Spider-Man: Brand New Day Sets Peter Parker's Surrogate Brother After Iron Man's Death

A new dynamic is about to come to life in the Marvel Cinematic Universe this summer.

One of the crucial relationships for Peter Parker in the MCU timeline was the bond between him and Peter Parker, ever since he recruited the web-crawler in Captain America: Civil War. However, following Avengers: Endgame, Iron Man’s death has left Spider-Man without his father figure, especially for his next chapter in the franchise.

When speaking to ScreenRant’s Liam Crowley in an exclusive interview for Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Jon Bernthal was asked about Frank Castle’s film debut in the MCU and whether or not Punisher may fill the role as a fun uncle to Peter, in comparison to how Tony was like a dad to the web-slinger. Bernthal stated, “Fun uncle? More like a derelict older brother. Look, we got to bring a lot of who we are to each other into this, which I think was great. There was a real openness to explore and play and find it, to make it authentic to who we are and how we feel about these characters.”

The MCU veteran elaborated, “I think it was a challenge with the tonality to bring a character like Frank into this world and I’m so appreciative to these guys. I believe that this is a Frank that you’d believe walking out of that set (One Last Kill) and onto this, and vice versa. I think so much of the time in the kind of work, the issue or the problem is the kernel to make something special and great. Dive into it, not to avoid it.”

Ever since Bernthal landed the role of the gritty antihero through Netflix’s Daredevil season 2, Frank was a heavy player in the street-level side of the MCU. The Walking Dead alum also ended up headlining his own The Punisher TV show for two seasons.

Once the Marvel-Netflix shows became fully canon to the overall franchise, Frank made a comeback through Daredevil: Born Again season 1, before Bernthal starred in his own MCU special presentation on Disney+, titled The Punisher: One Last Kill. The offshoot subtly paved the way for his new era in the franchise as it did some groundwork for his Spider-Man: Brand New Day appearance.

From the trailers that have been released so far, some time has definitely already passed by the time they reach the Spider-Man: Brand New Day story. Based on the footage that has come out already, Frank and Holland’s titular hero are definitely already familiar with one another.

The Spider-Man: Brand New Day cast will also feature another long-time MCU player, as Mark Ruffalo is coming back as Bruce Banner, a.k.a. the Hulk, who will have at least one clash with the New York superhero in the summer blockbuster. Sadie Sink has also joined the MCU film in a mystery role, but Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures are keeping her identity heavily under wraps.

For Bernthal and Holland, Spider-Man: Brand New Day brings everything full circle, as they both helped one another with their respective auditions for the Marvel gigs back in 2015. The MCU entry isn’t the only film they worked on together, as the two Marvel stars can currently be seen together in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, along with Zendaya.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is scheduled to open in theaters on July 31.