Warning: This article contains full spoilers for The Punisher: One Last Kill and Daredevil: Born Again Season 2!

2026 is a big year for Jon Bernthal’s Frank Castle in the MCU. The character may have sat out the events of Daredevil: Born Again Season 2, but he’s back in the spotlight in the new short film The Punisher: One Last Kill on Disney+. And Frank will stay active in the MCU as he plays a supporting role in the upcoming Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

So what exactly happens in One Last Kill? What is the “last kill” in question? And how does this Punisher movie lay the groundwork for Brand New Day, if it does anything at all? Here’s what you need to know.

The Punisher: One Last Kill’s Ending - What Does the Title Mean?

One Last Kill is (as best we can tell) a follow-up to Daredevil: Born Again Season 1, revealing what has become of Frank Castle following his escape from Mayor Fisk’s (Vincent D’Onofrio) Red Hook compound. However, the film winds up diverging from Born Again quite a bit. Rather than continuing to explore Frank’s feud with the Anti-Vigilante Task Force, who wear his symbol and kill in his name, One Last Kill sees Frank back to his usual routine of punishing the ordinary criminals of New York.

Though, as the film opens, Frank is facing a bit of an existential crossroads. Frank has just executed the adult men of the Gnucci crime family, thereby eliminating the last members of the New York underworld who had any connection to his family’s murders. With no more revenge to be had, Frank is finally tempted to call it quits. That prompts visions of his comrades in the Marines mocking his lack of commitment and his family calling him home. Frank nearly commits suicide at his daughter’s grave, but can’t quite bring himself to pull the trigger.

Instead, Frank finds himself drawn into more bloodshed when he meets Ma Gnucci (Judith Light), the surviving matriarch of her shattered crime family. Gnucci reveals that she’s about to reveal Frank’s location to every assassin, thug, and hired gun in Little Sicily. Frank initially waffles over whether to fight his way out or embrace death, but he’s finally spurred into action after seeing his neighbors attacked by some of Gnucci’s opportunistic killers. Thus begins a prolonged battle that leaves Frank battered and dozens of attackers dead and/or maimed. Gnucci herself escapes to fight another day, but we can probably assume her days are numbered.

One Last Kill ends with Frank now a somewhat rejuvenated man. He finally dons the Punisher armor again and kills the man who attacked the homeless person and his poor dog in the opening of the one-shot. Frank is recommitted to his role as Punisher.

The significance of the film’s title becomes clear in that final scene. As much as he might be tempted to retire and find some other sort of purpose beyond punishing criminals, this is a life that Frank can’t ever give up. There’s always another enemy to conquer. There’s always one more kill that needs to be carried out.

Before One Last Kill’s release, one popular theory was that Frank himself was the titular “one last kill.” The idea being that only by purging himself of his humanity and his final, tenuous connections to his old civilian life could Frank fully embrace his mission and become the Punisher. That theory doesn’t necessarily seem to have panned out. Frank is still Frank. He’s still sentimental and emotionally volatile, and he’ll probably have future crises of faith. But however much his commitment might waver at times, there will always be that next enemy that needs killing.

The MCU’s Little Sicily: Why Is This Neighborhood So Terrible?

One Last Kill shows us a corner of the MCU we’ve never seen before, and it’s not a pretty one. The film takes place in and around the fictional New York City neighborhood of Little Sicily, a place that looks like The Bronx vomited up Philadelphia. It’s rampant with crime, suggesting New York’s heroes like Spider-Man and Ms. Marvel don’t often venture into this neighborhood.

Why is this section of the city so dilapidated and overrun with criminals? We can infer that things in NYC are a little chaotic following Mayor Fisk’s removal, not that it looks as though Fisk himself ever paid much attention to this particular area of the city. It’s also implied that the Gnuccis maintained a level of control over this territory before Frank murdered them. For both those reasons, it seems that there’s a power vacuum and a lack of authority causing a bad neighborhood to turn even worse.

How One Last Kill Sets Up Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Daredevil: Born Again Season 3

Fans don’t have long to wait until Bernthal’s next MCU appearance, as he’s set to appear in Spider-Man: Brand New Day this summer. Neither Marvel nor Sony has revealed much about how Frank factors into the plot of the fourth Tom Holland Spidey film, and the trailer only confirms that the two have a pretty tense and antagonistic working relationship (which is par for the course with the comics).

One Last Kill doesn’t really give us any added insight into Frank’s role in Brand New Day. There are no references to Spider-Man here, or really any other MCU characters outside of Frank’s hallucinations of friends like Jason R. Moore’s Curtis Hoyle and Deborah Ann Woll’s Karen Page. Little Sicily is a neighborhood Spidey and his fellow New York heroes clearly don’t visit very often.

What One Last Kill does do is reestablish a more traditional status quo for the Punisher. He’s not on the run from Fisk’s men. He’s no longer wallowing in misery and wrestling with the question of whether or not to continue his vigilante crusade. He’s back in the costume and out in the streets punishing criminals. We can assume that Frank has occasionally bumped into Tom Holland’s Spidey during his missions and will continue to do so. We can also assume that Spidey is no fan of Frank’s, as he doesn’t subscribe to the Punisher’s lethal brand of justice. Again, that’s how their relationship plays out in the comics.

In Brand New Day, Frank is heavily rumored to be working with and protecting Sadie Sink’s mystery character (who may or may not be the mutant fugitive Jean Grey). One Last Kill lends some credence to that rumor, if only indirectly. The short film reminds us that Frank responds strongly to anyone who conjures up memories of his daughter Lisa, ultimately leading him to rescue the family in the donut shop rather than pursue Ma Gnucci in the street. Sink’s character probably stirs up more memories of Lisa, prompting Frank to protect her from whatever villain (Marvin Jones III’s Tombstone?) or government organization (The Department of Damage Control?) that is pursuing her. That could also explain why Spider-Man and Punisher might be fighting on the same side in this case.

The open-ended conclusion to One Last Kill also suggests we’ll continue to see Bernthal’s Frank appear in the MCU going forward. Bernthal certainly has a strong attachment to the character. And while the actor’s commitments to One Last Kill and Brand New Day made it impossible for a guest role in Daredevil: Born Again Season 2, we wouldn’t be at all surprised if he rejoins the cast in Season 3.

Season 2 ends with Charlie Cox’s Matt Murdock being arrested after exposing his identity as Daredevil during a high-stakes court case. Initially, at least, Born Again Season 3 will see Matt locked behind bars and probably facing down many of the same criminals he helped put away. As much as Frank professes to loathe Matt, we could see him purposely getting himself arrested in order to put himself in a position to help Matt survive his prison ordeal. That’s exactly what happened in the comics in a storyline called “The Devil in Cell Block D.”

It’s also possible we could see Marvel Studios greenlight a continuation of the canceled Netflix Punisher show. Perhaps One Last Kill is meant to be a proof of concept for a longer series. It does seem intentional that the film leaves Light’s Ma Gnucci alive rather than killing her off. The new show could take its cues from 2000’s The Punisher: Welcome Back, Frank (which introduced the Ma Gnucci character and also inspired the 2004 The Punisher film). Heck, “Welcome Back, Frank” wouldn’t be a bad title for the series, very much in the same vein as Daredevil: Born Again.

Do you want Marvel to greenlight a new Punisher series on Disney+? Vote in our poll and let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

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