Jon Bernthal wants to return to the MCU as The Punisher – and when that happens, he’s made an important assurance to fans.
Frank Castle, aka The Punisher, has been a tricky character to adapt for the screen. Dolph Lundgren’s ’80s flop stripped his iconography, while Thomas Jane’s underrated 2004 movie pales in comparison to his brief but brilliant return in the Dirty Laundry short film. Ray Stevenson delivered a sensationally ultra-violent turn in Punisher: War Zone, but it bombed at the box office.
Bernthal’s debut as the skull-toting vigilante in Daredevil was rightly hailed as the highlight of Season 2, and his solo Netflix series was mostly great. However, like the rest of the Defenders, he became a casualty of the MCU’s pivot to Disney Plus and reluctance to foreground adult-oriented entertainment.
Now, the tide is turning. Marvel dropped its first TV-MA series with Echo, which also brought back Charlie Cox’s Man Without Fear and Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin. It seems Bernthal’s return could be imminent – but don’t worry about him becoming Disney-fied.
Jon Bernthal will make sure The Punisher is “done right” in the MCU
Bernthal is set to reprise his fan-favorite role in Daredevil: Born Again. In an interview with Collider, the star addressed the anticipation around his return.
“I think there’s a reason why that character has resonated as deeply and strongly as he has. In the hearts and minds of comic book fans and first responders and people in the military and people all over the globe,” he said.
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“I think there’s a little bit of Frank Castle in everybody. He exists very strongly inside me and I care about that character deeply.”
It’s unclear how much of his story from will carry over into the current MCU. Daredevil and the other Defenders’ series are now considered canon after their official consecration into the timeline, but it’d be wise to expect some mild retconning; Echo changed some details about Kingpin’s backstory, but nothing major.
“I also know that it’s absolutely essential that if we do it, we do it right and we have real sacred integrity to the source material and to what is at the core of Frank. I’m gonna do my absolute best to make sure that, if and when we do it, we do it right,” Bernthal also stressed.
The upcoming series went through a major creative overhaul in late 2023, with Loki directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead enlisted to direct several episodes. Elden Henson and Deborah Ann Woll, who played Foggy and Karen, are now expected to reprise their roles after earlier plans to kill them off were scrapped.
You can find out everything else we know about Daredevil: Born Again here.
