The full description for the upcoming Marvel’s Punisher special presentation starring Jon Bernthal has been leaked online. The special is set before the events of Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
We have got full plot details for the Punisher Special Presentation, you can see them below.
The special is described as a brutal and morally ambiguous story set months before the events of Brand New Day.
Inspired by the classic arc “Welcome Back, Frank” (Garth Ennis, 2000), the special tells the story of Frank Castle’s last great hunt and how his crusade, unintentionally, sparks the chaos that will later consume New York.
Frank Castle (Bernthal) has been hunting Ma Gnucci’s criminal empire for months — one of the last surviving crime bosses after Kingpin’s downfall. He discovers her operations are tied to A.I.M., which is using Gnucci’s network to traffic weapons and prototype military tech.
Frank brutally wipes out the entire Gnucci family, culminating in a sequence where Ma Gnucci dies in her burning mansion — directly inspired by Ennis’s comic. But by killing her, Frank unknowingly destroys the last balance holding the city together. The power vacuum frees dozens of smaller gangs who begin fighting for territory.
Among those who emerge from the chaos are:
Tombstone (Marvin Jones III), who controls the Bronx neighborhoods with a network of hitmen.
Boomerang, who leads a group of mercenaries and steals experimental weaponry from A.I.M.
Scorpion a.k.a. Mac Gargan (Michael Mando), still imprisoned but referred to as “a ticking time bomb” by underworld informants, setting up his eventual release and transformation.
As the conflict escalates, Frank realizes that his war has come at a greater cost: by killing the monster, he has unleashed the demons. The special ends with Frank disappearing into the darkness as the press begins to cover the riots — The Daily Bugle reports: “Gangs fight for control of New York. A.I.M. may be involved.”
The special is directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green from a screenplay by Green and Bernthal, based on Marvel Comics featuring the character Punisher. It is set within the MCU’s continuity, alongside the films and television series of the franchise.
Bernthal will reprise his role as Frank Castle / Punisher, with Jason R. Moore also returning as Curtis Hoyle from The Punisher. Roe Rancell has been cast in an undisclosed role.
In a recent interview with ScreenRant, Bernthal said the Punisher Special Presentation will release “around that same time” as Spider-Man: Brand New Day:
“I think what was important to me, Destin, and Tom is that we believed that the Punisher could walk off of the Spider-Man set and could walk onto the special set, and I do believe that we achieved that.”
The Punisher Special Presentation will premiere on Disney+ in May 2026.
