Jon Bernthal is returning as The Punisher in Daredevil: Born Again. As per The Hollywood Reporter, The Walking Dead actor is ready to reprise his position as the antihero Frank Castle in the upcoming Disney+ sequence — for the primary time since Netflix’s Punisher wrapped in 2019. The final we heard of Bernthal suiting up as The Punisher was in August 2022 when actress Rosario Dawson — whose character was launched in Netflix’s Daredevil — let slip that info, solely to retract it later. Daredevil: Born Again is a part of Phase Five of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and is slated to launch in early 2024.
The report notes that Bernthal will reunite with actors Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio in the sequence, after having beforehand collaborated with them in Netflix’s interconnected Marvel sequence run. Filming begins in New York City later this month, with the sequence being poised as an extended epic than different Marvel Studios productions such as She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (9 episodes) and Moon Knight (6 episodes). Daredevil: Born Again is deliberate as an 18-episode-long affair, co-written and government produced by Matt Corman and Chris Ord. The sequence itself is a mushy reboot, of kinds, based mostly on the eponymous 1986 comedian e-book run — written by Frank Miller — which particulars the masked vigilante’s descent into madness on the Kingpin’s palms, as he struggles to construct a brand new life for himself.
The Disney+ sequence, nonetheless, is poised to deviate from that plot to an unspecified diploma. The Punisher, as an example, by no means appeared in that story, whereas Matt Murdock/ Daredevil continued his paranoia-driven struggle in opposition to the Kingpin. Bernthal’s The Punisher first appeared in Netflix’s Daredevil season 2, the place he waged a one-man warfare in opposition to crime, finally crossing paths with Cox’s Daredevil and tying him as much as show that deadly forces are essentially the most viable technique to eradicate crime. His arc finally branched right into a standalone The Punisher sequence, which ran for 2 seasons, earlier than Netflix cancelled the present in 2019. Netflix quickly misplaced its license for Marvel content material in 2022, which led to reveals such as Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and the aforementioned The Punisher, transferring to Disney+ Hotstar.
That mentioned, different supporting characters from the Netflix-Marvel run such as Deborah Ann Woll’s Karen Page and Elden Hensen’s Foggy Nelson are reportedly not a part of the solid lineup for Daredevil: Born Again. Cox was reinstated into Kevin Feige’s MCU in 2021, making a cameo in Spider-Man: No Way Home, after which he made a quick look in the ultimate two episodes of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. In the latter, he was seen sporting a yellow-and-red go well with, impressed by the basic Marvel comedian books.
Back in 2021, Bernthal acknowledged in an interview that he hopes every other iterations of the Punisher character must be shrouded in darkness. “It needs to be a level of darkness. I think if there’s any let-up on that character, you do a disservice to the character, to every iteration of the character, to every comic book that’s come before, and to all of the unbelievable fans of the character. This character means so much to people in the military,” he mentioned. “So, like I said before, it’s not about whether you do the character; it’s about whether you can do it right, and I’m only interested in doing it right.”
Daredevil: Born Again is ready for launch in early 2024, throughout Disney+ and Disney+ Hotstar.
