Jon Bernthal’s Punisher returns in a new Disney+ special this May — before taking on Spider-Man in the summer

Marvel’s not exactly easing off the gas right now, especially when it comes to its grittier, street-level characters. The superhero studio has confirmed that The Punisher is getting his own Disney+ special, officially titled The Punisher: One Last Kill. It lands on the 12th of May, which, looking at the studio's release slate, is clearly very intentional.

That date puts it right alongside the end of Daredevil: Born Again season two, close enough that it’s hard to believe the two won’t overlap in some way, even if Marvel’s keeping quiet on how. At this point, that feels like the strategy: drop something, say just enough, and let everyone else connect the dots.

Back in the middle of it is Jon Bernthal, returning as Frank Castle, a character he’s been portraying for nearly a decade now, ever since his first appearance in Daredevil. Since then, he’s become one of the few Marvel characters who hasn't really softened with time.

This isn’t a full series; it’s a one-off, around an hour long, but it’s part of Marvel’s “Special Presentation” setup, which means shorter, slightly more self-contained stories that can still plug into the bigger picture when needed.

So while this might look like a side project, it clearly isn’t. Frank is already confirmed to show up in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and there’s a decent chance that whatever happens in One Last Kill feeds into that, demonstrating how Frank has found himself going up against everyone’s favourite wallcrawler.

SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY – Official Trailer (HD) - YouTube

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Bernthal co-wrote the special alongside Reinaldo Marcus Green, which usually means the character’s being handled with a bit more care than a standard plug-and-play appearance, and given how much Bernthal clearly loves the character, this will hopefully be a dedicated story, not just a cookie-cutter cash-in.

As for the title, it's hard to tell what to make of that, given that we already know the character is returning mere months later and on the big screen for the first time. Marvel’s not in the habit of retiring characters that people genuinely like, especially right now, when the mega franchise is still at a bit of a low point. The Punisher’s always been one of the more reliable ones when it comes to this darker corner of the universe, whilst remaining a true fan favourite, so chances are, this is not one last kill.

If anything, this feels more like a reset. Or at least a way of repositioning him before the next run of films. Either way, the timing says a lot. Between Daredevil, The Punisher, and Spider-Man all lining up again, Marvel’s clearly building something a bit more grounded after years of multiverse overload… before returning to all the multiverse madness later this year with Doomsday.

If One Last Kill lands properly, it might end up being one of the more important pieces in that shift and could point towards where Marvel may land once all this multiverse business is wrapped up.

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