The Walking Dead has had its fair share of antagonists throughout the years, but few of them have been as iconic as Shane Walsh. The wannabe leader portrayed by Jon Bernthal pushed Rick Grimes and his family to the extreme before meeting his end and turning into a walker. After playing such an iconic role, Bernthal's career was pushed to new heights, and 2026 has proven to be the actor's best year yet.
Winds favored the release of Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, a Greek epic featuring Jon Bernthal as Menelaus, the king of Sparta. This ambitious adaptation of Homer's poems quickly became the highest-grossing R-rated movie ever made, dethroning the previous champion, Deadpool & Wolverine. But to balance things out, Jon Bernthal also starred in one of Marvel's most successful movies ever, which just surpassed an impressive milestone.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day becomes the highest-grossing film at the domestic box office
Who knew that a teenager from Queens and a violent anti-hero would take over the world? Since its release, Spider-Man: Brand New Day has been making waves for all the right reasons. Not only was the film released to critical success, but it also had the biggest opening at the domestic box office, breaking the previous record set by Avengers: Doomsday.
Since then, Spider-Man: Brand New Day has been shattering records left and right. Not only did it become the wall-crawler's highest-grossing movie, but it quickly cemented itself as the third-biggest release ever at the worldwide box office, behind Avengers: Doomsday and the original Avatar. It's also among the few projects that managed to surpass the $2 billion mark, and now it has reached yet another impressive milestone.
On Sep. 16, 2026, Spider-Man: Brand New Day became the highest-grossing film at the domestic box office. For reference, here are the eight most successful movies released in US theaters and how much each one grossed:
- Spider-Man: Brand New Day - $937 million
- Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens - $936 million
- Avengers: Endgame - $858 million
- Spider-Man: No Way Home - $814 million
- Avatar - $785 million
- Top Gun: Maverick - $721 million
- Black Panther - $700 million
- Avatar: The Way of Water - $688 million
Sony and Marvel extended Spider-Man: Brand New Day's theatrical run all the way to Nov. 16, 2026, due to its overwhelming levels of success. The wall-crawler's latest adventure currently sits at $2.45 billion at the worldwide box office, so by the end of its run, it is likely to reach $2.7 billion, and there's a chance it even surpasses Avengers: Endgame to become the second-biggest film ever made.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day marked the big-screen debut of Jon Bernthal's The Punisher. The violent anti-hero has appeared in no shortage of TV projects since his introduction in Netflix's Daredevil season 2 back in 2016. A decade later, he finally had the opportunity to appear in a major theatrical release, and the wait was certainly worth it.
While there are many things to praise about the MCU's latest project, one of the main highlights is the dynamic between Peter Parker and Frank Castle. Tom Holland even revealed that he wants to "repay the favor" and appear in a Punisher series moving forward, further developing the relationship between these characters.
Interestingly, it has been rumored that Marvel is working on an ambitious street-level crossover film that will include the likes of Spider-Man, Punisher, Jessica Jones, Daredevil, Luke Cage, and more. While nothing is set in stone yet, all signs seem to indicate that we will see Peter and Frank team up once again in the future.
Jon Bernthal is also reported to have a brief cameo as the Punisher in Avengers: Doomsday, which is shaping up to be 2026's highest-grossing film yet. If that ends up being the case, Bernthal would have appeared in three of the biggest films of the year. And even if the anti-hero doesn't join forces with Earth's Mightiest Heroes, his latest adventure with the wall-crawler has already made the best kind of history.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is now playing in theaters.
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