Daredevil: Born Again: Jon Bernthal reprising the role of The Punisher

It looks like The Punisher might be making his way to Disney+. According to The Hollywood Reporter, actor Jon Bernthal will be reprising the role of The Punisher in Daredevil: Born Again, which is scheduled to debut on the streaming platform next year.

The Punisher is one of many characters returning

While Marvel has yet to confirm the actor’s return, rumors of the character coming back have been swirling for a while. The announcement from The Hollywood Reporter is the most concrete bit of evidence yet that we will get to see The Punisher return to the MCU once again.

We already know that Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio will be reprising their roles of Daredevil and Wilson Fisk, aka The Kingpin, respectively. Both actors have already reprised their roles in other projects on Disney+, with D’Onofrio appearing in Hawkeye and Cox showing up in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, as well as a brief movie cameo in Spider-Man: No Way Home.

However, even with the other cast members of the Netflix Marvel shows returning to their characters on Disney+, it’s still somewhat unexpected to hear that The Punisher is returning as well. The six Marvel shows that aired on Netflix were much grittier and darker than anything else related to the MCU.

There was a noticeable difference in the tone of shows like Daredevil and The Punisher, and the MCU shows airing on Disney+ as part of Phase 4 and beyond. When the Netflix shows moved to Disney+ last year, Disney had to add a content warning that previously didn’t exist, as they were more graphic than anything else on the platform at the time.

How will The Punisher work on Disney?

It’s been assumed that Daredevil: Born Again will be somewhat lighter than the three previous Netflix seasons of Daredevil. There has been speculation on what kind of balance Disney might try to strike between the tone of the Netflix shows and the rest of the MCU on Disney+.

The announcement of The Punisher returning, may mean people have to adjust their speculations. The Punisher is by far, one of the darker characters in Marvel, and was able to thrive in the grittier corner of the MCU that Netflix was building.

The character is an antihero vigilante, who will stop at nothing to punish those he views as guilty. The character has tortured and murdered plenty of people, heavily using guns in his crusade against crime.

It will be interesting to see how Marvel plans to bring him into their Disney+ projects, while still remaining true to the character.

Doing the character correctly…

Jon Bernthal has spoken several times about the possibility of playing The Punisher again, ever since The Punisher series was canceled at Netflix. It will be interesting to see how The Punisher is handled when Daredevil: Born Again premieres next year, and its fans will be able to see if Disney brought back the character correctly.

How do you feel about The Punisher joining a Disney+ Marvel series? Let us know in the comments below!