With the Punisher appearing in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has a full circle moment on its hands. Tom Holland’s Spider-Man trilogy ended with a darker film that set up a new direction for the character in the MCU. While not many details about Spider-Man: Brand New Day‘s story have been revealed, the movie’s cast is coming together.

Stranger Things‘ Sadie Sink will play a mystery character, Zendaya and Jacob Batalon are expected to return as MJ and Ned Leeds, and Jon Bernthal will reprise his Punisher role in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. The latter was the latest reveal about the MCU’s anticipated movie and the one that made me the most excited due to Marvel Comics’ history.

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While Bernthal’s Frank Castle is my favorite version of the character, and he has pretty much made the role his own, the Punisher has a long history. In the comics, that trails back to his debut, which happened in none other than a Spider-Man comic book. Castle’s first appearance was in The Amazing Spider-Man #129, released on October 30, 1973.

That story did not have the character as a hero. The Punisher had been hired by one of Spider-Man’s villains, the Jackal, to hunt the wall-crawler. This leads to the Punisher and Spider-Man fighting a couple of times throughout the issue. The conflict ends when Castle realizes he was played by the Jackal, which is a common superhero story trope.

Since then, Spider-Man and the Punisher have had many iconic moments together in the comics. One of those is when Frank Castle saved a nearly lifeless Peter Parker in Civil War. Due to that rich history between the two, I could not be happier that the Punisher is now going to appear in Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

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Leaving the comics behind and focusing only on the MCU, I believe it is easy to understand why the Punisher is perfect for the Spider-Man movie. At the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home, the hero chooses to leave his life as Peter Parker behind. When we pick back up with him, Peter will be no more — only Spider-Man remains.

That is a dark concept that the Punisher can relate to. After the death of his family, Frank Castle’s personal life became pretty much non-existent. His whole world became his mission, which we have seen on Netflix’s Daredevil and The Punisher and recently on Disney+’s Daredevil: Born Again.

Since Castle is made of rage and left his life behind to be the Punisher, he is uniquely equipped to understand the situation Peter is in. More than that, the Punisher’s life story can serve as a cautionary tale to Tom Holland’s Spider-Man. They can team up, with Peter slowly realizing he does not want to turn into Castle.

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With Bernthal’s Punisher set to appear in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, I think there is a solid chance that Charlie Cox’s Daredevil will also show up. Both characters have been linked since their Netflix days. With Daredevil being one of the faces of the street-level MCU, it would make sense for him to be part of the Spider-Man movie.

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As Cox already appeared opposite Holland as Matt Murdock, Peter Parker’s lawyer, in Spider-Man: No Way Home, that casting seems like an easy one. If the film is a street-level event for the MCU, other characters from Netflix’s The Defenders Saga could appear. Wilson D’Onofrio’s Kingpin would be a solid villain as he took over New York City.

Recently, there have been rumors that Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk would show up. While nothing indicates that is true, I feel like Bruce Banner could be another example for Peter right now. The character embraced his Banner side to the detriment of the Hulk through Smart Hulk. Spider-Man: Brand New Day could use multiple heroes to show Peter how to find balance.