Ever since his first appearance in the Season 2 Netflix Daredevil series as the weapons-toting, no-nonsense, ex-military vigilante who waged a war a one-man war on crime after his family was killed, The Punisher has been an integral figure in the ever-evolving storyline of Marvel Studios’ street-level characters.
Also integral to the character of Frank Castle/The Punisher has been actor Jon Bernthal, who recently reprised the role in the latest episode of Daredevil: Born Again. Surprisingly, Bernthal almost didn’t return as The Punisher for Daredevil: Born Again because his vision for the character didn’t align with what the showrunners were proposing, as he explained in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly.
“Ultimately, I didn’t see it,” Bernthal said. “I didn’t see the version of Frank, and what they wanted from Frank [didn’t] really make sense to me. I thought [it] would not appeal to the fans and wouldn’t be congruent. It was not something I was really interested in doing. So we had to walk away.”
After the series went through a series of massive changes due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strikes and Dario Scardapane became new showrunner, Bernthal said his sentiment on playing The Punisher in Daredevil: Born Again shifted.
“They really brought me into the conversation,” Bernthal added, noting his prior synergy with Scardapane stemming from them working together on Netflix’s The Punisher series. “We really got specific about where Frank is psychologically, where Frank’s at physically.”
Bernthal next appearance as the character will be in an upcoming Marvel Special Presentation starring The Punisher which he co-wrote alongside director Reinaldo Marcus Green.
“Bernthal is a generational actor. He’s incredible what he brings to all the roles he plays, but particularly Frank Castle. And he’s a great writer. He knows the character inside and out,” Green said of the project.
What do you think of the fact that Jon Bernthal almost didn’t return as The Punisher for Daredevil: Born Again? Could you see anyone else playing the role or is he as important to the film version of the character as Patrick Stewart has been to Professor X? Or Ryan Reynolds to Deadpool? Or potentially Jason Momoa as Lobo in the DC Universe? Let us know in the comments.
