Daredevil actor Charlie Cox has been asked about a certain scene featuring Frank Castle in Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
Warning! Spoilers for Spider-Man: Brand New Day follow…
Marvel’s latest blockbuster features the first big screen appearance of Jon Bernthal’s Punisher after almost a decade of appearing in a swathe of TV projects, frequently alongside Cox’s horn-helmed Daredevil.
But despite Punisher and Daredevil’s long history, the former is seen to declare that he’s never had a friend like Peter Parker in Brand New Day — which some fans have taken as a snub for Matt Murdock.
Amusingly, Cox has now been asked for his thoughts on the scene while attending MCM Comic-Con with his Daredevil: Born Again co-star Deborah Ann Woll, who plays Karen Page. And while Cox was considering the matter, it was Woll who jumped in first — conscious of the particularly close partnership between Page and Punisher.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day – Our Biggest Burning Questions
“Actually I’m more offended by that for Karen, rather than Matt,” Woll said in response to a question asked by TikTok user CinemaKaiNation. “Jesus Christ, Frank. Goddamnit. How many times have we saved each other’s lives?”
“Yeah, I think Deb is right,” Cox ultimately agreed. “Matt and Frank, I don’t know that they’d call each other [friends]. I think there’s a mutual understanding and respect, but they’re not mates.”
Asked to define Daredevil and Punisher’s relationship status, Cox suggested: “It’s complicated.”
Daredevil: Born Again will return next year for its third season, though it’s currently unknown if Frank Castle will be back to feature in it. The Punisher sat out of Born Again’s sophomore season as the character was afforded his own one-off Marvel Special Presentation, and also had Brand New Day on the schedule.
It’s also unclear if Daredevil: Born Again will continue beyond that third season. Other than Vision Quest (which has already been filmed), Disney and Marvel appear to be drastically cutting back on their live-action shows. With Wonder Man Season 2 controversially scrapped, no announced live-action TV projects remain in production. As for Daredevil: Born Again Season 3, meanwhile, it is expected to begin airing next spring.
With a second weekend under its belt, Spider-Man: Brand New Day now sits on a $655 million domestic and $1.01 billion international box office, making for an astonishing combined total of $1.67 billion worldwide so far. The movie “effectively refocuses on the most reliable pillars of the webslinger: battling inner turmoil, swinging around NYC saving the day, and looking cool while doing so,” we wrote in IGN’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day review, which returned a 7/10 score.
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Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social