Jon Bernthal Talks About the Tonal Differences Between THE PUNISHER: ONE LAST KILL and SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY
Jon Bernthal’s Frank Castle, aka The Punisher, is back with a vengeance this week in The Punisher: One Last Kill, and this summer’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
He already made his official Marvel debut in Daredevil: Born Again, and after his incredible Netflix run, fans were as excited to see him return as they were Daredevil.
His playing around in the corner of the MCU featuring his own solo story, as well as Daredevil’s, is The Punisher’s sweet spot, but what can we expect from his appearance in Spider-Man 4?
Bernthal gave fans all the intel in a recent appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show (via CBM) where he called his upcoming special, The Punisher: One Last Kill, "the most psychologically complex, darkest version of the Punisher that you're going to see."
He added, "I believe it's what the fans want. I wrote it alongside the help of Nick Koumalatsos, who's a Marine Raider and an unbelievable guy who wrote a book his own pain and his own bout with hopelessness and his story back. It was such an honour. He's a producer on [it]. Cody Alford, a Marine Raider, and Colton Hill, Green Beret, were on set. They're badass. They're more than badass," the actor continued.
"They're just beautiful human beings, and they're great, and they really wanted to do something, you know, for the veterans community and especially for these guys, the tip of the spear guys who are really suffering with entering back into the world. And I think that's very much at the core of a Frank story."
The Punisher: One Last Kill has a TV-MA rating, whereas Spider-Man: Brand New Day is a PG-13 summer blockbuster. When it comes to how Frank fits into that very different corner of the MCU, Bernthal acknowledged that there's a big tonal shift.
"With Spider-Man, I think what was most important, because, obviously, tonally it's different and such an honour to be a part of it, especially with my dear friend Tom Holland," he said.
"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 premieres this week on May 12th on Disney+. Spider-Man: Brand New Day is set to be released in theatres on July 31st.