Back in the day, several exciting Marvel series ran on Netflix, which were not tightly connected to the MCU but, in exchange, portrayed the comic book world as much darker and more brutal. Alongside Daredevil, one of these was the closely related Punisher, where Jon Bernthal's furious vigilante hunted down criminals. Since the blind superhero is returning soon with Born Again, hope arose that Frank Castle would also pick up his rifle again, and this wasn’t without basis: Brad Winderbaum, the head of Marvel Studios' television division, revealed to Entertainment Weekly that while it may not be a full series, a special episode for The Punisher is coming, which he compared to Werewolf by Night and The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special.
THE NEXT PARAGRAPH CONTAINS SPOILERS ABOUT DAREDEVIL: BORN AGAIN AND THE PUNISHER EPISODE STORY!
A filming clip recently leaked, revealing that Bernthal will indeed appear in Born Again. As Winderbaum just revealed, the story for the special Punisher episode was conceived during the filming of the new Daredevil season. He mentioned that Matt Murdock will ask Frank Castle to do something that “he himself is unwilling to do.” The Punisher, however, who is “like a bull in a china shop,” immediately goes after the root of the problem.
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The episode will be written by Bernthal, along with We Own This City miniseries director Reinaldo Marcus Green (the actor also appeared in this series). Winderbaum described the story as “a shot from a shotgun, but full of all the pathos and emotion we expect from a Frank Castle story.” He called the project specifically “exciting.”
Winderbaum recently hinted that more Netflix Marvel series could return, so it’s not out of the question that The Defenders might make a comeback as well.
The first two episodes of Daredevil: Born Again will drop on Disney+ on March 4th, and early reviews suggest they are quite well-received.
