Jon Bernthal Will Return as The Punisher on Daredevil: Born Again

Television

Disney+ is in for some punishment. (Actually, we’re probably the ones about to be punished because it’s Disney+ Marvel.) The Hollywood Reporter has heard from sources that Jon Bernthal will return as the Punisher on Daredevil: Born Again, the revival of the excellent Netflix show starring Charlie Cox as Daredevil. Bernthal debuted as the character during season 2 of Daredevil before getting two seasons of his own series, after which Netflix canceled all its Marvel shows. In addition to Cox and Bernthal, Vincent D’Onofrio will be back as Wilson Fisk, alias the Kingpin, Daredevil’s nemesis. THR says that Deborah Ann Woll and Elden Henson, who played supporting characters Karen Page and Foggy Nelson (I suppose saying “respectively” isn’t redundant nowadays), aren’t likely to reprise their roles. Daredevil: Born Again will begin production later this month in New York. Matt Corman and Chris Ord will serve as showrunners.

I used the above clip because that’s what I expect the Disney+ version of the Punisher to be: a silly caricature of himself who uses net guns and glue guns, and possibly Nerf guns if Disney gets some product placement deals. They’ve said they want to water down Daredevil so it isn’t as dark as the Netflix seasons, and if that’s the case, I can’t imagine them allowing a halfway decent depiction of Frank Castle, even if Jon Bernthal is back. And it’s a shame because Bernthal, who was fantastic in the part, got a raw deal on Netflix too. Castle’s arc on Daredevil was perfect; it showed him transition from vengeance-seeker to vigilante, transitioning from a grieving father avenging his family to a lost soldier who’d finally found his war. Then, he got his own show, and they immediately regressed him, retconning the end of his revenge and having him retire, only to retcon his revenge even more after that. Then, the second season followed suit, with him still hunting one of the guys behind his family’s murder. And when that show ended with him finally becoming the Punisher… it was canceled, and we were told we’d never see him again. Swell.

That’s what sucks about his return on Daredevil: Born Again. I should be ecstatic to see Bernthal back as the Punisher as much as I should be for Charlie Cox’s return as Daredevil. But I’m not because Disney and Marvel are making a series of dumb decisions that I can’t understand for the life of me. This show was gift-wrapped for them; all they had to do was bring all the actors and characters back, hire some of the same showrunners (there were different ones every season; I’d go with underrated Buffy alum Doug Petrie from season 2 if I had the choice) or guys who have a good track record and could fit with that tone and world, and just make season 4. But they want to Disney-fy it, so they’re going for a lighter, more comedic tone, they aren’t bringing back Deborah Ann Woll or Elden Henson, and they’re getting the guys behind Covert Affairs (and little else) to run things. It’s like they’re trying to piss people off. I mean, the Disney+ Marvel shows have been mostly failures, especially this last spate of them. Daredevil: Born Again hasn’t gone into production yet. The smart thing to do would be to change course and give people what they want.

And, who knows? Maybe they have done that, or maybe the change in tone isn’t as drastic as we think, or maybe Matt Corman and Chris Ord will end up being geniuses just waiting for a chance to do something great. It could happen. But Marvel has about burned the optimism out of me at this point, and I’m preparing myself to see some more great characters get embarrassed by an aimless studio that has no idea what it’s doing anymore.