How ‘The Punisher: One Last Kill’ sets up Frank Castle’s appearance in ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’
Contains spoilers for ‘The Punisher: One Last Kill’
At best, ‘The Punisher: One Last Kill’ serves as a follow-up to ‘Daredevil: Born Again,’ where Frank Castle, aka Punisher (Jon Bernthal), escapes Mayor Wilson Fisk’s (Vincent D’Onofrio) Red Hook compound. The special sees his usual routine of taking on criminals in New York. At the same time, he is at a crossroads, contemplating taking his own life as he begins to question his sense of purpose.
The vision of his mates in the Marines lacked his commitment, and his family sees him nearly pull the trigger. Instead, his battle with Ma Gnucci (Judith Light), the sole survivor of the Gnucci crime family whom Castle brutally killed, sets the tone for his appearance in ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day.’ After Ma puts a bounty on his head for killing her family, Castle engages in an all-out brawl against the New York City gangsters, leaving them dead or maimed, but Ma escapes the street-style bloody brouhaha. After fighting the criminals in a hoodie for much of the episode, the final seconds see him don his signature Punisher suit as he shoots a criminal flush in the head. If rumors are true, Castle is supposedly protecting Sadie Sink’s mystery character.
Considering he reacts to those who remind him of his daughter, there is a possibility he is protecting her from the villains in ‘Brand New Day.’ More importantly, the special serves as a bridge, connecting the Punisher to the larger MCU. With Matt Murdock, aka Daredevil (Charlie Cox), already appearing in ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home,’ the upcoming web-slinger film sets up another Marvel TV series character into the mix. In the trailer of the film, Castle hits Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man (Tom Holland), with his truck and shows no remorse.
The hilarious interaction follows as Parker angrily asks Castle why he hit him with the truck. “Quit your whimpering,” Bernthal’s anti-hero says, pulling out a gun and firing at Parker. The scene shifts to the web-slinger pulling Castle out of the van, and later shooting a web to his mouth to stop him from uttering an expletive. “Go home,” he says as Castle’s introduction draws to a close. While the clip does not necessarily provide much detail, it does show that Castle’s actions of dedicating his life to fighting crime in New York at the end of ‘One Last Kill’ lead into ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day.’ ‘The Punisher: One Last Kill’ is streaming on Disney+.
