After many months of delays, rewrites and speculations it seems that “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” is finally starting production, and with it a load of new theories about what this fourth solo-Spidey film could entail. Even though more and more set photos leak, castings are announced and Twitter leakers continue to flap their gums, the story of the MCU’s latest Spider-Man film is not becoming any clearer. So far we know shockingly little about the film besides some official casting (which have quite frankly only made this entire thing more confusing) and unofficial rumors. Truly one of the only things we know for sure is the inclusion of Frank Castle, who will be starring alongside Peter Parker in this adventure, though to what his role in the story may be remains to be seen. Yet, what if I said I had an idea – a theory that, though based on set pictures and credible rumors, seems so implausibly plausible that I couldn’t even decide if I should keep it to myself or not. A theory that, if true, could create one of the most controversial takes on these characters we’ve ever seen. Let me explain.

This theory popped into my head like lightning. I was scrolling on Twitter reading about the leaks that were happening because of the beginning of “Brand New Day’s” shoot when the idea just appeared – it hit me like a truck… or a tank. See there had been a picture taken of this big tank, set to rampage through the fake New York City streets – and on it we see a red devil logo, adding a menacing touch to the already imposing vehicle. Many assumed that this devil is a connection to Martin Li, better known as Mister Negative, who fans have been waiting to see in live action for a while now. Following this a lot of people ran with that assumption, speculating about how and why Martin Li could be involved in the story. Yet, as plausible as that is, scooper DanielRPK did also tease that Punisher will be the one driving the vehicle – it is after all not really the style of Li and his goons to drive a huge tank like that. So why would Frank drive a tank branded by the Inner Demons? That’s the question I posed myself when I realized it.. what if it’s not Mr. Negative, what if it’s not the inner demons or anything even remotely associated with that – what if it’s The Hand!

Do you guys remember The Hand, of course you do. The bad guys from “Daredevil” season 2 and then “The Defenders” and I guess they were also in a bunch of Iron Fist episodes. The Hand were a big deal in the MCU for a while (during the Netflix era of the MCU that is, the canon of it all still remains a little vague but I’m pretty sure it’s all MCU now… right?) so why not bring them back? “Because it doesn’t make any sense!” I hear you say – to which I can only say: “Yeah! That’s what I thought too, but maybe it does make sense!”. For starters, there is precedent in the comics for it. It was only a few years ago when Jason Aaron launched his Punisher series, in which Frank got recruited by the Hand to serve as “The Fist of The Beast” – so there is precedent to have The Hand return – this time in Frank’s world instead of Matt’s. Sure, This was a pretty controversial time for the character, loved by one half of the audience and despised by the other half, so I understand it might not seem like the most obvious of stories to adapt but there is more evidence that this whole thing could be happening. 

We know the street level side of the MCU has up until this point been almost exclusively explored in “Daredevil: Born Again”. The show has largely been inspired by Charles Soule’s time writing the Daredevil comics but – with its season finale – is steadily morphing into something more akin to Chip Zdarsky’s books. It is during his tenure on Daredevil that Jason Aaron started writing his Punisher book, leading to a lot of crossover between the two stories. It wouldn’t be a stretch to think the creatives behind “Born Again” and this new street level saga in the MCU have read those Punisher books as well – maybe they even liked them so much they’re planning on adapting it in some way – and where better to start than a highly anticipated Spider-Man film?!

Obviously it would also end up tying into Daredevil, but It’s not like it doesn’t fit into the narrative “Born Again” has been building. Frank obviously escapes Fisk’s detainment and I’m sure revenge is at the forefront of his mind right now but with Fisk’s mayoral influence spreading and the Anti-Vigilante task force growing in strength, Frank needs a serious upgrade to get that payback he so craves. The Hand could be that payback. He gains a serious boost in strength and abilities during his time with them – upgrades Matt’s little army cannot possible grant him. On top of that we also know Frank is not too keen on Matt’s way of doing things, so joining his Vigilante team isn’t in the cards either. Yet joining The Hand would only fuel the ferocity of his ways, he’d become the unstoppable crime-destroying force he could never be before – now aided by an unstoppable ninja army as a bonus. 

This would need to be explored in both the second season of Born Again as well as the Punisher special Bernthal is currently filming – and from set photos and videos it doesn’t seem like mysticism is all that involved yet BUT, there is some more evidence pointing towards a return of The Hand in the near future. Look, it is quite a stretch but Elodie Yung, who portrayed Elektra in Season 2 of “Daredevil” and then returned for “The Defenders” series as well, did post an instagram picture that could hint towards a Daredevil return… really it’s only because she used a devil emoji in her caption but a lead is a lead and as a real Geek-tective I have to take into account every lead I get. “Born Again” Producer Sana Amanat also stated a desire to have the character return when the first season debuted earlier this year, saying; “One hundred percent it’s in the back of our heads. Eventually, we’ll try to figure out a bit more with that.” So we know this is something they’ve been thinking about, who knows how quickly they figured it out. 

It could also be that the idea stemmed from the “BND” team instead, realizing Frank and The Hand neatly slotted into what they were already building. We’ve heard two substantial rumors over the course of BND’s pre-production; first off, the film would be street level, featuring many lower class villains for Peter to face off against over the course of the film. On top of that rumors indicated that Silver Samurai and Viper could also be making an appearance as a more bigger looming threat, possibly orchestrating whatever scheme Peter finds himself in. If both of these leaks turn out to be true it would serve as the metaphorical glue holding these two sides of the theory together given that the Silver Samurai and The Hand are both major players in Marvel’s Japanese organized crime world.

I imagine it going something like this – Silver Samurai and Viper are concocting some sort of plan, I say they’re supplying the New York underworld with weapons, and Spider-Man catches wind of that some way or another. Let’s say he runs into a couple of villains like Boomerang and Scorpion sporting crazy upgraded weaponry which sets him on a path to finding out where they’re getting it from. It’s on that path that he crosses The Hand, being led by Frank. The Hand is on a crusade to rid the city of these weapons as well but classic comic book confusion will get in the way of an initial team-up (like it always does) as Punisher and Spider-Man face off against each other – both under the assumption that the other one is orchestrating this weapons-business. Obviously after a big fight breaks out (possibly the one we’re witnessing being filmed right now) the two characters team-up to thwart Silver Samurai and Viper (A team-up is something the synopsis released earlier this week backs up). 

Who knows, this could even lead to a fun post-credits-sequence that sees Matt visiting Peter while on his friendly-neighborhood-patrol, warning him that Frank is dangerous, that his methods are wrong and that any friend of the Hand is an enemy of Daredevil – a very organic way of having the two characters meet up finally. It could even be a great slow-burn problem for Matt which he has to put on the backburner while dealing with Fisk in season 2, a problem that grows stronger and stronger everyday they are not put in their place. Zdarsky’s book actually features a ton of animosity between Frank and Matt, a dynamic I’d love to see recreated by Cox and Bernthal given just how well they’ve adapted that butting-heads relationship before.

Now truth be told, this all doesn’t fit in together as neatly as I would like, there are still so many loose ends that need to be tied up to make this all make sense. Why is Hulk involved for instance? And where do all those other villains fit in? Or what about Jon Bernthal, he’s producing the Punisher special and I do not think he’s completely down to go in such a mystical route (even though this could be explained away by just depowering Frank compared to his comic counterpart) – let alone the fans, how would they react to such a wild departure from the Frank they know and love. Many questions still remain but I can’t deny that I kind of love this idea. I’m one of those people who appreciated what Aaron did with his Punisher book and seeing that play out in the MCU would be cool. You can’t tell me that a Sword wielding unstoppable Punisher doesn’t sound like a hell of a good time!?

What do you think? Am I making sense? And let me know if you have any good theories about Brand New Day that you’d like to talk about. As always, give me a follow wherever you can and make sure to stick around for more articles about Marvel, Spider-Man and comics in general!