{"id":456541,"date":"2026-06-02T05:15:23","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T05:15:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/456541\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T05:15:23","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T05:15:23","slug":"tom-holland-would-let-spider-man-go-r-rated-in-the-punisher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/456541\/","title":{"rendered":"Tom Holland Would Let Spider-Man Go \u2018R-Rated\u2019 In The Punisher"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ever since it was revealed that Spider-Man: Brand New Day<\/a> would see Tom Holland\u2019s Peter Parker rub spider-shoulders with Jon Bernthal\u2019s gun-toting Punisher, fans have wondered how the ultra-violent exploits of Frank Castle will mesh with the Friendly Neighbourhood vibe<\/a> of everyone\u2019s favourite wall-crawler. But then, there\u2019s the flip-side of that question: what would it be like for Spider-Man to pop up in a Punisher project, should Marvel pursue more post-One Last Kill<\/a>?<\/p>\n

As it turns out, the thought has crossed Tom Holland\u2019s mind too. \u201cI would love to pop up in one of [Punisher\u2019s] shows,\u201d he tells Empire. \u201cLet\u2019s see what an R-rated version of Spider-Man looks like. I\u2019m so grateful for Jon for taking the leap and being a part of the film, and I would love to repay the favour.\u201d<\/p>\n

Holland and Bernthal\u2019s friendship goes way back, when they starred together in film Pilgrimage \u2013 during which time they were each auditioning for their Marvel roles, helping each other through the process. \u201cI really wasn\u2019t familiar with the Punisher. I wasn\u2019t a huge comic-book guy,\u201d admits Bernthal. \u201cTom was really the one that said, \u2018Man, this character\u2019s so great,\u2019 and he explained it to me.\u201d Now, all these years later, it\u2019s coming full circle \u2013 and not just in Brand New Day. \u201cWe\u2019ve remained friends over the years, but what a beautiful opportunity to do two movies back to back with him with The Odyssey<\/a> and Spider-Man,\u201d says Bernthal. \u201cI love him. I\u2019m so proud of him.\u201d Sounds like more Spidey-Punisher team-ups could have real (spider) legs.<\/p>\n

\"Empire<\/p>\n

Read Empire\u2019s full Spider-Man: Brand New Day cover story \u2013 speaking to Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jon Bernthal, Kevin Feige, Destin Daniel Cretton, Amy Pascal and more \u2013 in the July 2026 issue<\/a>, on sale Thursday June 4. Pre-order a copy online here<\/a>. Spider-Man: Brand New Day comes to cinemas from July 29.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ever since it was revealed that Spider-Man: Brand New Day would see Tom Holland\u2019s Peter Parker rub spider-shoulders…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":456542,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[156,409,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-456541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=456541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456541\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/456542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=456541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=456541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=456541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}