Frank Castle Has Never Been This Close to the Edge — ‘The Punisher: One Last Kill’ Arrives on Disney+ This Week

Jon Bernthal’s version of Frank Castle has always been built on something rawer than most Marvel characters ever get to touch. Bernthal first introduced audiences to the ruthless antihero in 2016 during Season 2 of Netflix’s ‘Daredevil,’ starring alongside Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock, and the character’s popularity quickly led to a two-season run of ‘The Punisher’ from 2017 to 2019. When the Netflix deal collapsed and Marvel’s street-level heroes went quiet, fans held on to the hope that Bernthal’s skull-marked vigilante would find his way back.

After years of corporate restructuring and a creative overhaul, Bernthal reprised his role in ‘Daredevil: Born Again,’ joining Charlie Cox in confronting corrupt New York City Mayor Wilson Fisk, played by Vincent D’Onofrio. By the Season 1 finale, the Punisher had been imprisoned by Kingpin’s police force before escaping in a post-credits scene, leaving Frank Castle’s next chapter wide open.

That next chapter lands this week. ‘A Marvel Television Special Presentation: The Punisher: One Last Kill’ premieres May 12, 2026, exclusively on Disney+, with Jon Bernthal once again suiting up as the titular vigilante. At 60 minutes, it is the longest Marvel Special Presentation to date, outrunning both ‘Werewolf by Night’ and ‘The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special,’ which both debuted in 2022, making it the most ambitious entry the format has seen.

What makes this release especially striking is that Bernthal is not simply starring in the project but co-wrote the script alongside director Reinaldo Marcus Green, marking the first time in MCU history that the title star is also a credited writer on the project. The pair previously collaborated on HBO’s ‘We Own This City,’ and Bernthal has said he went through a full pitch process with Marvel before a single page of the script was written, determined to earn the opportunity rather than have it handed to him.

In multiple conversations with Entertainment Weekly, Bernthal promised an uncompromising version of Frank, describing his vision as a “visceral, psychologically complex, unforgiving, no-holds-barred” portrait of Castle where all violence carries a visible cost.

Bernthal has cited Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon’s beloved 2000 comic arc ‘Welcome Back, Frank’ as his creative north star for the project, channeling the story’s refusal to soften or excuse its central character. The special sees Castle go to war with the Gnucci crime family, bringing Ma Gnucci to live-action screens for the very first time after decades of comic book infamy. Jason R. Moore returns as Curtis Hoyle, the former Navy SARC from Netflix’s original ‘The Punisher’ series, appearing in haunting hallucination sequences that push Frank to confront the psychological weight of his actions.

The special premieres exactly one week after the ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Season 2 finale, with its story running concurrently to Season 2’s events, filling in what Frank Castle was doing while Matt Murdock faced his own battles in New York. From there, Bernthal’s Punisher is set to expand his MCU presence even further with an appearance in ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day,’ joining Tom Holland and marking Frank Castle’s first theatrical appearance under Marvel Studios, hitting theaters July 31, 2026.

With the official Punisher account teasing “That’s all you got?” in the lead-up to May 12, Marvel clearly believes the answer is a hard no. Let us know in the comments whether you’re ready for what could be the most uncompromising Frank Castle story Marvel has ever told.