Tom Holland Wants an R-Rated Spider-Man Series on Disney+ — Could It Happen?
After Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Tom Holland wants to push Spidey into R-rated Punisher territory.
If you grew up on comics, or just kept one eye on the Marvel assembly line, you know fanboys have spent the better part of 50 years dreaming about a proper Spider-Man and Punisher team-up on the big screen. Given all the stop-and-start franchise shuffling, it’s taken this long to get Tom Holland’s friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man sharing scenes with Jon Bernthal’s gruff-as-nails Frank Castle. The crossover’s finally happening in Spider-Man: Brand New Day—and if you reckon that’s overdue, you’re not alone.
Tom Holland Fancies a Darker Web
Now, the real fun comes with the question: how do you mash up the world’s most family-friendly superhero with Marvel’s most trigger-happy vigilante? The internet loves to moan about whether The Punisher’s R-rated violence would be watered down for a Spider-Man-led crowd-pleaser—but nobody’s spent much time pondering the other way round.
Holland himself got into that with Empire, saying he's curious to see what an R-rated Spider-Man would actually look like. 'I would love to pop up in one of [Punisher’s] shows. Let’s see what an R-rated version of Spider-Man looks like,' Holland said. And fair play, that's not nothing coming from the poster boy for Marvel’s PG-13 empire.
The two actors aren’t strangers, by the way—they actually first worked together on The Pilgrimage, and reportedly helped each other with their original Marvel auditions. Holland didn’t hold back about what their reunion means to him, saying he’s 'so grateful for Jon for taking the leap and being a part of the film, and I would love to repay the favour.' If you like your superhero universe with a side of bromance, that’s the behind-the-scenes detail to savour.
So Why Hasn’t Spider-Man Gone Full 18 Certificate?
If you’re thinking: why not just drop Spider-Man into one of The Punisher’s bloodier shows—or even the third season of Daredevil: Born Again? Here’s where we get tangled up in the business side. Marvel Studios can only put Spider-Man in films, thanks to the deal they hammered out with Sony Pictures. No cameos in the Disney+ live-action shows, no matter how much the fans shout at the clouds.
It’s so strict that Spidey barely gets a passing mention, even in stuff that's crawling with his rogues' gallery. The closest anyone’s managed was Kingpin’s very careful 'man dressed up as a spider' name-drop in Daredevil: Born Again Season 1.
Oh, and there’s another quirk: Peter Parker is forbidden from turning up in live-action telly full stop. That’s why the upcoming Prime Video Spider-Noir series features Ben Reilly instead of Peter—totally at odds with both the comics and Into the Spider-Verse. That’s some proper legal wrangling, and it explains why Sony’s own attempts at Spidey-adjacent films—looking at you, Venom, Kraven the Hunter, Madame Web—are never allowed to mention the words Peter Parker or Spider-Man.
What’s Next for Spider-Man and Friends?
Since Spider-Man is chained to the cinema, any grisly Marvel types like The Punisher or Daredevil have to cross over into Spidey’s films if we’re hoping for on-screen playgrounds together. But, given the family-friendly brand and that Sony would combust if the next Spider-Man went R-rated, you’re very unlikely to see Tom Holland’s Peter Parker dropping into an adults-only bloodbath.
Still, if The Punisher can behave himself enough for a PG-13 film, it’s completely plausible other street-level characters—Daredevil, for example—could make their way into the next Spider-Man flick. We’ll see if Matt Murdock’s knocking about in Spider-Man: Brand New Day or if someone’s saving him for later.