Is the Punisher alone in Spider-Man: Brand New Day? Rumors suggest otherwise

As Spider-Man: Brand New Day continues filming in the UK, the internet is awash with rumors regarding the movie. Cameras are expected to continue rolling on the movie for the next few months as the MCU wall-crawler's fourth movie is set to release in July 2026. As is the case with MCU movies, Brand New Day has also been at the center of countless theories and rumors.

The latest rumor regarding the upcoming Marvel movie is that Frank Castle will have a sidekick in the Spider-Man movie. While you may think that The Punisher's sidekick Micro will return to the MCU, according to the latest rumor, it isn't Micro. The rumor describes the sidekick as a woman. This is why many believe that Spider-Man: Brand New Day might mark Lady Punisher's debut.

Explaining Spider-Man: Brand New Day's latest rumor:

Internet scooper MyTimeToShineHello was the first to post on their X (formerly Twitter) account that Frank Castle will have a woman sidekick in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. It has been known for a while that Jon Bernthal's Frank Castle will debut on the big screen in Brand New Day, a decade after appearing as The Punisher in 2016's Daredevil Season 2.

Considering that the new sidekick described by the rumor is a woman, many fans believe that the character in question is Lady Punisher. Here is the thing, though: two characters have taken up the moniker of "Lady Punisher," Lynn Michaels and Rachel Cole.

Lynn Michaels is a former NYPD officer who teamed up with Frank Castle to take down a repeat perpetrator of sexual violence. After that, she teamed up with The Punisher on numerous occasions, went on to become a vigilante named "Lady Punisher," and is even employed by SHIELD.

The Rachel Cole version shares a lot of similarities with Frank Castle, as the USMC Sergeant lost her husband and family to a gang war that interrupted her wedding. Rachel was trying to bring down the crime syndicate backing the gangs when she met Frank Castle. They collaborated because their target was the same syndicate. In the comics, Cole even wears a costume that mirrors The Punisher.

Considering Rachel has red hair, fans are theorizing that Sadie Sink could be playing The Punisher's new sidekick in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. However, it should be noted that Sadie Sink's role in Brand New Day remains a secret for now.

We do know Jon Bernthal's role in Brand New Day, though:

In a press conference in July this year, Marvel boss Kevin Feige discussed the future of the MCU. He even teased that Brand New Day would give fans a "proper," i.e., (probably) classical Spider-Man in the MCU:

“I think there’s a promise at the end of No Way Home, that for as sad as it is that Peter is forgotten by everyone in his life, we are seeing for the first time in the Tom Holland Spider-Man stories him being a proper Spider-Man. Him being by himself, dedicated to saving the city, and dealing with — for lack of better terms — street-level crime, as opposed to world-ending events.”

After this, the Marvel boss even addressed Frank Castle's role in Spider-Man: Brand New Day:

“So when you do that, you say, okay, who are the other street-level characters that we’ve never seen him interact with? And of course, I love that The Punisher started in a Spider-Man comic. That great cover... I don’t want to say too much, but Destin — I will say too much — Destin is doing an amazing job right now on that movie, which starts shooting very soon. And he’s got eight or nine comic covers up on his wall in his art department that he is bringing to life in this movie, which is super cool.”