MCU, beware: The Punisher is coming back. In the upcoming Disney+ show “Daredevil: Born Again,” Jon Bernthal will play the gun-toting hero who is back in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Jon Bernthal’s return to the role was first reported on March 7. That same day, he posted a picture of himself as The Punisher on Instagram and a video called “Frank Castle is Back” on the official “Real Ones With Jon Bernthal” YouTube channel.
Frank Castle, aka the Punisher, was first shown in Netflix’s mini-universe of street-level Marvel characters. In 2016, he made his first appearance in Season 2 of “Daredevil.” After that, he had his own two-season spinoff show with the same name.
The Punisher will be in “Daredevil: Born Again” for the first time since Netflix canceled the spinoff after Season 2 in 2019. Since then, “Daredevil,” “Jessica Jones,” “Luke Cage,” “Iron Fist,” and “The Defenders,” all of Netflix’s more mature Marvel shows, have moved to Disney+. They joined other R-rated superhero movies for adults like Fox’s “Deadpool” movies and “Logan” on the family-friendly Disney streaming service.
The Punisher is a tough but popular character from Marvel comics. His past is as sad as it gets. Castle is a decorated U.S. soldier who comes home from war to find his family brutally killed. He goes out looking for revenge with a lot of guns and bullets. In Season 2 of “Daredevil,” he first got into trouble with “The Man Without Fear.” In “The Punisher,” he found out that his family’s murder was part of a much darker plot.
Jon Bernthal is the latest actor from a Marvel show on Netflix to join the main MCU, which is getting bigger and bigger. Cox first showed up as Daredevil’s other self, blind lawyer Matt Murdock, in a cameo in “Spider-Man: No Way Home” in 2021. The following year, he became a recurring character on Disney+’s “She-Hulk: Attorney at Law” before it was announced that he would have his own show. Vincent D’Onofrio, who played Wilson Fisk/Kingpin on Netflix’s “Daredevil,” who also appeared in the “Hawkeye” series on Disney+ in 2021. He will also be back in the next series of “Echo.” Michael Gandolfini, Margarita Levieva, Sandrine Holt, and Nikki M. James are also in the cast of “Daredevil: Born Again.”
