Frank Castle has survived war, mobsters, government conspiracies, and enough gunfire to flatten a small city. Apparently, what he couldn’t survive was the writers of Spider-Man: Brand New Day forgetting about a couple of his friends.
The upcoming Marvel movie is dealing with the aftermath of Doctor Strange’s memory-wiping spell, which left Tom Holland’s Peter Parker essentially erased from the lives of everyone who knew him.
But one moment involving Jon Bernthal’s Punisher has sparked a fun bit of debate among Marvel fans because Frank makes a comment that doesn’t exactly line up with his MCU history.
During an interaction with Spider-Man, Frank tells Peter that he’s “never had a friend” like him. That’s a pretty huge compliment coming from Frank Castle.
The Punisher isn’t exactly the guy handing out friendship bracelets to everyone he meets, and the comment clearly establishes that Peter has managed to get through to him in a way few people ever have.
There’s just one problem. Frank has had friends. The most obvious example is Charlie Cox’s Matt Murdock. Frank and Matt developed one of the more complicated relationships of Marvel’s Netflix era, particularly during Daredevil.
They certainly didn’t agree on how to deal with criminals, with Frank’s methods landing several hundred miles beyond Matt’s comfort zone, but the two developed a strange connection built on mutual respect.
Then there’s Curtis. Anyone who watched The Punisher knows Curtis Hoyle wasn’t some random acquaintance Frank occasionally grabbed a beer with. He was one of the closest people in Frank’s life, an old military buddy who became a dependable friend, confidant, and source of support through some seriously ugly chapters.
Curtis even made a brief, ghostly appearance in this year’s special The Punisher: One Last Kill, so he hasn’t exactly vanished completely from Frank Castle’s corner of the MCU.
Naturally, fans noticed. Responding to the discussion on X, one fan wrote, “Curtis was my FIRST thought too!! He was definitely the best friend Frank had; he was so dependable and loyal to him,”
Another fan had an even simpler question: “Did they genuinely forget his day one?” It’s a fair question, especially now that Marvel has officially folded The Punisher and the other Netflix-era Defenders shows into MCU canon.
Frank Castle’s history from those series matters, which makes dialogue like this a little more noticeable than it might have been a few years ago. Still, there’s another way to read Frank’s comment that makes considerably more sense.
One fan suggested Frank wasn’t literally claiming that he’d never had a friend before Peter. Instead, he may have been talking about the particular qualities Spider-Man brings into his life. “I’m assuming he meant innocence and optimism, which Curtis has, but Peter just has more of it.”
Even after everything Peter has endured, there’s still a fundamental goodness and optimism to Spider-Man that separates him from almost everyone Frank normally encounters.
Frank lives in a world of violence, trauma, revenge, and people making terrible decisions. Peter keeps trying to save people because he genuinely believes they’re worth saving.
For someone like Frank Castle, that kind of person could absolutely feel different from any friend he’s had before.
There’s also the practical reality of making a Spider-Man movie for an enormous audience, much of which may not have watched two seasons of a Netflix series that originally launched years ago.
As another fan pointed out, “Let’s be honest. The average audience member going to watch Spider-Man is not watching the Punisher series.”
That’s probably an important piece of the puzzle. Spider-Man: Brand New Day has to work for moviegoers who know every corner of Marvel continuity as well as people who simply want to watch Holland swing around New York and get into trouble.
A line designed to communicate Peter’s growing importance to Frank may matter more to the scene than perfectly accounting for every relationship from The Punisher.
So, is this Curtis Hoyle erasure? Technically, you could make the case. More likely, though, Frank’s comment is meant to tell us something about his relationship with Peter rather than rewrite his past.
Peter isn’t replacing Curtis or Matt Murdock. He’s becoming something different to Frank, and seeing the relentlessly grim Punisher develop a soft spot for Spider-Man could make for one of the more entertaining character dynamics in the movie.
Of course, Marvel fans remember everything. When the MCU says its Netflix shows are canon, people are going to bring receipts.
