Even as Marvel Studios and Sony began collaborating, The Punisher was at first siloed off to the Netflix TV shows, and later, the Disney+ revival of those characters. As a result, this moment is a long time coming, one readers may have thought impossible.

While appearing on Good Morning America with the clip, Bernthal opened up about his working relationship with Tom Holland, having appeared together in three films (including The Odyssey and Spider-Man: Brand New Day). He also was quick to note how protective he feels about Castle, having now played him on three different TV shows, a solo TV special, and the new Spider-Man movie.

“Look, Frank Castle is a character I’m enormously protective of,” Bernthal said. “I think to come into this world tonally, it’s different, and it’s a real testament to Tom and to Destin, the director. I really believe that this is a Frank Castle that you’ll believe is sort of walking out of that TV-MA world into this Spider-Man world. And I think it was done with real care, and I can’t wait for people to see it.”

Spider-Man: Brand New Day opens in theaters on July 31.