Tom Holland On How PG-13 Spider-Man: Brand New Day Will Handle R-Rated Character Like Punisher

Following his blood-spattered antics in The Punisher: One Last Kill TV special on Disney+, Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal) is headed for the more family-friendly orbit of Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

The first trailer offered a small tease of how the PG-13 film plans to get soften the vigilante's hardcore personality, with Spider-Man (Tom Holland) webbing Frank's mouth shut before he can finish an expletive. We get the impression that hero and antihero have already crossed paths several times before, and, unsurprisingly, the lone wolf Punisher is not a fan of the friendly neighborhood wall-crawler attempting to stop his violent brand of justice.

Tom Holland teases Punisher in Spider-Man: Brand New Day

"I know that there are concerns about taking a sort of R-rated character and putting him into one of these movies," Holland recently told Empire, "but the way that we’ve designed the world around him feels very authentic to the Frank Castle we know. There are fun ways to get around the fact that he swears all the time and kills people."

Having nearly succumbed to despair after taking out every single person responsible for murdering his family, Frank discovered a new sense of purpose as his community devolved into chaos in One Last Kill. He couldn't save his loved ones from dying, but maybe he can atone by protecting other parents and children. A noble cause, certainly, though his bone-breaking, throat-slitting methods are, perhaps, a step too far.

“Frank Castle is perfectly at peace in a world of absolute darkness,” Bernthal explained. “He’s not looking for a buddy, he’s not looking for a friend, he’s not looking for a hand to pull him out of the hole that he’s in. He’s fine living in there. In fact, all he wants to do is dig deeper."

Who knows? Maybe he'll get the one f-bomb allotted to PG-13 movies.

"But as the demands on him intensify," reads the official synopsis, "the pressure sparks a surprising physical evolution that threatens his existence, even as a strange new pattern of crimes gives rise to one of the most powerful threats he has ever faced."

This peculiar transformation prompts Peter to seek out the scientific wisdom of the one and only Dr. Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo). Holland actually came up with the initial idea of what he called "Spider-Puberty."

"What happens if Peter Parker is losing control and things are changing?" he explained to Empire. "'Spider-Puberty' was my tagline pitch to the studio—which was immediately shot down. But they liked the kernel of the idea and it grew into what we have in the movie now.”

Michael Mando returns as Mac Gargan/Scorpion, while Tramell Tillman (Severance) and Sadie Sink (Stranger Things) join the franchise as characters who have yet to be revealed.

The film is produced by Kevin Feige, Amy Pascal, Avi Arad and Rachel O'Connor. Louis D'Esposito and David Cain are executive producers. Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers, the screenwriting duo behind Holland's Spider-Man trilogy, wrote the script.

Peter Parker (Tom Holland) peers through the web in Columbia Pictures SPIDER-MAN™: BRAND NEW DAY.

Photo: Courtesy of Jay Maidment/Sony Pictures

"What happens if Peter Parker is losing control and things are changing?" he explained to Empire. "'Spider-Puberty' was my tagline pitch to the studio—which was immediately shot down. But they liked the kernel of the idea and it grew into what we have in the movie now.”

Michael Mando returns as Mac Gargan/Scorpion, while Tramell Tillman (Severance) and Sadie Sink (Stranger Things) join the franchise as characters who have yet to be revealed.

The film is produced by Kevin Feige, Amy Pascal, Avi Arad and Rachel O'Connor. Louis D'Esposito and David Cain are executive producers. Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers, the screenwriting duo behind Holland's Spider-Man trilogy, wrote the script.

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