Season two of Marvel’s Daredevil on Netflix was expected to include some new characters — especially the more famous ones from comic book storylines, such as Matt Murdock’s one-time lover Elektra and the assassin Bullseye. But the first season of Daredevil established a dark, gritty world with street-level vigilantes taking on human traffickers, drug dealers and organized crime lords. After watching the first 13 episodes, many fans and observers felt that one Marvel character in particular would fit extremely well in this setting: The Punisher.
Evidently, Marvel saw things the same way. On Tuesday, the studio and publisher announced that its lethal force vigilante would be part of Daredevil’s second season and that the character would be portrayed by Jon Bernthal (The Walking Dead, Fury).
Thanks for the love yall. Let’s get it. Honored. pic.twitter.com/ZQ4xNfocHH
— Jon Bernthal (@jonnybernthal) June 9, 2015
For those unfamiliar with the Punisher, Frank Castle was a war veteran whose wife and child were killed by the mob when they witnessed a shooting. Castle survived the attack and used his skills to take the law into his own hands. (The skull emblem on his chest has become an iconic symbol. If you saw American Sniper, perhaps you remember Chris Kyle and his Navy SEAL team wearing it on hats and body armor.)
Unlike typical superheroes (and I don’t think anyone would call The Punisher a superhero), Castle has no qualms about killing criminals and employing whatever means necessary to rid that sort of element from the streets and surrounding culture, a philosophy that made him an extremely popular character among 1990s comic book fans.
Those who watched season one of Daredevil know that a central conflict for the character was whether or not he could cross the ethical line of killing Wilson Fisk to achieve his objective of protecting the people of Hell’s Kitchen. (Christopher Nolan’s Batman films also addressed this internal dilemma for a vigilante who was presumably a hero.) Ultimately, Murdock decides that making Fisk face justice under the legal system is the right way to handle the matter.
But the Punisher represents the more extreme side of that struggle, exacting a far more lethal form of justice to his adversaries. Will he serve as a villain in the season two narrative, someone Daredevil has to stop from continuing to kill, or will he be portrayed as more of an anti-hero, someone whose methods are highly unethical but nonetheless effective?
Frank Castle has been adapted to the screen in three previous movies, neither of which were particularly successful. In a 1989 film that went straight to video, the Punisher was played by Dolph Lundgren. In 2004, with comic book movies becoming increasingly popular, a new version was made starring Thomas Jane. Four years later, a sequel — Punisher: War Zone — was released in theaters, with Ray Stevenson cast as the vigilante, but that effort was a major flop. (Though I would argue its cartoonish violence makes it a potential cult classic.)
Ever since the film rights to the character reverted back to Marvel, fans have hoped that the studio would make another Punisher movie. But having a small-screen outlet through Netflix allows for a deeper interpretation of the character that a mainstream film might not have allowed. Additionally, being a supporting character on Daredevil means the Punisher doesn’t have to carry a story, something he may not be capable of doing, judging from the poor success rate of the previous three films.
Bernthal is probably best known as Shane Walsh on The Walking Dead. If you watched him on that show, you know he’ll have no problem playing an intense, stone-cold killer who can become unhinged and has no problem ignoring any sort of moral dilemma. Bernthal also demonstrated quite a talent for playing an acerbic jerk in many roles, which he’ll likely be asked to do in Daredevil, presenting plenty of tension between him and Charlie Cox.
Anyone who hoped for Frank Grillo (who’s already in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Brock Rumlow in the Captain America series) or even Tom Hardy — who said he wanted to play the character in some fashion — to be cast as the Punisher will probably be won over by Bernthal. This is good casting by Marvel.
