Our Jon Bernthal Punisher Return Exclusive Confirmed By THR
THR confirms our exclusive report that Jon Bernthal is returning to play The Punisher in Daredevil: Born Again.
It was last July that we exclusively reported that Jon Bernthal would reprise his role as Frank Castle, aka The Punisher, in Disney+’s upcoming Daredevil: Born Again and The Hollywood Reporter has finally caught up to us. THR confirms their own sources have told them that Bernthal will appear in the Man Without Fear’s new series. It’s a fitting return for the vigilante who made his MCU debut in Season 2 of Netflix’s Daredevil and went on to two seasons of his own series.
This news may have begun surfacing in more places in part because of some bad news Jon Bernthal and others received not too long ago. Bernthal’s series American Gigolo, a series remake of the 1980 Richard Gere-led film, was one of a not short list of shows not only canceled at Showtime, but scheduled to be removed entirely from its streaming service. The merging of the Paramount+ and Showtime streaming services is apparently to blame for the drastic shifts.
The confirmation of Jon Bernthal’s return to Marvel is not only good news for fans of The Punisher, but a hopeful update for the Daredevil series. Some fans have been understandably concerned after quotes surfaced from Charlie Cox that Born Again wouldn’t be as grim and gritty as its Netflix predecessor. The lead said the show would “be dark but it probably won’t be as gory.”
As THR notes, along with Jon Bernthal, Vincent D’Onofrio had already signed on to reprise his role as Wilson Fisk, aka the Kingpin. With both D’Onofrio returning as Fisk and Bernthal once more playing Frank Castle, it’s difficult to imagine Born Again could be the sanitized series some fans fear. The Punisher doesn’t hold to Matt Murdock’s moral qualms against killing criminals, and one of Wilson Fisk’s most infamous scenes in Netflix’s Daredevil features him crushing a man’s head in the door of a car.
One big question that will no doubt be on fans’ minds is what will happen with the Punisher’s iconic skull logo in the MCU. Because of extremist right-wing groups co-opting the Punisher logo for themselves, Marvel Comics redesigned the vigilante’s logo and made it his official one in the comics. Will Jon Bernthal likewise have a new shirt?
For the time being, the question probably isn’t too important, particularly considering in the Netflix series — both in Daredevil and The Punisher — he actually doesn’t wear the skull shirt all that much regardless. And that was long before anyone but the character and the fans were wearing the logo.
Daredevil: Born Again is expected to hit Disney+ next year, though with Marvel shuffling around its schedule, you never know. The first season of the show will reportedly be 18 episodes long, which means we’ll hopefully get plenty of episodes that include Jon Bernthal.
