Oh, let me count the ways The Punisher: One Last Kill was a rough watch. The Marvel special, which you can check out with your Disney+ subscription, was a huge bummer. Not just in the story it told, but how the story was told, too. It picks up with Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal) at the end of his rope. Like a lot of Punisher stories, there is no happy ending for Frank, but as this special is clearly meant to set up the character’s entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, we know this isn’t the ending. I’m glad that’s the case, because the…show?...movie?...special presentation didn’t really work for me on a few different levels.

If you haven’t seen The Punisher: One Last Kill or Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 and don’t want to be spoiled, you'd better stop here, because I’m going to be spoiling a lot.

First, The Dog

I have to start with the dog at the beginning. Broadway legend John Douglas Thompson plays the homeless vet with a cute dog who is brutally attacked in the street by a gang of thugs. The beating ends with one of the taking the dog and throwing the poor thing into traffic. This was probably the moment that many TVs turned off the show. I get it. No one likes to see dogs get hurt. Me included.

However, what upsets me even more is that this kind of action is completely unnecessary. It would have been enough to have the gang beat the guy up and steal his Marine Corps hat. The added brutality of killing a dog is, in my opinion, a cheap way to garner sympathy for a character and show how bad another can be. It’s a trope that I can’t stand because it’s manipulative when it’s not needed. I didn’t turn it off, but I was immediately wary of what would come.

The Story Is Obviously A Bummer, But So Was The Experience

The story of Frank finding purpose is, as I said, like most Punisher stories, a bummer. Everything with Frank Castle is hard to watch, and Berthal nails this aspect of the character. Every time he relives the death of his family is sad, and once again, we see some of that here. Every time we see Frank break down and find himself reeling (again) from their murders, it is hard. I expected all that, but what I didn’t expect, as I generally really love this portion of the MCU, is how much of a bummer the show would be outside of the plot.

The timeline is confusing, at best. It never really establishes where it fits in with the Daredevil corner of the MCU, much less the bigger MCU timeline. Presumably, this story takes place after the events of Daredevil: Born Again, but it gives no cues or clues that it is for sure. It also probably takes place before the events we’re going to see in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which hits theaters in a couple of months as part of the 2026 movie schedule. Again, though, there is nothing in the show that confirms this.

Finally, the special was just too short. It ends right as it seems like it should be beginning. It’s like a pretty good season premiere, instead of a complete story. It reminds me of a 50-minute version of those shorts they used to do early on in the MCU that helped bridge a gap between movies and superheroes. I guess this is bridging the gap between The Punisher TV show from almost a decade ago and Brand New Day, which makes sense, but it still feels a little hollow.

This doesn’t mean I’m less excited for Bernthal’s Punisher in the MCU. I’m still psyched about that.

MCU fans have been looking forward to seeing Jon Bernthal reunite with Tom Holland on Spider-Man: Brand New Day for the last year, since it was announced that The Punisher was joining the superhero flick. However, fans of Frank Castle don’t have to wait that long to see the iconic antihero’s next moves. The Punisher: One Last Kill is set to hit the 2026 TV schedule, and critics have strong (and not all positive) opinions about the new Marvel offering.

Jon Bernthal, naturally, leads The Punisher standalone special (streaming with a Disney+ subscription), where we’ll see Frank Castle’s attempt to live a life without the need for vigilante justice. After that brutal One Last Kill trailer, though, we can assume that plan doesn't pan out. Zach Pope writes on X (Twitter) that fans of the character are going to love this:

@Klepcx of Critix Media says The Punisher: One Last Kill will leave MCU fans stunned by how brutal this Marvel Special Presentation is, saying there’s “nothing in the superhero genre right now quite like” it. The critic continues:

Leo Rydel also speaks to the violence of it all, saying the lead actor is at his best in the upcoming Marvel show. The critic tweets:

Dalton Burdette agrees the special is great, but rather than comment on the violence and bloody action, this critic seems moved by the “profound” quiet moments as well. Burdette writes on X:

The first reactions to the Disney+ show aren’t all so glowing. While everyone seems to agree that Jon Bernthal is doing his best work here, the material he’s working with is leaving some critics wanting. The Koalition’s @sagesurge posts:

Film Posers’ @gaby_burgos27 takes the criticism a step further, citing a lack of character development. She says:

Cody Leach, movie fan and critic, wonders why we need to be reintroduced to Jon Bernthal’s character in this way, especially if there’s nothing new to learn. He tweets:

If you’re tuning into The Punisher: One Last Kill for some violent fight sequences and to see that version of Jon Bernthal we love to hate, it sounds like you won’t be disappointed. However, nobody’s apparently going to glean any new morsels of information about the antihero.

The Punisher standalone special premieres at 9 p.m. ET Tuesday, May 12, streaming on Disney+.

MCU fans hoping to see a lot of bone-crunching and bullet-whizzing action only have a little while longer to wait until the one-shot special The Punisher: One Last Kill punches a hole through the 2026 TV schedule. The upcoming Marvel TV release brings the skull-shaped spotlight back to Jon Bernthal’s Frank Castle for his first (and maybe last) standalone MCU storyline. The actor’s been hyping fans up for his vigilante’s post-Daredevil: Born Again return, and his latest post drew fun comments from former Walking Dead co-star Sarah Wayne Callies and a DCU fave.

Bernthal took to Instagram to share a black-and-white pic of himself that could easily be a visual stand-in for the term “world-weary,” with this as his caption:

Though it wasn't an official still of Frank Cast, and he wasn't actually decked out in any Punisher gear, Bernthal's caption likely resonated with Daredevil fans. It's the way Frank explained to Matt that they're two sides of the same coin, with Punisher's willingness to kill being the line that Daredevil vows not to cross. But just as any given Sunday can give an underdog football team a win, one bad day could be all it takes to shatter Matt's moral compass.

But since the lawyer currently has his hands full with Wilson Fisk, there's no need to bring him further along in this story. Instead, here's a comment shared by Bernthal's former Walking Dead romantic interest, to put it in the least complicated way possible, Sarah Wayne Callies:

• SARAH WAYNE CALLIES: i sure hope not 😂❤️

The Lori Grimes actress likely wasn't playing into the Daredevil reference there, and it seems apaprent she was playfully poking fun at Jon Bernthal's mug. He does kind of look like the exact opposite of TWD's ever-popular quasi-villain Shane, whose head was nearly clean-shaven when he was taken out of the equation.

Another standout comment on the actor's post came from another machismo-centric action star who somewhat recently beat the dogsh-t out of a superhero, only on the DCU side of things. I'm referring to Peacemaker and Creature Commandos star Frank Grillo, who chimed in on Bernthal's post with:

• FRANK GRILLO: you wanted to be a tough guy. 😎🥊🥊🥊

The thought of Frank Grillo and Jon Bernthal facing off on-screen is the kind of thing that 1,000% needs to happen before either of them calls it quits on stunt-heavy action. It's legitimately shocking that there aren't already 12 examples of it across TV and cinema. (Or even a video game.) And you can imagine that the fans reacting to the above went straight to Grillo's MCU history, calling for a Crossbones Vs. Punisher fight. Does it matter that Crossbones is dead? Nope.

Check out the trailer for One Last Kill below, and there's no judgment if anyone wants to imagine a zombified Frank Grillo's Crossbones showing up in the middle of it.

If all it takes is one bad day to turn into Jon Bernthal, then I hope I have 100 of them in a row. But it definitely won't be a bad one on Tuesday, May 12, when The Punisher: One Last Kill is available to stream via Disney+ subscription. (And then don't forget he'll also be reteaming with Tom Holland for Spider-Man: Brand New Day on July 31.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is always releasing new content, both in theaters and streaming with a Disney+ subscription. While all eyes are on upcoming Marvel movies like The Avengers, there's also some thrilling projects heading to the small screen. We just got the poster and official release date for the streaming event The Punisher: One Last Kill, and now fans think that another Netflix Marvel character will be joining Jon Bernthal for the mysterious project.

It's a great time to be a Punisher fan, as he appeared in the Spider-Man: Brand New Day trailer and will also be getting a special event One Last Kill on May 12th ahead of pivoting to the big screen. Jon Bernthal recently shared that event's poster and release date, you check it out below:

Honestly, sign me up. While we don't know much about that The Punisher: One Last Kill will entail, the fact that Bernthal is taking center stage years after The Punisher Season 2's 2019 release is a thrilling concept. But could more characters from Netflix's Marvel shows also pop up?

It certainly seems possible, but who could join Frank Castle on his next solo adventure? Fans have on idea: Elodie Yung's Elektra, who previously appeared in both Daredevil and The Defenders. The chatter began when she commented on Bernthal's Instagram post with the following:

While this comment might be innocent enough, it definitely turned the heads of fan. A handful responded to her post, asking her if she'll once again be taking up Elektra's sai in the MCU. It remains to be seen if that happens, but fans who spent years watching the Marvel movies in order would be thrilled. And it would be only the latest example of the Netflix characters returning to the shared universe.

It took a few years, but it feels like those MCU characters that originally lived on Netflix are now parts of the larger universe. It all started with Charlie Cox's cameo in Spider-Man: No Way Home, followed by Kingpin appearing in Hawkeye and Echo. Then came Daredevil: Born Again, which brought back the whole ensemble and even Bernthal's Punisher. And Season 2 will feature the long-awaited return of Krysten Ritter's Jessica Jones. As such, Elektra coming back doesn't feel out of the question at all.

We last saw Elektra in The Defenders' finale. After the final battle, she and Daredevil were both seemingly crushed underneath Midland Circle. While Matt Murdock returned for Season 3 of his show and eventually Born Again, Yung's character hasn't been seen or heard from since.

Only time will tell if Elektra actually appears in The Punisher: One Last Kill, but our answers will be here when its released May 12th as part of the 2026 TV schedule.

Tom Holland’s fourth outing as Spidey is the next of upcoming Marvel movies on the way and, as the Spider-Man: Brand New Day trailer showcases, this time he’ll mix it up with Jon Bernthal’s Frank Castle a.k.a. The Punisher. This will mark the first time the two characters have crossed paths in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, what fans might not know is that Holland and Bernthal actually have a history!

Jon Bernthal recently took to his Instagram to share a vintage photo of himself with Tom Holland, and it speaks to the sweet relationship he has with the British actor. Check it out:

It's hard not to love this throwback. This is likely from a decade ago, when Holland and Bernthal worked together in a little-known Irish film, Pilgrimage, which was released in 2017. Jon Bernthal posted the photo with a sweet message where he called Holland a “one of a kind” who he is “so proud and in awe of the man” he has become. Bernthal said “I love you brother” before saying he’s “honored to be rolling with” him again.

A sum of people who saw this post may have had no idea these two have such a long history of working together, but that’s just because their previous film together wasn’t nearly as massive as a Marvel film. It's about monks in Medieval Ireland. Now that Bernthal has pointed out their shared history, fans may be even more excited to see Spider-Man and Punisher in the same movie this summer. Check out the Brand New Day trailer below:

Holland has been hyping up Spider-Man and Punisher in Brand New Day, too, saying the pair of Marvel characters together might be his “favorite dynamic” he’s seen with Spider-Man. (And yes, I’m also thinking ‘Wow, even better than Peter Parker with Tony Stark?’) The actor has described the on-screen relationship as a “big brother/little brother rivalry” which developed after the pair started improvising bits together that forwarded the dynamic that was originally on the page.

Brand New Day follows Peter Parker four years after the events of No Way Home left the world forgetting his name, including his best pals Zendaya and Jacob Batalon’s MJ and Ned. Holland has called the movie a “rebirth” for the beloved character he played across six films prior to this one.

Bernthal’s role as the Punisher has been going on for just as long, but his role in Brand New Day will mark the first time the character has popped up in a big-screen Marvel movie, and this comes after his recent appearance in Daredevil: Born Again. W

That's all exciting, but did I also mention that Tom Holland and Jon Bernthal are actually in two 2026 movie schedule entries together?! Both actors are also in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, too. Holland is reportedly playing Odysseus’s son Telemachus, while Bernthal is playing the Greek king of Sparta, Menelaus. (And Zendaya is in both movies, too!)

I, for one and pumped to see Holland and Bernthal share the screen this year. Also, as they do press, I hope their personal history comes up as well. First, check them out in The Odyssey, which hits it theaters on July 17, and then see them in Spider-Man: Brand New Day on July 31.

It’s become tradition for Tom Holland’s Spider-Man to team up with other major players from the Marvel Cinematic Universe in his solo movies. This time around for Spider-Man: Brand New Day, along with Mark Ruffalo reprising Bruce Banner (it hasn’t been confirmed if we’ll see him in Hulk form), Jon Bernthal’s Frank Castle, a.k.a. The Punisher, will make his film debut in the upcoming Marvel movie after years of killing bad guys in the TV space. We got a brief taste of what to expect between Punisher and Spidey in the first Brand New Day trailer, and Holland has now shared why he thinks these two together might be his “favorite dynamic” yet for his Peter Parker.

Peter and Frank are clearly not vibing in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, as the latter hits the former with his van and shoots at him because he’s in the way, prompting the web-slinger to kick the gun-toting vigilante out of said van. These two take quite difference approaches to crimefighting, and it’s that very polarization that appeals to Tom Holland, as he said during an interview when he visited the Empire State Building:

Jon Bernthal was revealed to be in Spider-Man: Brand New Day last June, although details are still sparse about his role aside from crossing paths with Spidey in New York City while waging his war on crime. Until now, Punisher has operated in R-rated, or at least R-adjacent territory, starting with when he was introduced in Daredevil Season 2 a decade ago.

However, Tom Holland is pleased with how bringing the character into the PG-13 space for Brand New Day turned out. He continued:

Tom Holland and Jon Bernthal previously worked together on 2017’s Pilgrimage, where they helped each other out with their respective MCU auditions. Also, Spider-Man: Brand New Day isn’t even the only movie they’re co-starring in this July. Holland and Bernthal are respectively playing Telemachus and Menelaus in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, so if you’re a fan of both of these actors, that month is going to be a fun one. I’m especially eager to see the full scope of their bickering sibling dynamic in the next Spider-Man movie.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day swings into theaters on July 31, and you can stream both Peter Parker and Frank Castle’s past MCU exploits with your Disney+ subscription. Additionally, Jon Bernthal will star in his own Punisher TV special on the same streaming platform somewhere on the midway point of the 2026 TV schedule.

Ever since it was confirmed that Jon Bernthal would return as Frank Castle for a standalone Punisher special in the MCU, fans have been wondering which familiar faces from Marvel's Netflix era might show up alongside him. Now, a recent social media post has sparked serious speculation that one of the most important characters from the original The Punisher series could be making a comeback.

The Social Media Post That Started Speculation

Actress Amber Rose Revah shared a still image of her character, Dinah Madani, aiming a gun from the Netflix-era series in a recent Instagram post, and fans wasted absolutely no time jumping to conclusions. The post itself didn’t come with any confirmation of a return, but the timing raised plenty of eyebrows.

Madani played a major role throughout The Punisher’s two-season run, and her complicated dynamic with Frank Castle became one of the emotional backbones of the show. If Marvel is bringing the character back into the MCU alongside Bernthal, it would make a lot of sense to include her in whatever story they’re building.

Of course, nothing official has been confirmed yet. But judging by how quickly fans connected the dots, plenty of people are already convinced something is happening.

Who Dinah Madani Is In The Punisher Story

For anyone who might need a refresher, Dinah Madani was introduced in The Punisher as a Homeland Security agent investigating a massive military conspiracy tied to Frank Castle’s past.

Over the course of the series, Madani evolves from someone hunting Castle down to one of the few people who truly understands what drives him. Their relationship is complicated, tense, and often adversarial, but there’s also a deep sense of mutual respect.

By the end of Season 2, Madani had become one of the most important figures in Frank’s orbit. She wasn’t just a supporting character either. She frequently drove the larger investigation plots that shaped the series. Because of that, bringing Madani back for a Punisher special would feel like a natural continuation of the story that started on Netflix.

So, what are fans saying about this possibility? Let's take a look.

Fans React To Madani Possibly Returning

Unsurprisingly, fans flooded the post’s comments section with speculation almost immediately. Some people are cautiously hopeful, while others seem convinced the tease means Madani is already locked in for the special. Here’s a sampling of what people are saying:

• @shanush_03: “Return of dinah madani??!”
• @market_mane_mcintyre: “@shanush_03 I hope so”
• @aliimight: “madani please come back. the kids miss you.”
• @ignacio_lara_toy_photographer: “You do what you gotta do Madani”
• @lfc_adamhugh_: “We need madani back to reunite with frank”
• @delicateflower_: “Ahh I LOVE Agent Madani sooo much 💋🤌🏻”
• @agentredhood05: “Hope Madani returns in the Punisher one shot special 😱”
• @readycosplayerone: “COME BACK TO US”
• @tdewar1987: “Dinah Madani comeback? Please 😍”
• @chrismirancos: “WHAT DA HECK DOES THIS MEAN?! 👀👀👀👀👀”
• @jonnyblovers: “HEY HEY HEY WHAT DOES THIS MEAN, DONT PLAY W ME EMOTIONS LIKE THIS 😭😩”

At this point, the speculation machine is fully running. Whether Revah’s post was meant as a tease or simply as a nostalgic throwback remains unclear. But judging by the reaction, plenty of fans are more than ready to see Agent Madani cross paths with Frank Castle again.

For now, we’ll just have to wait and see what’s revealed when the upcoming Punisher special eventually arrives on the 2026 TV schedule. In the meantime, fans can revisit Castle’s previous appearances—or even rewatch the entire MCU in order—with a Disney+ subscription.

As for The Punisher's next appearance, Bernthal is confirmed to return in the upcoming Spider-Man: Brand New Day, swinging into theaters on July 31, 2026.

We’re in a very weird place when it comes to the Marvel Cinematic Universe on the 2026 movie schedule, as the upcoming Marvel movie, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, a film that would otherwise be a big deal, feels likes its being completely overshadowed by Avengers: Doomsday. Granted, the former film won’t have the incredible cast of heroes of the latter, but it also isn’t going to be without its special appearances as we know Jon Bernthal’s Punisher will be part of the film.

Considering that The Punisher has been one of Marvel‘s more violent characters since his debut (lending himself well for an R-rated adaptation) fans have wondered how he would work in what is almost assuredly a PG-13 Spider-Man movie. Talking to ScreenRant, Jon Bernthal indicated fans shouldn’t be disappointed, as it was “really important” to all involved that they still make The Punisher in Brand New Day feel like the same character. He said…

Bernthal’s comments essentially confirm that the upcoming Punisher special, which will be available with a Disney+ subscription, will be exactly what we’ve come to expect from the character. The Punisher’s return to the MCU in Daredevil: Born Again was just what fans wanted to see. If there was anything wrong with it, it was only that we didn’t see enough of it.

The question was how that would square with the more general audience-friendly Spider-Man movie. Clearly, the character would need to be toned down, right? Fans were voicing this concern as soon as Bernthal’s appearance in the film was rumored. It’s clear from Jon Bernthal’s comments that they were very aware of this concern on the set of Brand New Day, as they had the same concern themselves.

To be fair, the Punisher in Spider-Man: Brand New Day almost certainly will be a bit more family-friendly as far as the level of violence we see. However, that doesn’t mean the character has to feel like he’s been toned down. If the action is handled properly, it can still have the visceral feel that fans know, and it can be done in a way that anything that needed to be changed to achieve a PG-13 rating won’t be missed.

Matching tone between franchises has been a dance the MCU has had to do for a while, and while it perhaps hasn’t been perfect, it has generally worked. If we can see Daredevil at his dark and gritty best in Daredevil: Born Again and see him doing the walk of shame in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, I expect we can see Punisher and Spider-Man together.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is known for constantly treating fans to new content, both in theaters and streaming with a Disney+ subscription. One of the most highly anticipated upcoming Marvel movies is Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which will pair Tom Holland's title character with other heroes like Punisher and Hulk. Some fan art for that project recently arrived online, which combined that trio with Charlie Cox's Daredevil. And I really hope this actually happens in the blockbuster.

What we know about Spider-Man: Brand New Day is super limited, so fans have been filling in the blanks about what director Destin Daniel Cretton might have up his sleeve. Fans who spent years watching the Marvel movies in order are thrilled about seeing Jon Bernthal's Punisher on the big screen for the first time, but they're also hoping Daredevil gets to join the fun. Take a look at the fan art below to imagine how that might go down.

I mean, how cool is that? While Charlie Cox has denied he's got a role in Brand New Day, fans don't necessarily believe him. Because aside from Daredevil living and fighting crime in NYC, Matt Murdock cameo'd in the last Spider-Man movie as Peter Parker's lawyer. Doctor Strange's spell at the end of No Way Home seemingly removed his memories of that interaction, but there is precedent for Cox appearing in the franchise.

There are countless questions about what's going down in Brand New Day, which has resulted in a ton of theories and rumors about what might go down. While fans are hyped to see Hulk and Punisher interacts with Tom Holland's Peter Parker, exactly how this will fit into its mysterious story remains to be seen. And I have a feeling the chatter about Daredevil also joining the fray isn't going to stop until the movie is released and we know once and for all if Charlie Cox appears.

Aside from Matt Murdock appearing as Peter Parker's lawyer in the last Spider-Man movie, the discourse about Daredevil are also a result of Punisher's role in the mysterious blockbuster. Punisher and The Man Without Fear are deeply connected in both the comics and the MCU so far. They got to reunite in Daredevil: Born Again, so it seems logical that they both would pivot to the big screen together. But if that happens in Brand New Day remains to be seen.

While Spider-Man, Punisher, and Daredevil are all New York-based heroes, it should be fascinating to see how Mark Ruffalo's Bruce Banner/Hulk factors into the action. He hasn't been seen since She-Hulk: Attorney At Law, and fans are wondering if he might return to his Savage Hulk form throughout its runtime.

All will be revealed when Spider-Man: Brand New Day hits theaters on July 31st as part of the 2026 movie release list. Hopefully we get the first footage and some more information sooner rather than later.

Marvel fans are giddily awaiting the release of the first footage from the Russos’ Avengers: Doomsday, which Disney is reportedly showing in various forms ahead of Avatar: Fire and Ash for the next four weeks. But before the epic scope of that film opens up, there’s a web of trouble coming to 2026’s movie releases in the form of Spider-Man: Brand New World. Spidey himself won’t be the source of the trouble, and a new rumor posits he’ll be facing a certain hulk-ing threat.

Not just that, but it’s one that MCU audiences have wanted to see on the big screen for years: Grey Hulk. This rumor comes from noted insider Daniel Richtman, who shared the alleged news that Tom Holland’s Spider-Man and Jon Bernthal’s Punisher were paired together for the upcoming Marvel movie to square off against the elusive Grey Hulk.

Exactly how much of that particular Hulk we’d potentially see is unclear, but the report makes it sound like we’ll be getting the savage version as opposed to the more civilian-esque Joe Fixit persona who serves as a Las Vegas enforcer with far looser morals than his green counterpart. The non-savage version is also quite the clever S.O.B., which would make him an interesting minor antagonist for the brains and brawn of Peter Parker and Frank Castle.

It's been a full decade since Grey Hulk was conceived for an MCU introduction during Avengers: Age of Ultron, although that failed to come together after director Joss Whedon decided it might be too confusing for viewers. Not that he planned on actually utilizing the fully characterized version. The idea was just to tint the character's skin with a greyer tone to show the after-effects of Scarlet Witch's mind games earlier in the film. Hopefully his alleged arrival in Spider-Man: Brand New Day will go beyond that.

Earlier rumors pointed to Mark Ruffalo's Hulk showing up as a bridge to Avengers: Doomsday, stressed to high heaven about the idea of others being able to hulk out the same way he can. Perhaps that idea ties in with the emergence of Grey Hulk here.

Outside of Rufallo-ness, Daniel Richtman also claims that Spider-Man: Brand New Day will also include a major villainous group from the comics, giving the impression that this movie may be taking the kitchen sink approach to its rogues gallery. In this case, The Hand will allegedly make an appearance in the Destin Daniel Cretton-directed feature, which ties into bizarre past rumors about the webslinger facing off against ninjas. Maybe Electra can show up in that movie if it doesn’t ever happen in Daredevil: Born Again.

Now the wait is on to see if Funko has a Grey Hulk in whatever its tie-in line of Pops will be. Spider-Man: Brand New Day will hit theaters on July 31, 2026.

Besides Charlie Cox cameoing as Matt Murdock in Spider-Man: No Way Home, characters from the Marvel Netflix era have largely been kept out of the film corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but that’s about to change. Not only is Cox rumored to suit up as Daredevil in next year’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day, but we’ll also see Jon Bernthal reprising Frank Castle, a.k.a. The Punisher. With a little over half a year to go until Brand New Day’s release on the 2026 movies schedule, Bernthal shared what was “really important” to him when it came to including the gun-toting vigilante in the upcoming Marvel movie.

Although it’s been confirmed that Bernthal will not be back for Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 following his big return to the Marvel space in Season 1, next year will also see him leading his own Disney+ subscription-exclusive Punisher TV special. This special will be released on the 2026 TV schedule around the same time as Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s arrival. As the actor told ScreenRant, it was important to both him and Destin Daniel Cretton, the director of the upcoming Spider-Man movie, that there be the right kind of cohesion between the two projects:

So the events of this Punisher special will occur after what goes down in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and from Jon Bernthal’s perspective, it’ll be a seamless transition from one to the other. I’m glad he feels this way, especially considering the differing maturity levels of the movie and TV special. Brand New Day will be Bernthal’s first time playing The Punisher in a PG-13 story, whereas the special will bring him back to more comfortable R-rated territory.

It sounds like there won’t be a drastic tonal shift between Punisher’s depiction in Spider-Man: Brand New Day and the Punisher special, in contrast to when we saw the more lighthearted Daredevil in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law before the gritty Echo and Daredevil: Born Again. Granted, there’ll be less gore and cursing when Frank Castle crosses paths with Tom Holland’s Peter Parker in Brand New Day, but the character’s overall gruff demeanor will remain intact. It’s fitting that we’re finally getting to see these two characters interact in live action considering that Punisher made his first comic book appearance in 1974’s The Amazing Spider-Man #129.

Officially, we still don’t know how Punisher fits into Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which will also include Mark Ruffalo returning as Hulk, Michael Mando’s Mac Gargan becoming The Scorpion, and Sadie Sink playing a still-yet-to-be-identified character. Unofficially, it’s rumored that Spidey and Punisher will team up to battle Lonnie Lincoln, a.k.a. Tombstone, played by Marvin Jones III. We’ll know for sure when the movie swings into theaters on July 31, 2026.

2026 is close to being half-over, but instead of panicking and worrying where all the time has gone, I think it's better to plan ahead for all the new Netflix shows, upcoming horror series, new DC projects and everything else coming during the rest of the year. June 2026 is hardly an exception, and I'll be firmly planted for House of the Dragon's massive Season 3 premiere, the latest round of America's Got Talent auditions, and Tom Hanks' American Experiment, to name a few.

June is also a big month for live events, from the NBA Finals to the Stanley Cup to the livestream of Bonnaroo 2026 to the BET Awards. And you better believe I'm also jazzed to see Larry David's HBO return for Life, Larry, and the Pursuit of Unhappiness. And that's not counting everything else coming later in the year. [You can jump ahead to see what's coming in July, August, September, October, November and December.)

NOTE: New series premieres are listed in ALL CAPS, and all times listed below are in ET/EST.

June 2026 TV Premieres

Beyond everything noted above, June 2026 also brings the romance with Sweet Magnolias Season 5, the fantastical with Avatar: The Last Airbender and culinary moodiness with the final season of The Bear.

July 2026 TV Premieres

At long last, Paramount+ revealed that fans can look forward to the fourth genre-mashing season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds in July, which also comes peppered with returns from Apple TV's sci-fi fave Silo, the long-running reality series Project Runway, and the final story-concluding feature from Netflix's Heartstopper.

August 2026 TV Premieres

This is not a practice drill. I repeat, not a practice drill. Ted Lasso is making its long-awaited Season 4 return on Apple TV in August, and fans couldn't be happier to have it back on the horizon. One premiere that's earned slightly less warm embraces from fans is HBO's DCU mystery drama Lanterns, which finally got its August premiere confirmed in late April.

September 2026 TV Premieres

September can be a bit of a bummer as it marks the end of summer (no rhymeplay intended), but NFL fans always have a lot to look forward to. And this September will also deliver the one-two punch of Mayweather vs. Pacquiao on Netflix, as well as the streaming service's first LEGO special for the popular anime adaptation One Piece.

October 2026 TV Premieres

November 2026 TV Premieres

December 2026 TV Premieres

2026 Shows Without Premiere Dates

Quite a few upcoming TV shows are locked in for 2026, but without official premiere dates set in stone. Here's a round-up of some of the biggest projects that we can expect to see at some point later this year.

• 3 Body Problem Season 2 - Netflix
• BLADE RUNNER 2099 - Prime Video
• CAMP ROCK 3 [TV Movie] - Disney Channel
• CARRIE - Prime Video
• COVEN ACADEMY - Disney Channel
• DESCENDANTS: WICKED WONDERLAND [TV Movie] Disney Channel
• A DIFFERENT WORLD - Netflix
• The Diplomat Season 4 - Netflix
• The Hunting Wives Season 2 - Netflix
• Leanne Season 2 - Netflix
• MONSTER: THE LIZZIE BORDEN STORY - Netflix
• Nobody Wants This Season 3 - Netflix
• Outer Banks Season 5 (Final Season) - Netflix
• The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 4 - AMC
• The Witcher Season 5 (Final Season) - Netflix
• Yellowjackets Season 4 (Final Season) - Paramount+

Remember to check back for more dates as they're revealed by networks and streaming services in the coming months.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is known for constantly releasing new projects, both in theaters and streaming with a Disney+ subscription. The next highly anticipated upcoming Marvel movie heading to theaters is Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and there are tons of questions about what director Destin Daniel Cretton has up his sleeve. There are a ton of rumors about Sadie Sink's mysterious role, and a new rumor offers a possible connection to Jon Bernthal's Punisher. Let's break it all down.

What we know about Spider-Man: Brand New Day is very limited, so moviegoers are filling in the blanks with theories and rumors. Fans who spent years watching the Marvel movies in order are thrilled about Hulk and Punisher having roles, and a new rumor from ScreenRant about Sink offers another character she might be playing: Punisher sidekick Rachel Cole-Alves.

In the comics, Rachel is a former Marine and a vigilante who is an ally of The Punisher. She wears his signature logo, and uses his same methods of firearms to take down villains. She's also a redhead, which is partly why folks think that's who Sadie Sink is playing in Brand New Day... especially if the new Spider-Man movie is focused on street-level crime in NYC.

This is just one fan theory about Sink's role in the next Spider-Man movie, so we should probably take it with a grain of salt. Still, it would be awesome to see the breakout star of Stranger Things (which is streaming with a Netflix subscription) fighting alongside Jon Bernthal's Frank Castle. Hopefully, we get information about who she is actually playing sooner rather than later.

This theory about Sink playing Rachel may offer more validity to another Brand New Day rumor about Punisher getting a sidekick. While I originally thought this was an opportunity to bring back Giorgia Whigham's Amy from the Punisher TV series, pairing Sink with Bernthal is also a thrilling concept.

Of course, this isn't the only rumor about who Sadie Sink might be playing in the next Spider-Man movie. News of her casting started a number of theories, including that she might play Mary Jane Watson. Another popular choice was X-Man Jean Grey, especially with the mutants becoming a bigger presence in the MCU. Hopefully, the studio offers some concrete information about her role soon.

While we wait for the studio to confirm the actress's role, all eyes are on what will happen with Sadie Sink's signature character Max in Stranger Things Season 5. The story of Hawkins is coming to an end, and the last time we saw Max, she was in a coma as a result of Vecna's attack.

Stranger Things will return for Season 5 on November 26th. As for Spider-Man: Brand New Day, that'll arrive in theaters on July 31st as part of the 2026 movie release list. Hopefully, we won't have to wait too long before finding out exactly who Sadie Sink is playing.

Tom Holland’s Peter Parker teaming up with other superheroes has become a trademark of the MCU’s Spider-Man movies, but Spider-Man: Brand New Day is kicking things up several notches on that front. Multiple protagonists from various corners of this superhero franchise are expected to appear in the upcoming Marvel movie. Jon Bernthal’s Punisher was the first announced to be coming back, and fans hyped for the character’s return will be pleased about this rumor claiming who we’ll see him fight.

Per scooper DanielRPK (via Heroic Hollywood), Bernthal’s version of Frank Castle will allegedly come into “direct conflict” with the crime lord Tombstone. It was reported last month that Black Lightning alum Marvin Jones III will play the live-action version of Lonnie Lincoln after having previously voiced him in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Considering The Punisher’s M.O., it should come as no surprise that Tombstone would be one of his targets.

Assuming this information is accurate, this likely means that Tombstone will not be Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s main antagonist. Rather, he’ll instead be a supporting antagonist, be it as an ally for Michael Mando’s Mac Gargan, a.k.a. Scorpion, or causing his own trouble on the side. Whatever the case, Punisher will set his sights on him, and since this is a Spider-Man movie first and Peter Parker will surely swing in to help out whether Frank wants him there or not.

While Brand New Day marks Tombstone’s first live-action appearance, an alternate MCU timeline version of the character was seen earlier this year in the animated series Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. That Lonnie, however, is much younger than the one we’ll see on the big screen. Of course, Jon Bernthal’s been playing The Punisher for nearly a decade now, stretching back to Daredevil Season 2 and his own spinoff series. Bernthal returned to the role earlier this year for Daredevil: Born Again’s first season, and his appearances in Season 2 and the Punisher TV special will precede Brand New Day.

As for those other superheroes mentioned earlier for the upcoming Spider-Man movie, Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk was the next to be unveiled, although Ruffalo was staying cagey about his involvement as of a month ago. Then Florence Pugh was rumored to be reprising Yelena Belova, and now there’s speculation that Charlie Cox will reprise Matt Murdock following his appearance in Spider-Man: No Way Home, though this time he’d also be suited up as Daredevil as well. Additionally, although Vincent D’Onofrio isn’t expect to reprise Wilson Fisk, a.k.a. Kingpin, allegedly his anti-vigilante stance as New York City’s mayor will factor into the story.

Considering that Jon Bernthal’s Punisher has so far only been featured in R-rated/adjacent MCU projects, I’m curious to see how he’ll do within the PG-13 confines of Spider-Man: Brand New Day when it comes out on July 31, 2026. More specifically, will Tombstone make it out of this movie alive or with a fatal bullet wound?

With so many rumors flying around regarding the upcoming Marvel movie Spider-Man: Brand New Day, it’s never easy to know which ones are totally legit, and which ones should be treated as nonsense. Will this be Tom Holland’s final Spidey movie? Will we see The Punisher getting a sidekick? Those answers and more are still up in the air without more proof, but I can’t deny how intrigued I am by newfound speculation about Charlie Cox’s Daredevil popping up in the webslinger’s next adventure.

One big reason why I’m not automatically dismissing these Daredevil rumors is that they’re not just lofty hopes with tenuous connections to Jon Bernthal’s involvement, and are instead inspired by recent changes to Charlie Cox’s upcoming commitments. As it happens, he was set to appear at San Antonio’s SpaceCon from October 24-26, and was at one point set for photo ops with former co-star Krysten Ritter, though that’s no longer happening, as noted in the post below.

As far as Charlie Cox's newest projects go, he was revealed to be part of the cast of a new sci-fi movie called Synthetic alongside Haley Bennett, but that report clearly points out that the project's Kentucky-set production has already wrapped, so there's no reason to think that the actor's convention absence is tied into that movie.

Obviously Cox could have signed on for any number of new projects, but it's the fact that he canceled an appearance for it that has fans' radars piqued. Because Jon Bernthal also canceled an upcoming con appearance, as seen below, and it isn't a giant leap in logic to think that the timing is aligned so that both can be filming together for Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

Check out how NYCC alerted fans in a recent Instagram post:

• We’re disappointed to share that due to his production schedule, Jon Bernthal can no longer attend NYCC 2025. We hope to have him join us in the future. 

I think we can all agree that if all of this rescheduling is happening for projects that AREN'T Spider-Man: Brand New Day, then....well, that'd just be unfortunate, really.

To play devil's advocate right quick, it's obviously possible (or even likely) that Charlie Cox isn't joining any other big-screen MCU films, despite his Born Again co-star Bernthal making the transition from the upcoming Punisher Special Presentation to teaming up with Tom Holland's Spidey. The movie is already bringing in Mark Ruffalo's Hulk, the villain Scorpion and other surprises, so also throwing Daredevil into the mix for a single action sequence or two might be overdoing it for a movie with a solo hero in the title.

But that's enough naysaying, because this is a rumor that I'm extremely hopeful turns out to be true. Maybe I don't need to see Spider-Man, Punisher and Daredevil whopping some ass together in live-action, but it sure would give me something to look forward to in 2026. And why stop there with the speculation?

Is it possible that Krysten Ritter could also appear alongside Daredevil and The Punisher? We know she's already set to return to the role of Jessica Jones for Daredevil: Born Again Season 2, so is it completely out of the realms of reality to think that she might also be heading to London to film during this same window? Maybe, maybe not. But if anybody sees her on a plane with Mike Colter, sound the Defender alarm bells.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is set to hit theaters on July 31, 2026.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is known for constantly expanding, thanks to new projects arriving in theaters and streaming with a Disney+ subscription. Fans who spent years watching the Marvel movies in order were thrilled when Jon Bernthal returned as Punisher in Daredevil: Born Again, and he's got a number of other projects coming down the line. The Walking Dead alum recently showed off his ripped abs in a shirtless photo, and fans are asking the important questions about upcoming Marvel movies and shows.

What we know about Spider-Man: Brand New Day is extremely limited, but fans are hyped that Jon Bernthal's Punisher will be included. He'll also have a role in Born Again Season 2, so it looks like Frank Castle is here to stay. The 48 year-old actor took to Instagram to show how yolked he is lately, check it out below:

Damn! I definitely wouldn't want to be on The Punisher's bad side if I was a villain in the MCU. On top of the character's penchant for killing his foes, clearly he could to a ton of damage with just his fists. And I personally can't wait to see what's coming next for the brutal, fan favorite character.

The comments section is filled with folks thirsting after Bernthal, as well as fans wondering about what he'll do in various MCU projects. Even Billy Russo/Jigsaw actor Ben Barnes joined the discourse, check out some popular responses below:

• Who’s getting punished? - casual_snapshots
• Get it 💀 - benbarnes
• Do a season 3 please. There should be 5 seasons atleast 👀 - remoghosh06
• take it easy on spidey - therealsupes
• Let me tell you something red 🗣 - syzzer_jay

Clearly there's interest in Frank Castle, and fans want to see him pop up in a variety of different projects. While some are hoping we get another season of The Punisher, others are wondering who will get "punished" when he pops up in Daredevil: Born Again and Spider-Man: Brand New Day. The latter will mark the first time Bernthal's take on the character goes from TV to film, and it should be fascinating to see how he interacts with Tom Holland's Peter Parker.

The comments listed above mentioned both Spider-Man and Daredevil, and I'm eager to see what Punisher's interactions with both of those heroes will be like. While he's got a love-hate relationship with Charlie Cox's Matt Murdock, we've yet to see him meet Tom Holland's Peter Parker. Will the wall crawler's naivety jive with Frank Castle's brutal philosophy? Only time will tell, but with that ripped body I hope Spidey doesn't get into a conflict with the gun-wielding vigilante... even if Punisher doesn't have superpowers.

All will be revealed when Spider-Man: Brand New Day hits theaters on July 31st as part of the 2026 movie release list. Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 doesn't have a release date yet, but it's expected to arrive sometime in March. And Bernthal is clearly going to look ripped AF in both titles.

One of my most anticipated upcoming Marvel movies is definitely Tom Holland’s fourth outing as the wall-crawler. Of what we know about Spider-Man: Brand New Day, The Hulk, and The Punisher are both set to appear in the 2026 movie release, and as absurd as that sounds and had me concerned, a new fan theory about why they might be showing up sounds pretty legit.

A recent Screen Rant article lays out a fan theory that suggests Hulk and the Punisher really show up in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, not just as a spike the cameo meter, but to be mirrors for Peter Parker’s anger once that lingering symbiote fragment starts poking the bear. They lay out the clearest version of this theory: with a piece of Venom left in the MCU after No Way Home, the symbiote gravitates toward characters with volatile rage—hello, Bruce Banner and Frank Castle—before inevitably testing Peter himself. Dun-dun-dun!

It's also reported that Jon Bernthal’s Punisher and Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk are in the mix alongside returning faces like Scorpion and a mystery role for Sadie Sink. Story-wise, it’s tidy.

Hulk represents rage that’s been integrated—accept the monster, learn to live with it. Punisher represents rage unleashed—weaponize the monster and call it justice. Put both on either side of Peter, and you get a clean thematic vise, and if the symbiote does indeed show up and dials up his grief and guilt, which path does he take?

It also fits the post-No Way Home’s ending and universe reset. Peter’s flying solo, the stakes are smaller but sharper, and the emotional math matters more than the spectacle. Using Hulk and Punisher as moral foils is a smarter swing than stacking six villains and hoping the noise carries the day. If this theory is right, the final act isn’t “Who can punch harder?” but could be something as philosophical as “Who do you become when anger wins?”

A couple more dots connect neatly. That post-credits symbiot tease practically begs to reenter the story, and letting it sample Banner and Castle before bonding with Peter gives the symbiote real narrative teeth. You can even tease the return of Savage Hulk if the black suit short-circuits Smart Hulk’s balance—instant stakes, no Marvel multiverse required.

And yes, there are credible signs that the casting pieces are in place. Trade coverage in recent weeks has spotlighted Bernthal’s big-screen Frank Castle return, while chatter around Ruffalo’s involvement has picked up as Brand New Day marches toward its July 31, 2026, date. Take everything with a spider-sized grain of salt until it’s on a poster or teaser trailer, but the pieces line up with this anger-driven premise—and I’m into it. If you’re going to bring in other Marvel heroes, they should add thematic weight; this theory does.

If this is why Hulk and Punisher are part of Brand New Day, the most convincing reason is also the cleanest—both are living caution labels for what the symbiote might pull out of Peter. That’s grounded, personal storytelling and exactly what the next Spidey chapter needs. It’s a thematic lesson the filmmakers of the next Tom Holland flick can take from Spider-Man 2, which I’ve written about before. We’ll see how much of this fan theory sticks as Marvel and Sony peel back the curtain closer to the film’s release.

Until then, fans can revisit all the Marvel movies in order, as they’re streaming with a Disney+ subscription.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe keeps the fandom on their collective toes, thanks to new releases hitting theaters and streaming with a Disney+ subscription. One of the most highly anticipated upcoming Marvel movies is Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which will feature Jon Bernthal's Punisher in the character's first jump from TV to film. A rumor about the movie claimed that he's even getting a sidekick, and I really hope this could mean the return of a character from his Netflix series.

What we know about Spider-Man: Brand New Day is super limited, but fans who spent years watching the Marvel movies in order are thrilled about the inclusion of Frank Castle/The Punisher. A rumor from scooper MTTSH (via SuperheroHype) made a bold prediction about the blockbuster, claiming:

While I'm taking this with a grain of salt, reading this brought me immediately back to one character: Giorgia Whigham's Amy Bendix from The Punisher Season 2. She accidentally got herself involved with the drama surrounding Frank Castle, and the two managed to form a strong bond. With their business done they went separate ways, but wouldn't it be cool if Amy returned to support the vigilante antihero when he needs it?

Obviously we don't even know if the rumor about a sidekick will come to fruition just yet. And even if it is, bringing back Whigham as Amy might be a stretch. But we're only getting more connections to the Netflix shows in the MCU as years go by.

It's just an idea, but this would be a thrilling connection for fans who watched all of former Netflix MCU shows. Before Disney+ was established Netflix produced shows set in the shared universe: Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, The Defenders, and The Punisher. We're getting more of these crossing over with current projects recently, thanks to projects like Daredevil: Born Again. Its first season included Punisher, and the second has already been confirmed to bring back Krysten Ritter's Jessica Jones.

In The Punisher Season 2, Amy is a grifter who finds her crew murdered after taking on a particularly dangerous job. She runs into Frank Castle by accident, and the two end up taking a bloody journey of discovery, deception, and ultimately trust. They both survive the events of the season, and I assume they would have had more adventures if a third season happened.

Only time will tell if Frank Castle has an associate, and whether or not it's Amy. All will be revealed when Spider-Man: Brand New Day hits theaters on July 31st of next year as part of the 2026 movie release list. For now, Bernthal's tenure in the MCU is streaming on Disney+.

One of the MCU’s biggest draws right now, at least for me, is the expansion of Jon Bernthal’s Frank Castle, which has easily become the best live-action Punisher to date. Seeing him in Daredevil: Born Again was a howl-worthy delight, and I couldn’t be happier that Bernthal is getting his own Marvel Special Presentation offshoot to follow up on the Born Again finale’s post-credit scene. I was also pumped to hear the huge news that The Punisher is joining Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

However, it wasn’t very long before those initially jubilant feelings started to taper off, with slightly confused curiosity filling out my headspace in their place. Is this actually the best use of Frank Castle on the big screen? How are we getting a Punisher and Spidey team-up without ever seeing Tom Holland’s webslinger battling Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin?

I could keep asking speculative questions like that all day, but will instead focus on my two biggest concerns about this particular crossover. Though a huge amount of fandom conversations have centered on Marvel potentially watering down Frank Castle's R-rated language and hyper-violent behavior for its family-friendly Spider-Man sequel, that's not the biggest source of my perturbation.

The Punisher Needs Street-Level Storytelling, Not Multiversal Chaos

When it comes to origin stories, it doesn't get more compact and hard-boiled than Frank Castle's avenging the deaths of his family, thus kicking off his second life arc as a fearless vigilante. And while the character certainly has a long comic book history that's put him in nearly every kind of conceivable form of large-scale conflict, Jon Bernthal's live-action iteration has exclusively remained tethered to the "real world," as it were.

With his military background and a lack of patience for bullshittery, Frank is most in his element while haunting the shadowy streets of New York City. He's a whiz with any weapon put in his hands, but even when unarmed, his hands become weaponized themselves. As such, he ranks as highly as Daredevil in terms of wowing audiences with shockingly brutal close-up fights.

Meanwhile, Spider-Man movies are not known for feature scenes on shadowy streets, and Peter Parker does not have a penchant for punching enemies' kneecaps out of the backs of their legs. They're more about coming-of-age emotions mixed with heightened science-fiction plotting, culminating in Tom Holland's multiversal team-up with Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire's Peter Parkers in No Way Home. Not exactly the kind of tale The Punisher would thrive in.

Sure, we don't really know what Brand New Day will be about, and it could very well make a complete about-face from the previous film's expansive lore to hone in on a grittier and smaller-scale narrative. But has Marvel ever gone smaller over bigger with follow-up projects? Very rarely, and I can't imagine it'll go that route with a character as beloved and box office-friendly as Spider-Man.

I Am Not Here For Jon Bernthal's Frank Being Quippy With Peter Parker

If Marvel's Punisher was tag-teaming with Spider-Man for a five-minute adventure, that would be the proper scenario in which I would be fine watching Jon Bernthal's vengeful soldier waxing comedic opposite the quip-master Peter Parker. That's about all I could take before questioning why Frank would still be hanging around without putting Spider in his rear-view.

So I'm definitely concerned about the possibility of Frank having to endure far more on-screen time serving as a listening board for Peter's self-aware humor. I mean, if it leads to Spider-Man and Punisher facing off after Frank gets overly annoyed, I'm into it.

Essentially, though, I just dont' want Jon Bernthal's hardcore hero to get thrown into a less brutal setting just for the sake of the MCU giving him a "fish out of water" story. When it comes to unfamiliar environments, I'd rather see Frank taking on space aliens or taking part in a bonkers fighting tournament, as opposed to anything that hinges heavily on Marvel-branded humor. Just because Bernthal was a hoot in The Accountant 2 (our review), that doesn't mean Frank Castle will be willing to put up with Peter's ding-dong jokes.

All that said, would I want to see Jacob Batalon's Ned Leeds bouncing from Spider-Man movies to being Frank's sidekick in a new Punisher show? Hell yes, I would. Other characters are always free to join Frank's world, even if I'm less open to him visiting others'. But it's not gonna keep me out of the theater seats when the movie comes out.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is currently set to film following Avengers: Doomsday, with a release date already set on the 2026 movie schedule for July 31, 2026.

Warning: SPOILERS for the Daredevil: Born Again Season 1 finale are ahead!

Daredevil: Born Again has finished its run on the 2025 TV schedule, but not to worry, this isn’t one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s small screen offerings that’s only sticking around for one season. Born Again Season 2 is officially set on the upcoming Marvel TV shows for a March 2026 release, and as a nice bonus, Jon Bernthal will reprise Frank Castle in a Punisher special that’s also coming out next year. Now that I’ve seen the Born Again Season 1 finale with my Disney+ subscription, I already know how I want Frank’s standalone project to tie into the next season of Matt Murdock’s TV show.

Following his return to the MCU in “Sic Semper Systema” after a six-year absence, Bernthal’s Frank really got to cut loose in “Straight to Hell.” Spurred into action by a phone call from Karen Page, Frank teamed up with Matt Murdock to fight the Anti-Vigilante Task Force (AVTF) officers who were sent to kill Matt at his apartment. But then Frank made the unwise move to take the fight to Red Hook on his own, and he was captured and imprisoned with the rest of Wilson Fisk’s enemies. However, in the Born Again Season 1 finale’s end credits scene, Frank tricked one of the guards into getting too close to him and broke his arm, setting up his escape.

So where do we go with The Punisher from here? Well, for one thing, I highly doubt that Jon Bernthal will only reprise Frank Castle in the Disney+ special. He may have broken free from his cage, but as part of his efforts to eliminate all vigilantes in New York City, you can be sure he’ll instruct the AVTF to hunt down Frank and either recapture him or kill him on sight. Until told otherwise, I’m assuming that Bernthal will be back for Daredevil: Born Again Season 2. And to go a step further, I also think that the special will be released before Season 2.

Keeping those things in mind, I’d like to see the Punisher special show Frank Castle building up an arsenal to use against Wilson Fisk and the AVTF. It didn’t look like he had a lot of weaponry at his disposal at the hideout where he took Matt and Karen, and even if he did have more guns tucked away, he could always use more. This is The Punisher, we’re talking about, after all: the man loves to kill bad guys as violently as possible.

Maybe we could see Frank either raid an armory that’s being protected by AFTV officers or steal guns from one of the criminal operations in the Big Apple. Once he has a sizable arsenal, then he can engage in guerrilla warfare against the AVTF and whatever criminals cross his path along the way. The main issue is that this kind of story needs to be done in a way so that people who aren’t watching Daredevil: Born Again can still easily follow along.

But assuming that can be effectively handled, the special can set the stage for Frank Castle’s return in Born Again Season 2. With all the firearms he could ever ask for easily accessible, he can re-team with Matt Murdock and his allies and finally bring topple Mayor Wilson Fisk’s regime. Then Frank and Matt could go their separate ways yet again, with the former hopefully getting another special and the latter ideally coming back for Born Again Season 3.

I’m not a big Punisher fan by any means, but I’ve liked how he was used in the original Daredevil series and also had an enjoyable enough time watching his spinoff series. So I’ll always welcome Jon Bernthal returning to the role, but I’ll be even more pleased if my idea for his special and Daredevil: Born Again Season 2.

Spoilers below for anyone who isn’t watching Daredevil: Born Again’s Season 1 finale with a Disney+ subscription.

I can still recall the sting of learning that Netflix canceled Daredevil after Season 3, and the worry that Charlie Cox’s Matt Murdock and Vincent D’Onofrio’s Wilson Fisk may never grace the screen together again. Thankfully, no one could keep the vigilante and the Kingpin down for the count, and it’s rather incredible that we’re now here to (hopefully) celebrate the conclusion of Daredevil: Born Again’s solidified-through-reconfiguration first season.

Like many fans, I’ve enjoyed the mostly weekly episode drops, but having to wait a full week after seeing Matt become Pointdexter’s second target of the season has been a strain, especially without a hint of Jon Bernthal in the penultimate ep. So please join me as I live-blog Episode 9, "Straight to Hell,” with the hopes of seeing way more of Frank Castle here ahead of The Punisher’s eventual standalone special and whatever other upcoming MCU TV shows are smart enough to use him.

Note that while the article is live, posts appear in reverse-chronological order, and revert to chronological order when it is no longer live.

Thanks For Joining Me, Daredevil Fans!

I think we’re all in for a good pummeling tonight, both from Daredevil’s fists and, you know, from like, emotions and shit. But before any of the good stuff goes down, let me throw a few hopes out there into the ethers:

• Foggy returns from the dead, or just returns not dead
• Karen returns, but also not dead
• The Punisher clones himself
• Matt and Heather split up in a big, juicy, dramatic way
• Fisk's entire Task Force become target practice for Pointdexter's lethal spitballs

It's So Close I Can Taste It Even Without Super-Senses

A final toast to the first eight Season 1 episodes before we slam our faces down violently into this finale!

Starting Off With A Flashback

I can't say I would have predicted Daredevil: Born Again's swan song kicking off with a reference to Jay Ali's Ran Nadeem, but I'll take it, I suppose.

I'm not sure how much we should be reading into Vanessa touching Pointdexter's hands so much while convincing him to sign that paperwork, but it seemed to work like a charm. Well maybe not a charm, since it led to Foggy and Matt getting shot.

Worked like a 'harm. There it is.

I cannot believe they just faked me out with a Karen hallucination, and then it turned out to be Heather. WHY, TV SHOW, WHY?!?

Fisk Kinda-Sorta Puts A Hit Out

Wilson Fisk namechecking Gallo in an optimistic way feels destined to blow up in his face. And yelling at his staff (even if it's justified) doesn't exactly help.

And then he's gonna follow all that up by threatening Matt's life?!? By sending that dork Cashman?!? (I know the character has a comic history, but this live-action version is a nerve-grating dingus.)

For all of his own problems, I can appreciate anytime someone in any position of power can say a statement like this with confidence, even if it's just acting:

Which of course then leads to complete chaos across the city.

But look who failed to get his target: Cashman.

Hell Yeah, Frank Is Here Baby!

Nobody else can just jump into an MCU property and say a line like this that makes one feel both threatened and empathetic to Frank's plight:

A guy like that needs his caffeine, you know?

Epic Fight #1

Oh. My. Red. Horned. Devil. God. That was one hell of an action sequence in every good way possible.

So many faces smashed. So many bones broken. So many bullets put just through that one guy's face and that desk. So many squelching noises as Frank went blade-crazy on that other guy.

In most cases, I'd be bothered that Matt didn't knock the radio out of that Task Force agent before he alerted others about Frank's presence, but at this point, I want them to come and get their asses ripped apart and fed to them, or whatever Frank has cooked up.

Karen Karen Bo Baren!

It would have been baffling if Deborah Ann Woll had returned only to film that one fakeout scene. But no, she's back! And in the same room with both Frank and Matt! It's the dream team!

Of course this show IMMEDIATELY split up the dream team, and then Frank reminded her that he paid his favor back, making it sound like he had no plans on seeing her again in the near future. So, kind of a net-negative, but still! Karen!

Even though Daniel Blake as a character doesn't excite me very much, I do love the way that Michael Gandolfini is able to appear completely warm and cuddly in one second, and like a possessed psychopath in the next. I gotta hope his pops would be proud.

Now We Know What The Fisks Are Up To

Karen and Matt just can't let things like feelings and happiness to see each other stop them from fulfilling the mission. So it's good that Karen was able to immediately figure out the big secret behind the Fisks' plan.

Red Hook' charter makes it a free port, which Vanessa has taken advantage of with her stored art. They want to make Red Hook a city/stage, at least that's how Matt sees it.

The Punisher Gets Punished

Kudos to Frank for trying to enact some justice by taking out some of the Task Force members that were showing zero discretion about their murderous patterns. And he certainly did take down some of them.

But sadly not everyone, and it was more depressing than I thought to watch him get whooped up on before having to sit tied up in front of a bunch of poseur shitbags in skull-emblazoned garb.

I wish we'd have the chance to see all of those cops on fire to test whether or not Frank would piss on them or not.

This Franchise's First Jaw-Ripping Murder

I don't know if it's poetic exactly that we've gone from Vincent D'Onofrio's Kingpin slamming someone's head into a pulp with a car door to the point where he's ripping faces off of police commissioners in full view of others as a Mayor of a metropolis. But it has certainly been fun to watch this evolution in brutality all the same.

I thought he was going to squeeze Gallo's head until it popped or something, but no, he was just loosining the man's head bones until it was all malleable enough to just rip that sucker off of the rest of his skull.

His post-face-destroying etiquette is on point, at the very least.

Martial Law In New York City, Because Fisk Said So

This is all going to go very well for everyone. That's my prediction. Foolproof.

Josie's Is Back! But Fisk Is Keeping His Enemies In Cages...

I thought I was ready to get hyped about Josie's actually looking like it will be open again in the foreseeable future, and that it already had quite a few friendly customers to help a city's vigilante in need.

But then the episode went and took us into the Fisks' underground lair, where a bunch of their opposers like the Swordsman and...sadly, Frank. It sucked to see Punisher all chained up like that.

Especially after seeing quick shots of all the other main characters in Daredevil: Born Again that 100% deserve to be caged for a while.

Post-Credits Punisher Goodness

Thankfully, we didn't have to wait very long to get a reassuring resolution for Frank Castle's state of confined plight. Because he clearly got paired up with the biggest dipshit of all the guards who could have been keeping an eye on everyone. Like, he should have had some pride in front of all the other prisoners by feeding right into Frank's plan.

Which is all to say, I don't feel sorry for that guy or any of his shattered bones.

Also, I know this is Daredevil: Born Again and all, but I could not be happier that this first season full-on embraced the fact that this corner of the Marvel-verse is where fans first met Jon Bernthal's Punisher and first heard Frank Castle''s hauntingly primal screams.

Final Thoughts

On a scale of 1-10 Batons To The Throat, where 10 is the more positive score, I'd give "Straight to Hell" an A for Absolute Visceral Joy. Wait, that score doesn't sound right at all. Maybe I got hit in the head during one of those fight scenes.

In hindsight, though, it was about as dour and downbeat an ending as it gets for a superhero series, with the bad guys coming out on top and most of the good guys left to heal up in the dark before setting up for a renewed attempt to take the city back from its corrupted mayor and his growing army of sycophants. Of course he gave Heather a promotion. Ugh. How did anyone ever trust her with their inner thoughts?

It says something that the final shot we get of Daredevil himself isnt' in any kind of an intimidating hero pose, but through a torn hole in one of Josie's papered-up windows. The only spot of brightness to be found is the blue in Karen's eyes. Otherwise, it's a sad, sad day for Lady Justice.

Except for when Frank made it clear he was about to escape Fisk's secret prison.

We Did It!

Thanks to everyone who read along with me live while the episode aired, and an equal thanks to those who are reading after the fact. I think we can all agree there's no wrong time to watch Frank Castle break someone's face open on the edge of a table.

And now we wait for Season 2, and to find out who Matthew Lillard will be playing for his MCU debut.

One last round for the night to share this thank you post from Daredevil: Born Again showrunner Darjo Scardapane. Congrats on a job well done.

Following that massive Avengers announcement a few days ago, anticipation is high as the 2025 movie schedule will introduce The Fantastic Four: First Steps to the world, and that picture marks the start of Phase 6 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It could also be the start of something that’ll literally Doom the MCU, which is on everyone’s minds after Avengers: Doomsday’s massive cast reveal.

That day put the potential for cracking wise on the table in all sorts of ways, and fans still haven't disappointed on that front. This leads to the latest front in that comedy battle, as people are now joking about star Ebon Moss-Bachrach’s past role in The Punisher - just as he’s about to debut as Ben “The Thing” Grimm in an upcoming Marvel movie.

The Marvel Double Dip Strikes Again With Ebon Moss-Bachrach’s Avengers Casting

This isn’t the first time Moss-Bachrach’s repeat casting has been brought up in service of invoking “The Marvel Double Dip,” as he was in The Punisher back in the Netflix days and will soon be in Fantastic Four as a totally different character.

Just as you’d expect with Daredevil: Born Again reopening that corner of the street-level MCU, social media user “@driftyfilm” dropped this piece of comedy onto the internet about Doomsday:

You really know you’ve made it when a role in a Netflix series eight years ago is casually thrown around for a laugh. Though to be fair, if Ebon Moss-Bachrach has “made it” for anything, it’s probably his intense performances in FX’s The Bear and Disney+’s Andor.

Keep those roles in mind for the next part of the ride, though, as one of those two had to be mentioned when joking in the face of Doomsday.

Further Comments On Avengers: Doomsday’s Casting Seem To Have One Thing In Mind

For the most part, fellow digital comedians stuck to the obvious pun that comes with what we know about The Fantastic Four: First Steps. But I had to save the best for last, as it opens up to the potential for a hilarious image in Marvel’s near future that all Hulu subscription holders would find to be a godsend.

With that in mind, here’s a sampling of the internet being the internet, but in a really funny way:

• “Here’s the thing…” - @mmarti2001
• “Can’t wait to see Punisher’s tech nerd fight the Thing!” - @Rick_Zou
• “The thing about this is that…” - @mgeorge9492
• “He's playing the cousin from the Bear in this one. Sorry to kill the excitement over here... :(“ - @thegameoverture

There are probably countless further references to Mr. Moss-Bachrach’s tragic rock hero, so if you want to see the full field, it’s out there. However, I have to respectfully tip my chef’s knife to that final contributor, who said that Richie from The Bear would be the alternate character to join the ranks of Avengers: Doomsday.

For some reason, a really pissed off Cousin Richie squaring up with Robert Downey Jr’s Doctor Doom sounds just as intense as when Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch walked up and down Josh Brolin’s Thanos in Avengers: Endgame. There’d naturally be a lot of witty snipes on both ends, which would escalate into massive PG-13 violence - and perhaps that golden singular usage of the F-bomb could be slipped in since Marvel’s cool with that now.

That’s not a likely scenario, and neither is the actor reprising his Punisher role. However, in that dream situation, you can see why people love to joke about Ebon Moss-Bachrach possibly popping up multiple times in the same universe.

Coming back to reality, we know very well that Ben Grimm’s gonna do his Thing in The Fantastic Four: First Steps when it opens on July 25th, with his MCU hero ready to rock and ruin for Avengers: Doomsday’s opening on May 1, 2026.

When it was first announced that Marvel and Netflix were teaming up to create multiple streaming series in a plan that would, like the Avengers before them, create a new superhero team, fans got excited. However, the final product's reception was mixed at best. It sounds like Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos could say the same thing about working with Marvel.

The current Marvel series on Disney+, including Daredevil: Born Again which brought back actors from the original Netflix series, are produced by the same team at Marvel Studios that makes the MCU movies, but that wasn’t the case back then. Sarandos told Variety that Marvel’s TV team was more focused on money than quality, which led to conflicts between the two sides. He explained…

Ted Sarandos called the Netflix/Marvel deal the “biggest deal in the history of television,” and based purely on scope, it’s hard to disagree. Netflix agreed to produce five seasons of TV, four character-focused seasons based on Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist, and then a team-up season of Defenders. All that was done sight unseen, with no pilots or anything to really determine what everybody was getting into.

Netflix and Marvel would ultimately make 13 total seasons of television, which included The Punisher being tacked on, before the deal came to an end. While the early seasons were largely great, it’s difficult to argue that The Defenders wasn’t a disappointment, or that most of the seasons that followed it weren’t weaker than the ones that came before. Ted Sarantos very bluntly stated that any lack of greatness was due to Marvel’s unwillingness to spend more to make the shows better. He said…

Today, you'll need a Disney+ subscription to watch these shows. Marvel gained all the rights back in 2022, so everything left the streaming service. It's unclear if Netflix thinks it ultimately got its money's worth out of the deal.

Perhaps the different side of Marvel Studios working on Daredevil: Born Again is willing to spend the money, as it did greenlight two seasons out of the gate. Perhaps it’s something else. At least so far, it seems that Born Again is on par with the best of the Netflix/Marvel projects. With its success, maybe we’ll get to see more of the Defenders crew return, if Marvel's willing to spend the money, of course.

Mild spoilers below for Daredeil: Born Again’s latest episode for anyone who hasn’t yet streamed it with a Disney+ subscription.

The world finally seems settled again, or perhaps the complete opposite, now that Jon Bernthal’s Frank Castle is officially back in our lives thanks to Daredevil: Born Again. The fan-favorite vigilante made his long-awaited return to the 2025 TV schedule, which marks his first full-on MCU appearance. Having turned down an earlier request to return ahead of the Disney+ series’ creative restructuring, Bernthal welcomed the chance to bring his own personal touch to the character, and explained a key difference between Frank and Charlie Cox’s Matt Murdock.

From the outside, Frank and Matt are obviously very different characters, despite sharing quite a few similarities by way of costume-enhanced vengeance. And even though their core goals can often align, Bernthal addressed how the two characters’ mindsets differ, even when they're aiming in the same direction. And even when one might not necessarily want to think like the other. Here's what he told EW:

For all that Charlie Cox's law-defending attorney can believe himself to be a fully balanced artiber of justice, I believe we all know that Matt is more than guilty of letting his frazzled emotions guide his actions. Especially when they're in response to something tragic, such as Foggy getting assassinated right in front of him. And it sounds like Frank low-key delights in being a dark inspiration for the golden boy.

But here's where Bernthal lays out the key difference between them, even when it seems like Matt has fully gone into Punisher mode. As he put it:

While Matt may eventually arrive at the decision to drop his stricter morals and go buck on those who stand against him, that decision is almost never going to happen in a split-second the way it would with Frank. With his religious and litigious foundations, he's largely unable to approach a problem without considering the ramifications for both his corporeal form and his soul.

On the flip side, Frank could very well raze an entire field just to kill a single mouse, and all without a single second of preplanning or look-ahead consideration. If the goal is to kill the mouse, Frank is going to get the job done, while Matt may have deeper reservations that hold him back.

What's more, as Bernthal puts it, Matt is fully aware of this distinction between them, and is bothered by it, while Frank has no issues with letting his instincts run things. And by "run things," I of course mean "shoot everyone's kneecaps and split someone's elbows in half." Frank doesn's fuck around with bendable joints.

Frank and Matt's somewhat parallel ideaologies came up during Daredevil: Born Again's fourth episode, "Sic Semper Systema," as the Man Without Fear interrogated his rival-turned-friend about the skull-marked bullet casing found near Ayala's body. And it was indeed a joy to see them share the screen again, even if they weren't immediately going to town on bad guys' faces.

One can only hope that Jon Bernthal & Co. find a way to bring Charlie Cox's hero into the fold for the upcoming Marvel Special Presentation for The Punisher that was announced in February. Not that any of these actors have much free time on their hands, as Born Again Season 2 is currently in production.

Over the past few years, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been producing a ton of live-action TV content for those with a Disney+ subscription, helping to expand the franchise even more. But there was a time when Marvel's shows lived on Netflix, and some of those characters are returning thanks to Daredevil: Born Again. That includes Charlie Cox and Jon Bernthal, who recently joked about their respective injuries from their original run as Daredevil and Punisher respectively.

While Daredevil and The Punisher were both originally available with a Netflix subscription, Disney+ has since picked up those shows and continues to produce new ones. Some fans are hoping they appear in upcoming Marvel movies, but their reunion in Born Again is definitely thrilling. In a video circulating on Instagram, Bernthal confirmed he's broken his nose a number of times, including on The Punisher. As he put it:

Ouch. This type of injury shows how much Bernthal throws himself into fight scenes, which we've seen in his acclaimed performances in The Walking Dead and as Frank Castle in the MCU. Talk about comittment.

In this same interview, Charlie Cox was asked if he was ever responsible for any of Bernthal's nose breaks. After all, they came to blows a number of times throughout Daredevil. He said no, but revealed an injury he sustained thanks to his co-star. As Cox put it:

That's one serious misstep. Or in this case, miskick. Pulling off thrilling action sequences is not without its risks, and it sounds like both Charlie Cox and Jon Bernthal are no strangers to the occasional injury. And that history didn't stop either of them from returning in the cast of Daredevil: Born Again.

Towards the end of this interview, Cox made sure he had never accidentally injured Bernthal, saying:

These two clearly have great chemistry, which fans are eager to see leap to the screen in the new Daredevil series. For years fans have hoped that the characters from the Netflix shows would return to the MCU. And after some cameos by Charlie Cox in Spider-Man: No Way Home and She-Hulk: Attorney At Law, he's finally able to take center stage in Born Again, which is just as violent as its predecessors.

New episodes of Daredevil: Born Again go up Tuesdays on Disney+ as part of the 2025 TV premiere list. Hopefully the two actors don't get injured from their time back in the MCU.

Daredevil and The Punisher sure do keep each other on their toes, and when it comes to Season 1 of Daredevil: Born Again, it sounds like the actors who play them- Charlie Cox and Jon Bernthal, respectively- do that too. Ahead of the upcoming Marvel show’s premiere on March 4, the Matt Murdock actor proved that by explaining how his co-star was rewriting lines right before they started shooting. I have to say, this sounds brilliant and stressful.

We’ve known for a while now that Jon Bernthal would return as The Punisher in Born Again. However, the impact he’ll have on the story is still unknown. While those specifics remain hidden, we do know the actor behind Frank Castle had quite the impact on set, as Cox recalled a phone call he received from him about re-working a scene during a press conference that our sister site, GamesRadar, attended:

Cox explained that he was thrilled to have Bernthal in the Born Again cast and that he loves filming with him. So, witnessing the actor improvising and coming up with his lines and actions sounds like loads of fun. However, as this story went on, it also seemed kind of stressful as the Daredevil star recalled what happened when his co-star showed up on set after that call:

Considering Cox and Bernthal have been playing Daredevil and The Punisher for a long time, I’d trust them to know what’s right for the characters. Therefore, working on scenes in a loose way like this sounds fun. However, there’s also part of me that would panic a smidge if I didn’t know what my co-star was about to do.

Clearly, though, Charlie Cox was loving his work with The Bear actor, as he spoke very highly of him and his moments in the series that’s about to premiere on the 2025 TV schedule. While the Matt Murdock actor didn’t give away specifics, he did tease how iconic Bernthal’s arc is this season, saying:

Being a fan of the OG Netflix shows and the chemistry between Cox and Bernthal’s characters, this comment excites me to no end. However, also knowing that they were improvising and working well together on set thrills me even more, because it probably means Frank and Matt’s reunion will be meaningful, action-packed and, as the Daredevil actor said, “potentially iconic.”

Well, it sounds like we’re in for a wild ride when it comes to Matt and Frank’s story this season. Plus, overall, Daredevil: Born Again has received great reactions from fans who saw it early, meaning we better have those Disney+ subscriptions ready. I don’t think we’re going to want to miss anything in this highly anticipated return to Hell’s Kitchen.

Marvel fans will soon witness an event that's been rumored, discussed, clamored for, argued about, and all the other verbs. We're talking Daredevil: Born Again making its long-awaited debut on the 2025 TV schedule, which also marks the small-screen returns of fan-favorite characters like Karen Page, Foggy Nelson, and Frank motherfluffing Castle! And guess what? It won't be the last we see of Jon Bernthal's Punisher.

Seemingly taking a note from my entrails-emblazoned dream journal, Marvel has already confirmed a future adventure for Castle's bone-shattering vigilante, with Bernthal locked in to reprise the role once more. It won't be a full-on extension of Netflix's Punisher series, but it's literally the next best thing in my eyes, and might even be a smarter move than an outright limited series.

The Punisher Will Return For A Marvel Special Presentation

As explained by Marvel's increasingly more vocal Head of Television, Brad Winderbaum, the impetus for continuing The Punisher's small-screen impact was formed as Daredevil: Born Again was in production and it became clear that this shouldn't be the end for the widower. And it sounds like it'll be just as explosive as fans are hoping for. Here's how the exec put it to EW:

I mean, they might as well just call the Special Presentation "Shotguns and Pathos," amirite? I can't imagine whatever the final title is will be any more impressive and on the nose.

Jon Bernthal Is Co-Writing The Punisher Special

Not only is theWalking Dead vet going back in black in front of the camera, but he's also as invested as can be behind the scenes. It was confirmed that Bernthal will be handling co-writing duties for The Punisher's one-off storyline, which will assumedly add that much more organic badassery to what viewers will eventually watch.

Brad Winderbaum lauded the We Own This City star for his signature protrayal and for what he brings to the role of Frank Castle, saying:

Hopefully whatever this Special Presentation is will connect enough dots to get Frank Castle invested enough in the larger multiversal story that we'll get to see him blasting holes in people's faces for the Russo brothers' upcoming Marvel movies like Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars. I don't expect it, but would welcome it all the same.

A Punisher One-Off Is The Perfect Way To Deliver Action Without Overdoing It

I was one of those Punisher fans who lauded and defended the Netflix series for its brutal strengths, though I could definitely also understand why those two seasons garnered complaints from viewers. And I think the biggest setback for both that and Daredevil itself was having too many episodes.

Sure, nobody wants to get a series order and a big budget from a major TV studio and think about the best way to make fewer episodes. But for a character like Frank Castle who pops as hard as can be when he's on the screen, delivering a constricted and condensed story seems like a far better way to keep fans gleeful without stretching everyone's attention spans. Plus, we won't have to wait nearly as long to see it!

It's unclear at the moment exactly when Punisher's post-Daredevil return will go down, or when it will go into production, but you can bet our eyeballs will be popping out of our skull emblems while awaiting more information.

It sounds weird saying this out loud, but I don't think any other Marvel character (Besides maybe the Fantastic Four) has been given as many chances as Frank Castle, a.k.a. the Punisher.

Now, don't get me wrong. We've definitely gotten more cinematic appearances by characters like Spider-Man, or the X-Men, but were the studios really taking “a chance” with such popular characters? The Punisher is a hard-R protagonist, and we've gotten three R-rated movies, and a pretty grisly Netflix TV show about the character, and none of those made nearly as much money as Spider-Man or the X-Men.

That said, I still think Disney should try again with the character for a fourth movie. Here's why.

After The Success Of Deadpool & Wolverine, A Hard R Punisher Movie Sounds Like A Good Next Mature Film For The MCU 

I loved Deadpool & Wolverine (and I’m definitely not alone), but the one thing that really impressed me was that the powers that be at Disney would even allow such a gloriously profane and violent movie to be underneath their umbrella.

Yes, there have been other R-rated Marvel movies in the past (like Blade, which is just as good as you remember it being), but never in my wildest dreams did I think I would see an R-rated Disney Marvel movie. I mean, this is a studio where Star Lord dropping the F-bomb once made headlines. Now we’re at a point where I can’t even count the number of F-bombs that were dropped in Deadpool & Wolverine.

That said, a big difference between a character like Deadpool and a character like the Punisher is the tone. In a lot of ways, all of the cursing and violence in Deadpool & Wolverine could be seen as being tongue-in-cheek, and not to be taken too seriously.

In fact, I know a number of children who love Deadpool. So, in that way, Deadpool is a fun character, which kind of minimizes the harshness of the R-rating, even if just a little bit.

The Punisher, however, is not about fun at all. This is a character who is not against torturing people, or killing them outright, in order to get what he wants. If Deadpool is an “immature” character, then the Punisher is the polar opposite.

And, if any Marvel character were to get that “serious” R-rated movie, I think it should be Frank Castle. There’s already a precedent that’s been set by the other Punisher films, and his Netflix show was already very mature as it was.

So, if the MCU were to take that same Punisher and throw him into a movie, I think a lot of people would be pleased. Plus, it could be the start of a whole new mature line of R-rated MCU flicks. Who doesn’t want that?

The Movie Could Pull From The Netflix Marvel Shows  

Another thing I really enjoyed about Deadpool & Wolverine was (what else?) the exhaustive list of cameos from the Fox Marvel movies.

Now, I know the cameos weren’t for everyone (and the director himself doesn’t really like that some people think they were only there for shock-value), but I think they really added to the story, and created a legacy project out of something that could have just as easily been your standard third movie in a franchise.

With that said, I think that it would be really cool if a fourth movie could do something similar, but with characters that we saw in the Netflix Marvel shows instead.

We already have characters like Daredevil and Kingpin in the super bingeable series, Echo, but I want to see other Marvel Netflix characters return, like Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and dare I say, Iron Fist (Okay, no, no. Please strike that last one from the records).

I really do think this could be a reunion of sorts for the Marvel Netflix series, which were often just as good (or even better) than the shows we’ve gotten on Disney+. Come on now, you know you want to see Jessica Jones and Luke Cage return. I can’t be the only one.

It Could Open The Door To Even More Street Level Characters Not Yet Established In The MCU 

For a time, I thought I would never see my favorite Marvel character, Moon Knight, in the MCU, and then I got a whole TV series about him. Now, while the show wasn’t everything I hoped and dreamed it would be, I do like how it brought a more street-level Marvel character to the mainstream. That was pretty cool.

However, there are quite a few other street-level Marvel characters who we still haven’t gotten in the MCU yet, and I think a fourth Punisher film would be the perfect place to put them.

For example, even though we got Tombstone in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, we still haven’t gotten him in the MCU, and I would love to see him. Same goes for Hammerhead, who would be an interesting character to add to the roster.

Also, what about Mr. Negative? I know he’s a bit more on the supernatural side, but I’m sure they could make it work.

To go back to Moon Knight, how cool would it be if he and the Punisher teamed up in a movie? I’m just spitballing now, but the sky really is the limit for a Punisher flick if they should decide to fill it up with street-level Marvel characters. It could be sick.

It Could Very Easily Lead Into A New Season For The Character On Disney+ 

Lastly, I know that the Punisher might very well get his own Disney+ TV series after he appears in the upcoming show, Daredevil: Born Again, but wouldn’t it be cool if that appearance led into a standalone movie, and then we got a Disney+ show out of it?

I actually think this is important, because there might be a large swath of people who never originally watched The Punisher on Netflix, and Born Again might very well be their introduction to the character.

Perhaps the Punisher will have a major role in that story, but he might also have a minor role in the narrative, kind of like Daredevil did in Echo. Whatever the case, I think it’s important for Disney to give the Punisher his very own moment to shine, and the best place for that would be in a movie before giving him his own TV series.

A hard-R Punisher movie could set the vibe for a new show, and it could also differentiate it from the series we already got from Netflix. In this way, perhaps he can become an even bigger household name than he already is, which would be the perfect opportunity to then give him his own series. Just a thought.

What do you think? Should there be a fourth Punisher movie?

While it’s true that everyone is perfectly free to have their own opinions, others are free to point out just how wildly offbase those opinions might be. So it went after someone took to Reddit with an ostensibly innocent question asking others to list actors known for playing the same kinds of roles throughout their careers, and made the mistake of making the example a pic of Jon Bernthal, the past-and-future Punisher actor who’ll return to the role amidst the 2025 TV schedule.

It was, shall we say, a real boneheaded move. (Punisher skull pun intended.) Because not only did commenters quickly come to Bernthal’s defense with stacked-high piles of receipts from across his career, but they were also quick to call out the inquiring party for not knowing enough to be asking such a question. Bernthal fans don’t have time for this kind of short-sighted nonsense.

Here’s a small smattering of responses to the Reddit post that were mainly invested in pointing out how terrible the decision was to use a pic of the Walking Dead vet.

• OP used perhaps the worst example for this question. Bernthal has a ton of range. - @Exotic_Adeptness4190
• I think the people that say Bernthal plays only one type of character haven't actually watched a whole lot of his work. - @dqfilm19
• You can tell op saw him in like 2 things and decided he only plays one character. - @sparklingdinoturd
• This guy isn’t 1 dimensional anymore. He’s actually never been a terrible actor - @Constant-Refuse-74
• Yeah idk what OP is talking about Bernthal is one of the better character actors. He does typically play a tough guy aggressive asshole but he plays each one with nuance and an approach to character work that’s different. - @CopeHarders

While some commenters, such as the bottom one noted above, conceded that Hollywood producers and casting directors have certainly leaned into typecasting Jon Bernthal at times by bringing him in to portray a general kind of character, be it a hyper-masculine soldier or a seemingly friendly villain.

But the performances are where the differences happen, and seemingly all of the hundreds of comments made regarding Bernthal were completely in his favor, safe for the occasional reply from someone noting their aim to catch up with one project or another. Still on the positive side.

And when it came to examples of Bernthal's range, there was no end to the variety of choices, and most of the film and series mentioned were namechecked several times by multiple people. From David Ayer's Fury to James Mangold's Ford v Ferrari to HBO's We Own This City and Netflix's The Punisher, here are just some examples of the high praise the actor earned.

• In Fury he made me feel so uncomfortable whenever he was in a scene, such great acting to elicit that kind of response. - @s-lowts
• jon bernthal in Ford v Ferrari was surprisingly good and imho a different character than usual. In the pacific he is also quite different casted, yeah, big guy and stuff. It wasn't until The Walking Dead that this type casting came into play. - @truncateBob
• He also plays a wildly different character in The Bear and an incredibly different character in Sicario. - @cadegs
• He was also so so good in We Own This City. He absolutely nailed the whole Baltimore accent/vibe. Super underrated actor - @bigjarbowski
• He was awesome as The Punisher, and the way he plays his character in The Unforgivable opposite Sandra Bullock was a nice change of pace from being this overbearing hardass he's usually portrayed as. His podcast is also really great as well. He's definitely underrated. - @Muhfuggajones
• His junky drug dealer character in Wolf of Wall Street was not like any other character he has done. - @odinsbois
• He made the movie Wind River, and he was barely in it - @ProgrammerAshamed144

The Bear definitely came up multiple times in the comments as an example of a role unlike most in Bernthal's career, not just for the fact that it's one of the few "comedies" he's appeared in, at least according to Emmy genre placement. But it was just the icing on the "terrible example" cake alongside all the other proof of his talents.

While The Bear is the only project Jon Bernthal has on the 2024 TV schedule, he'll return to his Frank Castle persona for Daredevil: Born Again in 2025, so stay tuned for more on that one.

One of the weirdest and wildest films of this year or any other, Deadpool & Wolverine is a masterclass in surprise superhero cameos, with familiar faces such as Wesley Snipes’ unexpected return as Blade and Henry Cavill’s Wolvie variant among many others. (Read our D&W review here.) That said, not all of the sequel’s live-action comic characters were direct reprisals from past projects. Cassandra Nova’s squad boasts several recast villains, including famed Punisher foe The Russian, who was portrayed by WWE icon Kevin Nash in the 2004 film.

Unsurprisingly for anyone who already knows how outspoken Nash has been throughout his career, the NWO co-founder had a particularly hilarious and semi-scathing reaction to seeing someone else wearing the character’s red and white stripes in the third Deadpool movie. Addressing the matter on his podcast Kliq THIS, Nash offered up this amusing barb:

That’s not a quote that’ll be used in any Deadpool & Wolverine marketing, but it’s a hilarious pull-quote nonetheless. While Kevin Nash doesn’t directly say that he would have signed on to play The Russian within the blockbuster’s Void scenes, but it doesn’t sound like he would have rudely scoffed at the idea, even 20 years after he last played the role.

Then again, maybe I’m making all the wrong assumptions, as Nash followed that up by calling out fans and detractors who might assume he’s only talking smack because he’s thirsty for movie roles. Here’s his sarcasm-dripping piece about that:

Nash went on to say that anybody who doesn’t know their lines and doesn’t know their roles will never make it as an actor, and that it’s a hard gig. So at this age, he’s perhaps not vociferously champing at the bit to jump into any upcoming Marvel movies that would require such lengthy workdays and streamlined attention. I know I’d love to see him back as Super Shredder in some capacity in the world of the Ninja Turtles, but I’m not holding out many hopes.

For those wondering why Deadpool & Wolverine didn’t go the whole 99 yards to bring back every possible actor and character from non-MCU canon, there isn’t just a single reason. Some of it was a financial issue, which Ryan Reynolds addressed when talking out why 2015’s Fantastic Four characters weren’t in the cameo mix.

And as far as the decisions went on a character-by-character basis, director Shawn Levy said this to Variety:

For my money, I'd rather see Kevin Nash return as The Russian in Disney+'s upcoming Marvel series Daredevil: Born Again, since we know Jon Bernthal's Punisher is involved. But until we find out more about that show, we'll just have to watch Deadpool & Wolverine continue to rake in the money at the box office.

Six months after Marvel’s Daredevil: Born Again stepped back to make creative changes behind the scenes, the Disney+ series’ production is rolling full steam ahead, with Loki directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead behind the rolling cameras. Now, we have a new on-set look at Jon Bernthal’s return as The Punisher, and it’s a bloody good time, quite literally.

It definitely looks as if Bernthal’s Frank Castle just finished doing something particularly brutal to another character, as the actor was seen along with Charlie Cox and a slew of crew members on the streets of New York while filming some kind of sequence for Daredevil: Born Again. And since blood flocks to The Punisher like moths to a flame, it’s a pleasant non-shock to catch a glimpse of the character’s splatter-tastic look ahead of the show's debut (which will be streaming via Disney+ subscription.

Woo! It would certainly be disturbing to be out trying to find your car only to happen upon a crimson-covered Frank Castle, who reaches peak intimidation levels just by standing there. Because it’s not just the blood on the face that comes across as bothersome — although it isn’t exactly soothing, either — but rather the blood drying across his knuckles, which goes all the way up his forearms.

To me, that indicates Frank punching someone in the face so hard that his fist went right through the back of their skull. And since both his right and left hands look like that, I can only assume he turned TWO people’s faces into mulch. But whose blood was it?

The easiest guess there would be that Frank took out some nameless thugs in a random bit of violence, but the scene being filmed seems to incorporate the in-costume Frank and Matt walking together down the street, presumably to follow up on whatever brutality just occurred. Embedded in that idea is the assumption that Frank bathes somewhat regularly, and isn’t caked in DNA from a days-old brawl.

Here's another set shot that appears to feature a crew member easter egg, while also showing off Cox and Bernthal next to each other.

The ripped-up posters in the back ground indicate some kind of performance happening at "Shipler Hall," which doesn't appear to be a real-life venue. One of the people being advertised is "Ngina Bowen," which just so happens to be the name of an accomplished costumer and wardrobe supervisor who's worked on projects such as Creed III, Stargirl, two of Starz's Power series and more. She doesn't seem to be listed among Daredevil: Born Again's crew, but that might not indicate anything.

The set photos also show a line of possible authority figures lined up in jackets, with actor Jeremy Earl playing an officer who is very clearly wearing the Punisher logo as part of his uniform. It's suspected that Earl is portraying comic book character Cole North, who is known for being a by-the-book authority figure who embodies a fairly pure moral compass. But I can't imagine Frank will be all that pleased by his morals after the cop (and presumably others) co-opted the Punisher skull. That move doesn't bode well for others in the comics, so perhaps it's some of their blood that flew back up into Frank's face.

Now let's end on a shot of two returning faves!

I think it's safe to say that The Punisher won't be wearing the blood of either Karen Page or Foggy Nelson, and not only because returning stars Deborah Ann Woll and Elden Hensen are seen above without any obvious physical injuries. Frank and Karen grew quite close during the run of The Punisher, to the point where fans were hoping to see sparks fly between them. Which, by all means, could still happen in Daredevil: Born Again, though he's gonna need a face wipe or two.

Jon Bernthal recently hyped fans up for his return by referencing the story he used to tell his daughter back in the days before everything went to shit. Just in case anyone expected Frank's return to be a big old bouquet of happiness even beyond the bloodshed.

Daredevil: Born Again will debut on Disney+ at an undisclosed point in 2025 with its first nine episodes, to be followed at a later date by the back half of the season. Head to our 2024 TV schedule to see what else is heading to the small screen soon.

To be perfectly clear, we do not condone violence (or even something as harmless as a prank) as a solution to any conflict… in reality, that is. However, in the realm of fiction, few things are as satisfying as seeing a character get even with their worst enemy, especially if the inciting incident was something truly unforgivable. See if you agree by reliving some of the best revenge movies and TV shows that incorporate the theme in the coldest, but ultimately justifiable, ways possible.

John Wick (John Wick)

In 2014’s first installment of the John Wick movies, all Keanu Reeves’ eponymous former assassin wanted was a life free of violence, until a Russian mobster's punk son killed his dog and stole his car very shortly after the death of his wife. Getting back into the deadly world he was desperate to leave behind was worth it just to make sure Iosef Tarasov (Alfie Allen) and his crew paid for their wicked deed.

The Bride (Kill Bill)

The title role of Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill movies (David Carradine) and the remaining members of his DiVAS unload a massacre at Beatrix "The Bride" Kiddo's wedding rehearsal, nearly killing her and her unborn child. The retired killer awakens from a four-year coma believing that her child is dead, develops an insatiable desire to punish her former colleagues, and gets her hands on a brand-new samurai sword to go on a “roaring rampage of revenge.”

Jen (Revenge)

In the aptly titled Revenge, Jen (Matilda Lutz) suffers a senseless act by one of her married boyfriend's perverse business partners, and her boyfriend's solution is to push her off a cliff, where she becomes impaled by a tree at the bottom. Inexplicably, she survives and proceeds to ruin the trio's hunting trip by waging a brutal war on them in the middle of the desert in writer and director Coralie Fargeat's enthralling thriller.

Red Miller (Mandy)

Lumberjack Red Miller (Nicolas Cage) watches the love of his life, the titular Mandy (Andrea Riseborough), get burned alive by a sadistic cult led by a spiteful, Charles Manson-inspired musician (Linus Roache). Red retaliates by brutally taking them out one by one (even being forced to take on an otherworldly biker gang) in Panos Cosmatos' visually stunning and truly heartbreaking fantasy.

Wade Wilson (Deadpool)

Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) finds himself extremely dissatisfied by the experimental procedure that, despite curing his cancer by giving him regenerative healing abilities, left him with a "haunting" appearance that forces him to leave his fiancée and don a costume covering every inch of his body. The Canadian mercenary makes it a personal mission to punish Francis "Ajax" Freeman (Ed Skrein) for his cruel experiments on him in 2016's cinematic adaptation of Marvel's hilarious Deadpool comics.

Paul Kersey (Death Wish)

In director Michael Winner’s adaptation of Brian Garfield’s novel, Death Wish, Charles Bronson plays Paul Kersey — an architect whose wife is killed and his daughter is left traumatized by abuse after a brutal home invasion. As a result, he takes it upon himself to find the perpetrators and continue to be judge, jury, and executioner on the streets of Manhattan.

Arya Stark (Game Of Thrones)

Following the infamous events of the Red Wedding, Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) vows to avenge the deaths of her family members, orchestrated by Walder Frey (David Bradley). In the Season 6 premiere of Game of Thrones, she finally gets what she desires by not only killing Frey, but his entire family.

Eric Draven (The Crow)

In Brandon Lee's final film, The Crow, the actor plays Eric Draven — a rock star who is senselessly murdered by a vicious street gang, along with his fiancée, Shelley, on the night before their wedding. One year later, he is resurrected with a mission to punish his killers in one of the best comic book movies not based on a Marvel or DC title.

Hugh Glass (The Revenant)

Bear attack survivor Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) is left for dead by fellow fur trader John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy), who also murders his son in front of him after he tries to prevent Fitzgerald from murdering Glass. The harrowing journey the badly injured man endures through unforgiven wintry terrain in writer and director Alejandro González Iñárritu's The Revenant makes finding and punishing Fitzgerald all the more satisfying.

Mattie Ross (True Grit)

Two of the greatest Western movies of all time (one made in 1969 and the other in 2010) are based on Charles Portis’ novel 1968 novel, True Grit. It tells the story of an intelligent teenage girl (originally played by Kim Darby and later by Hailee Steinfeld in an Oscar-nominated performance) who goes to far lengths to avenge her father's murder, including enlisting the help of a famed U.S. Marshall (first played by John Wayne in an Oscar-winning performance and later by Jeff Bridges).

Dwight (Blue Ruin)

The story of Jeremy Saulnier's Blue Ruin is a unique one for the revenge category and the key factor is the central protagonist: a homeless man named Dwight (Macon Blair. He proves to be hopelessly inexperienced, unequipped, and unprepared for his bid to avenge the senseless murder of his parents years earlier after learning their killer was released from prison.

Omar Little (The Wire)

“Vengeance” might as well have been the middle name of Omar Little (the late Michael K. Williams) for how much the theme defined his arc on creator David Simon’s The Wire. In Season 1, the good-hearted stick-up man took down Anton “Stinkum” Artis (Brandon Price) after he murdered his boyfriend, Brandon Wright (Michael Kevin Darnall) and in Season 3, he and Brother Mouzone (Michael Potts) killed Russell “Stringer” Bell (Idris Elba) for setting them both up for death previously.

Cassie Thomas (Promising Young Woman)

Emerald Fennell earned a Best Original Screenplay Oscar for her feature-length debut as a writer and director, 2020’s Promising Young Woman, which tells the story of  Cassie Thomas (Carey Mulligan), who becomes consumed by a desire to avenge the horrific abuse that drove her best friend to take her own life. Even though it would cost her her own life (as she predicted), Cassie does manage to bring her friend's abuser, and other people associated with the crime, to justice and even gets the last laugh with a series of text messages programmed to automatically send at the time of his arrest… during his own wedding.

Django Freeman (Django Unchained)

In one of the best Quentin Tarantino movies, 2012’s Django Unchained, the titular hero (Jamie Foxx) is freed by bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz), who offers him the chance to punish the men who treated him horribly when he was enslaved. His new partner also helps him reunite with and rescue his wife, Broomhilda (Kerry Washington) from ruthless plantation owner, Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio).

Frank Castle (The Punisher)

One of the darkest characters in Marvel Comics history is Frank Castle, who became better known as The Punisher for his reputation to show no mercy for the worst criminals imaginable following the savage murder of his own family. The war veteran-turned-vigilante has been adapted for screen multiple times, but one of the most acclaimed portrayals is by Jon Bernthal, who debuted in the role on the Daredevil TV series before earning his own spin-off.

Carl Lee Hailey (A Time To Kill)

Carl Lee Hailey (Samuel L. Jackson) believed he was right to kill Billy Ray Cobb (Nicky Katt) and James Willard (Doug Hutchinson) after he was told the two white men could very likely walk free for what they did to his young, Black daughter, Tonya (Rae’Ven Larrymore Kelly). Honestly, we cannot help but agree with him, which is part of what makes Joel Schumacher's 1996 adaptation of John Grisham’s A Time to Kill so compelling. 

Jesse Pinkman (Breaking Bad)

Out of every character in the Breaking Bad cast, Jesse Pinkman (Emmy winner Aaron Paul) is the one most deserving of redemption… and revenge. In the series finale of creator Vince Gilligan’s revolutionary drama, he deservingly gets to be the one to rid the world of the most coldly sadistic of his captors, Todd (Jesse Plemons).

Sansa Stark (Game Of Thrones)

On Game of Thrones, Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) undergoes a devastating arc, following her tumultuous relationship with her sadistic, abusive husband, Bolton Ramsay (Iwan Rheon). She later retaliates by feeding her former spouse to his own dogs.

Shosanna Dreyfus (Inglourious Basterds)

In the breathtaking opening scene of Quentin Tarantino’s 2009 World War II-era drama, Inglourious Basterds, Shosanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent) becomes the only survivor of a massacre on her French Jewish family orchestrated by the ruthless Col. Hans Landa of the SS (Christoph Waltz). While she does not end up bringing Landa to justice herself, she does wipe out most of the Nazi regime by burning her own movie theater to the ground during the premiere of a propaganda film.

Josey Wales (The Outlaw Josey Wales)

Clint Eastwood both directs and stars in the title role of 1976’s The Outlaw Josey Wales in which a mild-mannered Missouri farmer and family man is transformed into a fearsome, notorious cold-blooded killer. By the end of the Civil War-era Western thriller, Wales kills the leader of the crew who made him into the person he is in the first place by savagely and senselessly murdering his wife and son. 

Bella Baxter (Poor Things)

Director Yorgos Lanthimos’ adaptation of Alasdair Gray’s 1992 novel, Poor Things, chronicles the reanimated Bella Baxter’s (Academy Award winner Emma Stone) discovery of the joys and pains of life, despite the people who wish to coddle her — including the husband of her former self, Alfie Blessington (Christopher Abbott). She punishes the controlling misogynist by also, technically, saving his life by replacing his brain with that of a goat.

Gordon "Gordo" Moseley (The Gift)

While admittedly, quite sinister in his actions (to say the least), it is easy to understand why Gordo (Joel Edgerton) harvested such wicked feelings for Simon (Jason Bateman) in 2015's The Gift. In high school, Simon fabricated a story about him being taken advantage of by a male teacher, leading to incessant bullying, him changing schools, and his homophobic father, subsequently suspecting his son to be gay, attempting to kill him.

Dr. Richard Kimble (The Fugitive)

Both the 1960s series, The Fugitive, and its acclaimed 1993 cinematic adaptation follow the wrongly convicted Richard Kimble (originally played by David Janssen and by Harrison Ford in the film) searching for the one-armed man who actually murdered his wife. The TV show ended with Kimble’s search finally being over and the movie with him learning the conspiracy behind his wife’s death, both with the reluctant help of U.S. Marshal Gerard.

Bud Fox (Wall Street)

In Oliver Stone’s Wall Street, Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen) becomes consumed by the wealth he initially acquires after being taken under the wing of his hero, Gordon Gekko (Academy Award winner Michael Douglas). However, when he learns his mentor is planning a deal that would ruin his own father's (Martin Sheen) company, Bud opts to turn against the ruthless Gordon, which ultimately puts them both behind bars.

Sam Wheat (Ghost)

In 1990’s Ghost, the lingering spirit of Manhattan banker Sam Wheat (Patrick Swayze) discovers that his murder was orchestrated by his two-faced friend and colleague, Carl Bruner (Tony Goldwyn). With help from a medium (Whoopi Goldberg) who can hear him and his newly learned abilities as a ghost, he is able to send Carl and the man hired to kill him, Willie Lopez (Rick Aviles), to a darker corner of the afterlife.

Grey Trace (Upgrade)

After a group of attackers render Grey Trace (Logan Marshall-Green) a quadriplegic and murder his wife, the mechanic accepts a tech innovator's offer to be implanted with a device that, not only allows him to control his limbs, but is programmed with an AI named STEM that makes him a brutal fighting machine. Grey and STEM team up to punish his attackers, but — SPOILER ALERT — it turns out that STEM orchestrated the entire thing, wanting to take over a human host and, thus, making 2018’s Upgrade a cautionary revenge tale.

Claire Carroll (The Nightingale)

In writer and director Jennifer Kent's The Nightingale, Claire Carroll (Aisling Franciosi) is taken advantage of by Lt. Hawkins (Sam Claflin), who also kills her husband and her infant child. With the help of an Aboriginal tracker named Billy (Baykali Ganambarr), the burdened Irish woman takes it upon herself to bring the sadistic army lieutenant to justice.

Cecile (Cruel Intentions)

In Cruel Intentions, the 1999 teen drama reimagining of the French 18th Century novel, Dangerous Liaisons, wealthy step-siblings Kathryn Merteuil (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Sebastian Valmont (Ryan Phillippe) use the innocent and naive Annette Hargrove (Reese Witherspoon) and Cecile Caldwell (Selma Blair) as pawns for a wicked wager in romantic and reputational manipulation. Annette and Sebastian find true love with each other which ends in tragedy, while Kathryn’s reputation is the one that gets destroyed after Cecile makes her manipulative ways public with copies of Sebastian’s journal.  

Kim Soo-hyun (I Saw The Devil)

You could argue that Kim Soo-hyun (Lee Byung-hun) goes a little too far when exacting his revenge on Jang Kyung-chul (Choi Min-sik) in the 2010 Korean horror favorite, I Saw the Devil. However, there is no debate that Kyung-chul went way too far when he beat Soo-hyun’s wife to death and dismembered her.

The Nerds (Revenge Of The Nerds)

Every socially alienated college student who was ever persecuted for their intelligence or the way they dress received some much-needed wish fulfillment vicariously through the main characters in Revenge of the Nerds. The 1984 sees Lewis Skolnik (Robert Carradine) and others turn the tables on their cruel bullies and acquire the popularity and respect they crave.

Capt. Jean-Luc Picard (Star Trek: First Contact)

In one of the best episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Sir Patrick Stewart) is transformed into a race of cybernetic organisms called Borgs. He eventually punishes the cruel alien race for what they did to him and other crimes in the 1996 feature film, Star Trek: First Contact.

Jason Shepherd (Big Fat Liar)

In 2002’s Big Fat Liar, compulsively dishonest teen Jason Shepherd (Frankie Muniz) accidentally leaves his writing assignment in the limo of movie producer, Marty Wolf (Academy Award nominee Paul Giamatti), who passes it off as his own idea for a movie that gets greenlit soon after. Desperate to earn his parents’ trust, he and his best friend, Kaylee (Amanda Bynes), travel all the way to Los Angeles and — with help from more of Wolf’s enemies — set out to expose and ruin the scumbag once and for all.

They say that revenge is a dish best served cold, but what these characters achieve makes us feel warm inside.

Nobody likes to hear about things going haywire in Hollywood, especially when it comes to beloved properties, but all the behind-the-scenes retooling that’s gone down during the production of Disney+’s Daredevil: Born Again seems to be resulting in net positives. Perhaps the most anticipated returning face is Jon Bernthal’s Frank Castle, who hasn’t resurfaced the way Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio were able to bring their respective characters back. That said, it still makes sense that Bernthal is teasing that comeback in quite the depressing way. 

Bernthal isn’t necessarily the most public and outgoing person on social media, and anything he shares tends to mean something pretty big. And while we have yet to get an official shot of Frank back in his element under the Disney umbrella, his first big tease for Daredevil: Born Again is a direct callback to The Punisher’s dour backstory in the Netflix series.

To anyone scrolling through without thinking too hard, this looks like an innocent enough shot of a children's book, with a title that doesn't automatically ring a bell in a world where Dr. Seuss exists. But for those who watched all of Frank’s story throughout Daredevil and The Punisher, it’s obviously a book that means just about everything to the character in a world where he’s no longer surrounded by his family. 

The storybook, which was created wholecloth for the series and doesn’t exist in the real world, was a favorite of Frank’s daughter Lisa, as he used to read it to her nightly before bed while still a civilian. But the night he first returned  home from Marine duties, Frank was too tired to read it to her, saying they would do it the next day, now knowing that it would be the fateful day when his entire family got murdered.

Which is why Frank, while in Punisher mode, is heard saying “One batch, two batch, Penny and Dime” before he goes on his deadly rampages. Echoing both “Hot Cross Buns” and One Fish, Two Fish…, the words aren’t necessarily meaningful themselves, but the act of saying them is Frank’s instant reminder that he’ll never be able to read to his kids again, which keeps him centered and vengeful.

So by all means, it sounds like the replacement creative team of showrunner Dario Scardapane, along with episode directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, will indeed remain faithful to the storytelling beats that were first established during Daredevil’s second season and throughout both seasons of The Punisher proper. (Though possibly with the changes we’re hoping for.) Which matches up with past reports that fans will even see the return of the villainous Wilson Bethel, whose evolution into Bullseye was teased at the end of his arc. 

I didn’t expect Frank Castle to suddenly turn into a grinning ball of enthusiasm when he returned or anything, but boy, it’s not the easiest thing in the world to get excited about a character’s return when teases are hinging on memories of dead children. It’s exactly the reason why we all got Disney+ subscriptions in the first place, no?

Daredevil:l Born Again, which is also bringing Foggy and Karen back, is planned for a 2025 debut on Disney+, though there are plenty of big shows coming to the 2024 TV schedule that’ll keep everyone busy until then.

Everything old is new again, as cast members of many of the Netflix Marvel series have been making their way to the MCU. We’ve seen Charlie Cox appear as Daredevil in Spider-Man: No Way Home and She-Hulk and Vincent D’Onofrio back as Kingpin, but when the upcoming Marvel series Daredevil: Born Again arrives for Disney+ subscribers, we’ll also see the return of Jon Bernthal as The Punisher. And the actor is clearly looking forward to it, as he says the character means a great deal to him.

Frank Castle was introduced as an antagonist for Daredevil and became so popular that he got two seasons of a show of his own during the Netflix/Marvel era. Bernthal’s version of the character was popular with fans. Speaking with Collider, Bernthal said that he believes the character was so popular because Frank Castle is somebody that everybody understands at least a little bit. He explained…

Exactly how The Punisher will fit into Daredevil: Born Again is unclear, but we can be fairly certain that the two crimefighters won’t get along. One has a religious objection to killing the bad guys, and the other has no such compunction. And we can be pretty sure that the Punisher we get is going to be very much the same character we saw before, as Bernthal says he’s committed to doing it “right.” He continued…

At this point, it’s far from clear when we’ll see Daredevil: Born Again. The show shut down production during the writer and actors’ strikes and while Vincent D’Onofrio says it will be gearing up again soon, it sounds like Born Again has gone through a significant overhaul in the interim. Still, however long it takes it seems clear that fans will be happy to see both Daredevil and The Punisher again. 

Warning: SPOILERS for Echo are ahead!

The entirety of Echo is now available to stream with both a Disney+ subscription and a Hulu subscription, and while the show’s chief purpose was to obviously point the spotlight on Alaqua Cox’s Maya Lopez, it also laid some key groundwork for one of the especially-anticipated upcoming Marvel TV shows. In addition to Charlie Cox’s Daredevil briefly appearing in the first episode, Vincent D’Onofrio’s Wilson Fisk, a.k.a. Kingpin, plays a key supporting role throughout the miniseries. Despite his surrogate niece attempting to kill him at the end of Hawkeye, he tried to reconcile with her in this new series, albeit on his own twisted terms, and it’s a goal he fails to accomplish.

In true Kingpin fashion, Fisk doesn’t take it well when Maya refuses to come back to New York with him, leading to him trying to kill her grandmother and cousin. He doesn’t succeed with this either, but he nonetheless escaped, and the stage is now set for him to return as one of the leading characters in Daredevil: Born Again’s cast. In fact, the Echo mid-credits scene confirming a major Kingpin rumor gives me a good idea on how this next chapter of the MCU’s Daredevil saga will incorporate Jon Bernthal’s Frank Castle, a.k.a. The Punisher, who was confirmed to appear in early 2023.

Where We Leave Off With Kingpin In Echo

After avoiding the local authorities in Tamaha, Oklahoma, Wilson Fisk gets aboard his private jet in Echo’s final minutes and immediately starts playing damage control with one of his subordinates as they fly back to New York. However, he’s soon distracted by a news report about how there’s no clear frontrunner in the New York City mayoral race. The reporters in the broadcast talk about how “most voters want someone who is a fighter” and understand their pain and frustrations. Basically, a “bare-knuckle brawler”/“outsider” would do well, and while such a candidate would be joining the race quite late, there’s still a “window of opportunity.” You can practically see the gears turning in Fisk’s head as he’s watching TV.

Wilson Fisk was mayor of the Big Apple in the main Marvel Comics universe a few years back, and he used his political power to ban superhero vigilantes, which culminated in the events of the Devil’s Reign crossover. More importantly, back in May 2023, when Daredevil: Born Again had just started filming, Vincent D’Onofrio was photographed posing with some fans on set, and an American flag pin was observed on his suit. Since this is something political candidates often wear while running for office, this seemingly strengthened the rumors that had been running around for months that Born Again will see him running for Mayor of New York City. 

Now we know for a fact that political aspirations lie on the horizon for him, although exactly how this will be handled in Daredevil: Born Again remains to be seen. Maybe we will simply see Wilson Fisk run for mayor as has already been speculated, or perhaps as part of Born Again’s major creative overhaul, he’ll already have been elected to the office. Either way, I’m believe this is going to put him back in The Punisher’s scopes.

How Punisher May Fit Into Daredevil: Born Again’s Story

Between Cox, D’Onofrio and Bernthal all reprising their Marvel roles that originated on Netflix, Daredevil footage being used in promotional material for Echo, and Wilson Fisk revealing in this miniseries that he killed his father with a hammer when he was a boy, just like what was shown in Daredevil, it’s reasonable to assume at this point that the events of The Man Without Fear’s earlier show (and by extension the other Netflix era shows) are canon within the main MCU reality. 

As such, The Punisher we’ll be seeing in Daredevil: Born Again is the same one who crossed paths with Wilson Fisk at Ryker’s Island during Daredevil Season 2. The last time they saw each other, Fisk, who was controlling the prison by this point, arranged for Frank to escape, as he felt the gun-toting vigilante would be put to good use eliminating his competition on the outside. However, Frank promised that the next time he saw Fisk, he’d kill him.

Presuming that the events of Daredevil Season 3 coincided with Frank Castle being kept busy with other matters at some point during The Punisher’s two-season run, it’s understandable why Frank didn’t pop his head in during those batch of episodes and try to gun him down as the crime lord rose back to power. But now these two are once again appearing in the same show, and if Frank wasn’t already mulling taking Kingpin out, I have to think learning the man’s either running for mayor or already been elected to the job will make him a new priority on his to-kill list. 

It stands to reason that Matt Murdock won’t trust that Wilson Fisk has the city’s best interests at heart, and he’ll be keeping a close eye on what his arch-nemesis will do as mayor. But Matt’s also a vigilante who won’t kill his enemies, whereas Frank Castle has no such qualms; it’s his whole MO! I’m fairly certain that during Daredevil: Born Again, we’ll see Frank attempt to murder Fisk if not once, then on multiple occasions, and Matt will be placed in the difficult position of having to intervene. Even though he’s opposed to almost everything Fisk stands for, Matt also doesn’t condone Frank’s lethal crimefighting methods, so he’ll do whatever it takes to ensure that the assassination doesn’t happen.

But here’s where things could get really problematic. I wouldn’t be surprised if Frank Castle targeting Wilson Fisk results in the latter championing having costumed heroes banned in New York City, just like his comic book counterpart did. In other words, we’d be getting an MCU-style twist on Devil’s Reign. Granted, since there’s been no mention of characters like Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist or even Spider-Man appearing in Born Again, this would be a much smaller-scale adaptation, with Daredevil and The Punisher being the only vigilantes immediately affected. 

Although Vincent D’Onofrio confirmed earlier this month that Daredevil: Born Again will resume filming soon, we’re still in the dark on when the show will premiere on Disney+. So it will likely be a while until my musings on The Punisher’s specific role in this new series are confirmed or debunked, though either way, count on him leaving a large body count in his wake, just like what Jon Bernthal’s version of the character did in the Netflix days. 

Mike, Michael, Mikey, Jon Bernthal’s character is referred to in a lot of ways on FX's The Bear, but he isn’t seen often. He kind of lives as a legend or a myth in the ensemble’s minds. So, having an A-lister like Bernthal come in to play Carmy’s older brother really did help hammer that idea home. It turns out that getting him onto the FX hit was in part thanks to Ebon Moss-Bachrach, who plays Richie on the Chicago-set dramedy. After working with The Walking Dead alum during Season 1 of The Punisher, he explained how he helped get his Marvel colleague onto the hit series, and why he was such a good fit. 

Back in 2017, when Marvel still had shows on Netflix, Jon Bernthal played the titular character in The Punisher, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach played Frank Castle’s ally and hacker David Liberman, also known as Micro. After working closely together during Season 1, the actors went their separate ways. As Moss-Bachrach was working on The Bear he was asked if he knew of any actors who’d be a good fit to play Carmy’s older brother who died and appears in flashbacks. While he didn’t think we should see Mikey at first, he came to the conclusion that his Marvel co-star would be a good fit for the role telling CinemaBlend:

So, he took the idea to the showrunners, Christopher Storer and Joanna Calo, and they loved it. Although, he also said they may have already had Bernthal in mind as he told us: 

It’s amazing that Bernthal was so game to join the cast of The Bear so quickly. While he’s only in two episodes, Mikey’s presence is constant throughout the show, so when we finally see him it’s powerful. Having an actor like The Punisher star playing such a vital role makes it even better. Moss-Bachrach spoke to this idea too, saying: 

Along with the show's lead Jeremy Allen White, who plays Mikey’s little brother Camry, Jon Bernthal was one of the bigger names among The Bear’s ensemble. As Moss-Bachrach said there is a sort of “mythos” around the Mikey actor, I mean just look at Bernthal’s movies and TV shows. Having that recognizable face on the show made me perk up when I saw him, feeling like I already knew the character well, which seems to be how the cast of characters felt about Mikey. 

Jon Bernthal was such a fantastic casting choice, and I’m so happy Ebon Moss-Bachrach made the recommendation. Now, the question is will Mikey appear in a flashback in Season 2 of The Bear? 

Luckily, we won’t have to wait long to find out, because the show is set to premiere on the 2023 TV schedule Thursday, June 22. You’ll be able to stream it with a Hulu subscription, and the entire first season is available now. Also, to go back and see Bernthal and Moss-Bachrach on their hit Marvel show, you can stream The Punisher with a Disney+ subscription. 

Marvel fans have quite a few huge projects to look forward to in the next year or so, from Anthony Mackie’s superhero rebranding in the sequel Captain America: Brave New World to Nick Fury’s small-screen arrival in Disney+’s Secret Invasion and the villain team-up flick Thunderbolts. But for many of us, the debut that deserves the most anticipation is the official MCU arrival of Jon Bernthal’s Frank Castle, whose alter ego The Punisher was revealed to be a core piece of the Daredevil: Born Again story arc. While it’s still quite unclear where things are going within that narrative, the Walking Dead vet shared some thoughts about returning to the beloved role alongside former co-stars Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio, but one doesn’t have to have Daredevil’s enhanced sense to figure out that the actor is not digging his current facial hair.

Jon Bernthal made the trip to Dallas, Texas for Fan Expo Dallas’ 2023 convention (which also featured a panel from Cox and D’Onofrio, among many others), and it’s here that fans got an up-close look at the facial hair he’s rocking for the Daredevil: Born Again production. And while I doubt anyone in the crowd had anything extremely judgmental to say about it, the Real Ones podcast host had some choice words. To the point where that’s the first thing he commented on when asked about reprising the role of Frank Castle. In his words:

Bernthal even asked the bearded moderator if he used beard balm, and I can’t imagine anyone had “beard balm” on their list of expected phrases to come up during a Punisher-friendly Q&A. I highly doubt Frank himself will bring it up at any point, but I won’t mark it down as an impossibility at this point.

In any case, the actor obviously didn’t only speak in bemused F-bombs about how his beard makes him and his wife feel. Bernthal followed that up with a measured reply that seemed somewhat carefully delivered as not to speak to anything particular about the character’s official MCU introduction. Here’s how he put it:

Considering nearly everything he said earned widespread applause from the thousands on hand for the Fan Expo panel, I think it's safe to say there are tons and tons of fans out there eagerly hoping that Kevin Feige and his Marvel Studios empire "get it right," as it were. Though the two seasons of the Netflix show weren't without their detractors with sensible complaints, the series' full-on embrace of Frank Castle as a brutal, emotionally walled-off widower was championed on the whole. Obviously Bernthal was the magic ingredient that really tied the vigilante room together, and I can't imagine what the fandom reaction would have been had the Disney+ series recast the role and called it a "multiverse" situation. 

As anticipated as Bernthal's arrival as Frank Castle was whenever he showed up opposite Charlie Cox & Co. in Daredevil Season 2, and then later in the standalone series, the level of expectation is above and beyond when it comes to the characters being utilized in the MCU proper. And I'm sure the pressure was also on from Disney/Marvel for the actor to speak in only the vaguest of terms by way of The Punisher's future, which was probably also daunting.

When it comes to all things beard-related, Bernthal's most recent Instagram post features half of his face, and thus half of his facial hair, even if it doesn't look quite as terrible as he may think.

Daredevil: Born Again, which will be available to stream with a Disney+ subscription at some point in 2024 (hopefully), is currently dealing with production stoppages due to the ongoing WGA writers strike, which has caused delays for a large number of projects across the entertainment spectrum. Here's hoping that situation gets sorted out in the most positive way possible, and that Bernthal nad the rest can get back to work soon so that he can get whatever point makes it possible to shave his face.

Hollywood has sadly lost a number of notable stars over the past year, many of which earned special places in fans’ hearts because of their work. Sadly, it would appear that we’ll now have to say goodbye to yet another talented performer. Ray Stevenson, who’s widely known for his turn as Frank Castle/The Punisher, has reportedly died. The actor had recently been very busy career-wise and was slated to star in the upcoming Star Wars series Ahsoka. Stevenson was 58 at the time of his passing. 

News of the veteran actor’s death was reported by TheWrap, who was able to confirm it. However, exact details, including the cause of death, have yet to be revealed. It’s likely that further information and a statement from the star’s representatives will arrive sooner rather than later. 

Ray Stevenson was born on May 25, 1964 in Northern Ireland to his mother and Royal Air Force pilot father. The actor’s professional acting career began to take off in the ‘90s, during which he appeared on British TV shows like Band of Gold, Peak Practice and City Central. Amid the same decade, Stevenson also nabbed roles in the theatrical films The Theory of Flight and G:MT – Greenwich Mean Time. However, it wasn’t until the 2000s that the fan-favorite would truly make his mark on the entertainment world.

The actor arguably first gained true recognition from American audiences due to his role on the HBO drama Rome. He played the role of devil-may-care soldier Titus Pullo during the show’s two seasons. Dexter, Black Sails and Vikings are just a few of the other notable shows that were fortunate enough to benefit from his talents. And among his filmography are King Arthur, The Book of Eli, G.I. Joe: Retaliation and Divergent. One of his more recent movies is the Oscar-winning Tollywood film RRR, in which he portrayed the villainous Governor Scott Buxton.

During his time, he also became a part of some iconic franchises. As mentioned, he played the titular role in the 2008 film The Punisher: War Zone and became quite attached to the part. He also said at one point that he'd spoken to Marvel about reprising the role. Though the entertainer was also positive when sharing his feelings about a revamped Punisher ahead of Jon Bernthal’s turn as the character in Daredevil Season 2 back in 2016. He would eventually join the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2011 when he was cast as Volstagg of the Warriors Three in Thor. The Irishman would play that role prominently in the franchise’s first two installments and, while he was initially unsure of his involvement in 2017's Ragnarok, he did cameo in it.

Ray Stevenson will be seen alongside the cast of Ahsoka (which will be accessible with a Disney+ subscription) when it premieres in August. He’s playing the role of Baylan Skoll, a fallen Jedi who’s now in league with Grand Admiral Thrawn and the remnants of the Galactic Empire. Interestingly enough, this wasn’t his first foray into the galaxy far, far away, as he also voiced Mandalorian Gar Saxon on Clone Wars and Rebels. Given his skills as a performer, I have no doubt that he crushed with his latest performance.

This is a significant loss, to say the least, and surely comes as a surprise. While we mourn the underrated actor’s passing, we also celebrate his contributions to the arts. He put in some strong performances, and I don’t doubt that they’ll stand the test of time.

We here at CinemaBlend extend our deepest condolences to the family, including his three children, and loved ones of Ray Stevenson during this time.

In 2016, following his time as Shane Walsh on The Walking Dead, Jon Bernthal scored more major comic book media cred by playing Frank Castle, a.k.a. The Punisher, on Netflix’s Daredevil series. Bernthal went on to lead a Punisher spinoff series, and ever since Charlie Cox was recruited by Marvel Studios to reprise Matt Murdock/Daredevil in the Marvel Cinematic Universe proper, there’s been speculation about if Bernthal would do the same. Well, now it’s official: Bernthal is indeed reprising The Punisher.

Jon Bernthal will return as the gun-toting vigilante in Daredevil: Born Again, the 18-episode series that will spotlight Charlie Cox’s title Man Without Fear to Disney+ subscribers following his appearances in Spider-Man: No Way Home, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law and the upcoming Echo. While no details were revealed by THR about how The Punisher will fit into Echo, he’s the third Netflix-era Marvel actor to reprise their role for a Marvel Studios project, as Vincent D’Onofrio returned as Wilson Fish/Kingpin in Hawkeye and will also be present in both Echo and Born Again.

This big news comes a little over four years after The Punisher series ended its two-season run on Netflix, and its cancellation was announced a month later. Although there were several years where it looked like Jon Bernthal and his fellow actors from this corner of the Marvel media landscape would never play the characters again, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said certain Marvel Netflix characters could come back. By the following December, both Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio were back in play, and now we can look forward to Bernthal co-starring alongside them in Daredevil: Born Again. 

Now that this appearance is on the books, some questions come to mind. First, how much will we see of Jon Bernthal’s Punisher in Daredevil: Born Again? Will Frank Castle be one of the main characters like Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk, or will he only make recurring appearances or simply guest-star in a few episodes? Also (and this still needs to be clarified with Daredevil and Kingpin as well), is this the exact same Punisher from the Netflix era, or it just a similar version who’s operating in the main MCU continuity? 

Perhaps most importantly of all, does Punisher’s inclusion in Born Again mean the upcoming Marvel TV show mean that it will lean more into R-rated territory than Disney+’s other Marvel series. So far, Deadpool 3 is the only Marvel Studios project confirmed to be rated R, but Punisher is a difficult character to use within PG-13 parameters. Hopefully there’ll be freedom for him to unleash bloodshed on criminals along the lines of what we saw in the original Daredevil series and the Punisher spinoff.

Daredevil: Born Again’s cast also includes Michael Gandolfini, Margarita Levieva, Sandrine Holt and Nikki L. James, though none of their characters have been identified yet. Deborah Ann Woll and Elden Henson reportedly aren’t expected to respectively reprise Karen Page and Foggy Nelson, but it hasn’t been clarified if those characters will be recast or if they simply won’t be win the series. Behind the scenes, Matt Corman and Chris Ord are writing and executive producing Born Again, which begins shooting in New York later this month and will drop on Disney+ in spring 2024.

Keep checking back with CinemaBlend for more news about how Daredevil: Born Again is coming along, and head over to Disney+ to see Jon Bernthal’s original outings as The Punisher. You can also check out Bernthal’s recent TV appearances in We Own This City, American Gigolo (which was canceled after one season) and The Bear, the latter of which can be streamed with a Hulu subscription.

The landscape of streaming platforms continues to change as companies attempt to find the best ways to provide their programming to viewers. We’ve been watching Warner Bros. Discovery make a lot of changes with HBO Max and now Paramount + and Showtime, previously two separate platforms, are looking to merge. As with HBO Max, these changes have resulted in several Showtime projects getting canceled, including Jon Bernthal’s American Gigolo. We don’t know what’s next for the actor, so…maybe a return to the Punisher.

As it happens, at the same point in time that THR reports that American Gigolo is not moving forward with another season, we know that Daredevil: Born Again is getting ready to begin filming a massive 18-episode season that is expected to take the rest of the year to complete. Bernthal likely wouldn’t have been able to commit to a show like that with his other responsibilities, but now that he’s free of them, maybe there’s a chance?

If filming is set to get underway very soon then we can guess that the writing for Daredevil: Born Again, is largely complete. It’s likely too late to do a massive rewrite to include Frank Castle if the character wasn’t already there to begin with. And it’s even possible that Born Again was already set to include a Berthal cameo that he could have done even while filming another show. Of all the characters from the old Netflix Marvel shows that fans have wanted to see return, Bernthal’s Punisher is probably second only to Charlie Cox’s Daredevil himself, and it was in the old Daredevil series that The Punisher first appeared.

With the knowledge that Netflix Marvel heroes can become MCU canon characters once again, it’s at least possible that Bernthal could return as The Punisher, but with his other series responsibilities, it likely would have been difficult for him to return in a significant way. Now, that hurdle has been removed so if Marvel Studios did want to bring The Punisher back, the actor is likely in a position to make that deal, assuming he’d like to return. In the past, Bernthal has implied a willingness to return,  as long as the character is handled in the right way.

At some point, we are all but certain to see the Punisher in the MCU and the only question is who will play the role. While the return of Charlie Cox as Daredevil and Vincent D’Onofrio as Kingpin show a willingness to bring back the actors who played the roles previously, we just don’t have enough of a sample set yet to know if this will be the exception or the rule. We don’t know if Marvel Studios wants Bernthal back, but if it does, now is the chance to make it happen. 

It boggles my mind, but there have actually been more live-action depictions of The Punisher than there have been of Daredevil and Moon Knight COMBINED. Now, this is shocking to me since I wouldn't really think that the guy who "punishes" people with extreme prejudice would be considered more marketable than a lawyer who moonlights as a vigilante, or Marvel's version of Batman (I know Moon Knight's so much more than that -- in fact, I even wrote an article about Batman vs. Moon Knight, but you catch my drift).   

But, The Punisher apparently is more marketable than those two characters, as there have been three movies and a "magnificent" Netflix TV series about The Punisher already, with each interpretation being surprisingly different. This might be because we got vastly different actors portraying Frank Castle, with them being Dolph Lundgren, Thomas Jane, Ray Stevenson, and Jon Bernthal, chronologically.

That said, which Punisher has been the best? Well, for this article, I thought I'd consider a number of factors to determine who's the best live-action Punisher, most notably how close each actor got to the character from the comics, but also how good their actual material was to work with (because a good Punisher is really only as good as the world he's, er, punishing). So, without further ado, I'm going to determine who's the best live-action Punisher to date. Oh, and please don't hold my face dangerously close to a wood chipper if you disagree with me! We're all friends here, right? 

4. The Punisher - Thomas Jane

In this 2004 film, Thomas Jane portrays Frank Castle as an FBI agent-turned-vigilante who is on the hunt for a crime lord named Howard Saint (John Travolta) after the man murdered his family. Pretty standard Punisher stuff.

And, this might be why it feels slight and insubstantial to me when compared with the other live-action versions of the character, even despite Thomas Jane being utterly amazing in the short, "Dirty Laundry." It might be because John Travolta doesn't make for a very compelling antagonist against this version of Frank Castle. That said, Thomas Jane, who I loved in the Stephen King Netflix movie,1922, has the toughness and the look of the character, but it feels like he would have been better suited in a film more catered toward Jane's style of menace.    

Even so, I can’t help but think how cool Jane would have been in Rob Zombie's canceled The Punisher 2. Oh, well. We can always imagine.    

3. The Punisher - Dolph Lundgren 

In the very first live-action Punisher movie, released in 1989, Rocky's Dolph Lundgren plays a Frank Castle who hides out in the sewer like a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. This is after his family is murdered in a car bomb explosion, and he's taken to the streets to exact vengeance. In this version, he's a former police officer who turns to a life of vigilantism, and he's lacking the trademark skull on his shirt. Because not everything can be perfect.  

Speaking of perfect, in a perfect world, Dolph Lundgren would be in a better Punisher movie, since he’s pretty much the perfect Frank Castle. In every way, he has the look, the cold, almost-Ivan Drago, demeanor, and the standoffishness of a man who’s lost everything. In short, he’s the best thing about this movie.  

That’s a shame, too, because even though I think the movie’s okay, in a campy sort of way, it’s also kind of goofy, and that goofiness kind of robs Dolph Lundgren of being the best Punisher. So, yeah, he’s great! It’s just the movie around him that could be better.  

2. The Punisher - Jon Bernthal  

In this Netflix version of The Punisher, this time, the titular character is a war veteran with PTSD, which is explored thoroughly throughout the series. Jon Bernthal plays a man with a skewed moral compass (as all Punishers should), but he’s also able to spread his range a great deal over the course of his two seasons, as well as in his debut on Daredevil.  

That’s right, this is a Punisher who exists within the Marvel Cinematic Universe (And bringing him back may be a good idea now that the multiverse is wide open), but he’s still on the fringes, as when he met up with Daredevil for that first time. This Punisher is brutal, but he’s also suffering in a way we hadn’t really seen before in other portrayals of the character.     

It also helps that The Punisher in this universe had the benefit of being in the more realistic Netflix portrayals of the Marvel characters, so Jon Bernthal gets to exist in a more fully realized environment than other live-action versions of the character. As Frank Castle himself, I think Dolph Lundgren is superior to Bernthal, but the world this Punisher lives in is much better than Lundgren’s, so Bernthal gets one over on Dolph. But, he’s still not the best version of this character. That honor goes to… 

1. Punisher: War Zone - Ray Stevenson  

In this underrated (Yeah, I said it) movie from 2008, this Punisher is out to murder the scum who killed his family, but this time, he simply does not give a flying flip about anyone whatsoever. All of the Punishers I’ve mentioned before have pretty much been a one-man army, but Ray Stevenson takes it to a whole other level with his violence in War Zone, as this is the grimmest and bloodiest Punisher we’ve seen yet.  

In fact, next to Dredd, which will probably always be my favorite comic book movie, Punisher: War Zone is also high up on that list, since unlike Dolph Lundgren’s The Punisher movie, the tone in War Zone blends well with the character, and Ray Stevenson is just the absolute best version of Frank Castle. This is a highly trained killer, and he shows no remorse whatsoever. He’s just dead inside. You can see it in his eyes.  

This is a Punisher who I don’t think could hold his own series, but, I wouldn’t want to stay with this Frank Castle for any longer than a 100 minutes. He’s scary! Just as Frank Castle should be. And, for that reason, I deem Ray Stevenson the very best live-action version of the character.

But, what do you think? Who’s your favorite live-action Punisher? For more news on everything Frank Castle, make sure to swing by here often. 

Marvel fans usually love when the studios takes risks and thinks outside of the box with its hires, especially when it comes to directors. Taika Waititi and James Gunn weren’t natural choices when it came to taking over bigger-budget superhero movies, but they brought their unique voices and approach to Guardians of the Galaxy and Thor: Ragnarok, and now those movies are up there with the best Marvel movies ever made. These risks don’t always work (more on those in a moment), and we sometimes hear of situations where a radical, left-field selection almost happened, creating a tantalizing “What if?” for the Marvel universe.

This one involves the movie series The Punisher, which starred Thomas Jane as the vigilante Frank Castle back in 2004. This was an early stab (no pun intended) at bringing the extremely violent Marvel character to the big screen, and was in no way part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It never got a sequel, but during an appearance at the Fanboy Expo in Tennessee (via ComicBook), Jane mentioned that Rob Zombie was a name in the mix to helm Punisher 2, and excuse me… what? 

One of the criticisms leveled at Thomas Jane’s The Punisher, which was directed by Jonathan Hensleigh, is that it pulled its punches regarding the amount of violence needed to be a true Punisher movie. Frank Castle is a man who wages war on criminals after his innocent family is caught in the crossfire of rival gang members. The Punisher forgives no one, and leaves bodies in his wake. 

Hiring Rob Zombie to take a crack at The Punisher 2 would have given the sequel the edge that was missing from Hensleigh’s movie. Look at how Zombie reimagined Halloween when he took over John Carpenter’s classic franchise, or the spin he’s putting on The Munsters. They look nothing like what we would expect, and I know his interpretation of The Punisher would have been as extreme. You KNOW we would have gotten a killing montage set to Dragula, and that's badass.

Instead of Rob Zombie, the Punisher character landed in the hands of Lexi Alexander, who ramped up the violence for the more-fitting Punisher: War Zone but still created a movie that even the director hates. Then the character received some level of stability when fan-favorite Jon Bernthal donned Frank Castle’s body armor for multiple Netflix appearances. But then that, too, got cancelled. 

The Marvel Netflix heroes are making their way back to the MCU, with Daredevil about to appear in the She-Hulk series, and Kingpin being added to Echo. Despite the rumors that Rosario Dawson has been spreading, however, The Punisher isn’t ready to appear on a new Disney+ show. But if and when he does… maybe Rob Zombie can be in the mix again?

Marvel actors need to be cautious every single time they speak. Especially when it’s on stage at a geek event, where the wildfire triggered by a fresh Marvel rumor is ready to rage unchecked, in hopes that facts can be confirmed later. That’s what happened over the weekend when Rosario Dawson, speaking at C2E2 in Chicago, told an audience that she’d heard Jon Bernthal was confirmed to return to his menacing Marvel role as The Punisher (instead of having the character retire)… only to now take to social media and explain that she got fed bad intel, and this announcement may not actually be true.

This is what Rosario Dawson tweeted after her “confirmation” regarding the return of Jon Bernthal to the Punisher role spread around the pop-culture corner of the Internet with gusto. Granted, Dawson seemed confident when she said that “The Punisher is happening again.” And she was couching it as part of a discussion of wanting to be part of the potential project, because The Punisher was the lone Marvel-Netflix series that Dawson’s character, Claire Temple, didn’t show up in. The Ashoka actress was sending out positive vibes, hoping to get Temple a part in the show.

Only, the show might not be happening, according to Dawson’s latest Tweet. Or, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige got to Dawson, and encouraged her to walk back her comments so that news about the future of Frank Castle (possibly played again by Jon Bernthal) could be announced at D23 in September, as part of the confirmation of Marvel’s Phase 6.

Fans were willing to believe the potential news that Jon Bernthal’s Punisher could resurface, this time as part of the MCU, because his colleagues in the Daredevil universe are finding their way into ongoing Marvel Studios series… seemingly supporting their casting decisions. Charlie Cox played attorney Matt Murdock in Spider-Man: No Way Home, and is about to bring back Daredevil for the She-Hulk series. Meanwhile, Vincent D’Onofrio has played Wilson Fisk, aka The Kingpin, in the Disney+ series Hawkeye, and is expected to join Cox in Echo. Finally, Kevin Feige confirmed that an 18-episode Daredevil series focused on the Born Again storyline was coming to Disney+ as part of Phase 5. Bringing Bernthal’s Punisher back for that makes all the sense in the world.

So, we linger in a zone of uncertainty. It’s very possible that Marvel might be ready to bring Jon Bernthal back as Frank Castle, there are countless other characters ready for the spotlight. We are about to meet RiRi Williams (Dominique Thorne), aka Ironheart, in November’s release Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. She will go on to have her own Disney+ show. Mahershala Ali finally will begin filming on Blade for a 2023 release. And Phase 6 will include the Fantastic Four, a Secret Wars battle, and the evolution of Kang the Conqueror. So there’s PLENTY happening in the Marvel universe, and Castle might have to wait. Unless Dawson’s onto something, and is holding secrets for just a little while longer. 

 When it was first announced that Netflix and Marvel were coming together to make a lineup of shows set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, fans were certainly excited. From Daredevil to The Punisher, some of Marvel’s most popular characters were brought into this sprawling universe, and with streaming, it was possible for a more mature take on these characters and their stories. 

Recently, all the Marvel shows that originated on Netflix made the jump to Disney+, and since I had largely stopped watching them after The Defenders failed to impress me, I decided to finish up the run by watching all the final seasons of the five different characters: Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist and The Punisher. Having now done that, I’m left with the very strong feeling that Marvel is missing the boat by not taking the opportunity it now has to continue these shows. 

Many Of The Marvel Netflix Shows' Castings Were Perfect

With the recent appearance of Charlie Cox’s Matt Murdock in Spider-Man: No Way Home, as well as Vincent D’Onofrio showing up in the Hawkeye series, Marvel is essentially admitting something that most fans already knew: when it came to most of the casting for these shows, the studio simply can’t do better than they already did.

Cox and D’Onofrio are perhaps the best examples, but the truth is it would be just as hard to top the casting of pitch-perfect Krysten Ritter as Jessica Jones, Mike Colter as Luke Cage and Jon Bernthal as The Punisher. It’s going to be nearly impossible to find people who could play these roles any better. For the fans who watched these shows, anybody else coming in and trying to take over is going to have quite a hill to climb. 

If there is ever any plan to bring these characters back, it only makes sense to use the amazing cast that you already found, and if you're doing that, it makes more sense to continue the story as opposed to rebooting it. Since it seems that even under the best circumstances, a Jessica Jones or Luke Cage movie is unlikely, then another season on Disney+ is exactly where the characters need to be. 

 All The Netflix Marvel Shows Ended On A High Note 

All the Marvel series were entertaining at one time or another, and while each series certainly has its low points, most of the Marvel shows ended strong; or, at least, in the case of Iron Fist, stronger than it started. I'd argue that, maybe with the exception of The Punisher, every final season of the five character-focused shows is better than the previous season of that series. Even in the case of The Punisher, that's only because Season 1 is one of the best and Season 2 is still good.

Shows like Daredevil, Jessica Jones and The Punisher end in ways that make you wonder if they knew the shows were ending during production. For the most part, all loose ends are tied up, and the heroes essentially find a new status quo. In Daredevil, Nelson, Murdock & Page is informally created, allowing our three main protagonists to work together to try and help Hell’s Kitchen. Jessica Jones briefly considers running away before making a final decision to stay in New York and use her abilities to help people. The Punisher is working solo to take out bad guys wherever he finds them. 

All three of these shows could essentially start new seasons without viewers needing to watch (or at least without them needing to remember) what happened in the “Netflix years.” These shows could just pick up where they are with new stories. The previous seasons can still be canon, and they’re there for the fans who want to watch them, but they don’t need to be necessary. 

Alternatively, Luke Cage also ended its run strongly, but for the opposite reason. Cage has essentially become the King of Harlem, filling the power vacuum he helped create by making deals with criminals in order to keep his home safe. It’s an incredibly compelling place to leave the character, and it would make for a potentially incredible Season 3 if we were ever to get one. 

The same thing is true with the most struggling show on this list. Iron Fist had a lot of issues, and while most would agree that Season 2 was an overall improvement compared to Season 1, that’s not saying much. However, Season 2 ended with an entirely new Iron Fist taking up the mantle in Jessica Henwick’s Colleen Wing, and I think a lot of people want to see where that goes in a new season. 

The Defenders Need A Second Chance

The original concept behind these Marvel series was a pretty simple idea: to recreate the MCU’s Phase One on a smaller scale. Four heroes would be introduced in Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist, and then they would come together in a Defenders miniseries. As mentioned above, I didn’t care for Defenders, so much so that I stopped watching all the other shows for a couple of years. But The Defenders could have been good, and it still can be. 

There were a number of issues with The Defenders, but ultimately it was just the wrong story for these characters. These actors and these characters are so good that they can obviously be great together, so another run at The Defenders could really shine with the right people behind the camera as well as in front of it. 

There have been rumors and rumblings that the MCU is far from done with Charlie Cox, and some of those rumors even include some sort of reboot for Daredevil. There have also been rumors that Krysten Ritter might appear as Jessica Jones in the upcoming She-Hulk series, though at this point that seems less likely. Hopefully these rumors turn out to be true, but they should also be true for everybody else that helped build the Marvel series on Netflix. 

There’s far more good than bad here. These are excellent characters with more stories to tell. A whole host of new people are probably discovering, or rediscovering these shows now that they’re on Disney+, and let’s use that momentum to get into revivals. 

He could be playing a realistically violent Marvel character, portray one of TV’s most complicated villains, or appear in flashbacks where he doesn’t say a word, and there’s a chance Jon Bernthal is still giving an unforgettable performance on the silver and small screens. There’s this certain quality about the talented and versatile actor that makes you want to see more of any of his characters long after the movie or show has finished.

With his new HBO drama, We Own This City, quickly approaching on the 2022 TV schedule, now feels like a good time to go through some of the best Jon Bernthal movies and TV shows, talk about why they should be required viewing, and all the ways you can watch them streaming and a variety of other ways.

Punisher (2017 - 2019)

Just when Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal), better known as “The Punisher,” thinks everyone who had a role in his family’s vicious murder has been brought to his twisted form of justice, the ex-Marine learns this is just the beginning and heads back out onto the streets of New York City to end the pain once and for all.

Perhaps the most violent show available to anyone with a Disney+ subscription, The Punisher is also one of the best Marvel shows brought over from Netflix. Multiple actors have played Frank Castle in the past, but none of those actors capture the emotionally damaged and vengeful assassin who will do anything to free himself from the pain of grief as well as Bernthal. Let’s hope we haven’t seen the end of him yet. 

Stream The Punisher on Disney+.
Buy The Punisher on Amazon.

Baby Driver (2017)

Edgar Wright’s incredible 2017 crime flick, Baby Driver, follows a talented wheelman named Baby (Ansel Elgort) as he serves as a getaway driver in a series of high-stake heists. But, upon meeting a waitress named Deborah (Lily James), Baby sees a way out of his life of crime and puts a plan in motion to turn the corner.

Just about everyone in Baby Driver is performing at the top of their game, and the same can be said about Jon Bernthal, who briefly appears as a cocky bank robber named Griff. Despite being in the movie for all of 10 minutes, Bernthal milks every second of it in dazzling, albeit annoying, fashion. 

Rent/Buy Baby Driver on Amazon.
Buy Baby Driver on Blu-ray on Amazon.

The Walking Dead (2010 - 2012, 2018)

The long-running AMC horror drama series, The Walking Dead, has followed what’s left of humanity as its members attempt to survive not only millions of zombies walking the earth, but also the more dangerous and sinister humans who have control of small pockets of the American landscape in the years following societal collapse.

Countless members of The Walking Dead cast have come and gone over the years, and one of the most prominent of those is Jon Bernthal, who portrayed Shane Walsh during the show’s first two seasons (though he did reappear as hallucinations later on). The friend-turned-rival of Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), Shane slowly morphed into the show’s antagonist part-way through Season 2 in a heartbreaking yet captivating performance by Bernthal.

Stream The Walking Dead on Netflix.
Buy The Walking Dead on Amazon.

Wind River (2017)

Upon finding the mutilated body of Natalie Hanson (Kelsey Asbille), a young American Indian woman on a reservation in Wyoming, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Agent Cory Lambert (Jeremy Renner) teams up with FBI Agent Jane Banner (Elizabeth Olsen) to solve the mystery surrounding her death. Although their mission finds some truths, it also brings them face-to-face with pure evil.

Jon Bernthal’s character, Matt Rayburn, is technically only in one scene in Taylor Sheridan’s neo-Western thriller Wind River, but it happens to be one of the most intense and memorable sections of the entire movie. The scene, which is a flashback showing how Matt and Natalie were killed, quickly goes from a happy moment shared by two lovers to an incredibly traumatizing display.

Stream Wind River on Netflix.
Rent/Buy Wind River on Amazon.
Buy Wind River on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Show Me A Hero (2015)

Taking place between 1987 and 1994, David Simon and William F. Zorzi’s Show Me a Hero follows several high-ranking officials and various residents in the city of Yonkers, New York, after the municipality is ordered by the federal government to construct a public-housing development and put an end to the city’s segregation.

Whenever the 2015 limited series is brought up, the conversation quickly turns to Oscar Isaac’s Golden Globe-winning portrayal of Nick Wasicsko, who was famous for being the youngest mayor in the country at the time. Though Isaac was phenomenal, another actor who doesn’t get brought up nearly as much is Jon Bernthal who played civil rights attorney Michael H. Sussman, who was a major proponent in getting the housing block built. 

Stream Show Me a Hero on HBO Max.
Buy Show Me a Hero on Amazon.

King Richard (2021)

From the crime-ridden streets of Compton, California, to the gated communities of Florida, Richard Williams (Will Smith) trains his daughters — Venus (Saniyya Sidney) and Serena Williams (Demi Singleton) — to become two of the greatest tennis players of all time.

Although King Richard primarily focuses on Richard Williams and his quest to make something of his daughters, the movie also features a large ensemble cast of characters who are just as committed to the young girls’ success. Case in point, Rick Macci (Jon Bernthal), the decorated tennis coach who agrees to take the budding stars under his wing as they prepare to go pro. The look, the accent, and everything else about Bernthal’s performance is electric throughout the second half of the movie.

Stream King Richard on HBO Max.
Rent/Buy King Richard on Amazon.
Buy King Richard on DVD on Amazon.

The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

In the wake of losing his job on Wall Street, Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) joins a penny stock brokerage firm before branching out on his own with one of the most successful yet morally bankrupt financial companies the world has seen. Over the course of many shady deals and run-ins with ever shadier individuals, Belfort tries in vain to keep afloat professionally and personally.

The Wolf of Wall Street cast is stacked from top to bottom with outstanding talent, including Jon Bernthal, who portrays Belfort’s quaalude dealer and deeply loyal friend. This is another example of Bernthal getting a lot out of something small and turning a secondary character into one of the most fully-realized roles in the entire movie.

Stream The Wolf of Wall Street on Showtime.
Rent/Buy The Wolf of Wall Street on Amazon.
Buy The Wolf of Wall Street on Blu-ray/DVD on Amazon.

Ford V Ferrari (2019)

Despite their differences, driver Ken Miles (Christian Bale) and designer Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) team up to create a powerhouse of a race car in hopes of defeating the famed Ferrari team at the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans.

You would think that it would be hard for an actor to stand out in a movie led by Christian Bale and Matt Damon, but Jon Bernthal is up to the task with his portrayal of Ford Motor Company Vice President Lee Iacocca, who puts the famous driver and car designer together in the first place. The way in which Bernthal embodies the character is truly something else.

Rent/Buy Ford v Ferrari on Amazon.
Buy Ford v Ferrari on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Fury (2014)

David Ayer’s 2014 military drama, Fury, follows a close-knit tank crew fighting in World War II as they are joined by a new member. Over the course of several battles and difficult encounters with German soldiers and non-combatants, the group becomes even closer.

One thing about Fury that makes it such a great watch is the camaraderie shared by the members of the titular tank crew. Although their earlier battles aren’t shown (they have been fighting together for years at this point), you can see it in the eyes of Jon Bernthal, Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, Michael Peña, and Logan Lerman that these men have been to hell and back with one another.

Stream Fury on IMDb TV.
Rent/Buy Fury on Amazon.
Buy Fury on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Me And Earl And The Dying Girl (2015)

Greg Gaines (Thomas Mann) goes through an incredible change after he and best friend Earl Jackson (RJ Cyler) befriend Rachel Kushner (Olivia Cooke), a classmate who has been diagnosed with leukemia.

Alfonso Gomez-Rejon’s moving Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is anchored by the three outstanding young leads, but the adult supporting cast is also worth mentioning, with one of the highlights being Jon Bernthal’s portrayal of the gang’s history teacher Mr. McCarthy. One of the best examples of a “cool teacher,” McCarthy constantly has Greg and Earl’s back and offers some much need advice during one of the film’s crucial scenes.

Rent/Buy Me and Earl and the Dying Girl on Amazon.
Buy Me and Earl and the Dying Girl on DVD on Amazon.

The Peanut Butter Falcon (2019)

Upon escaping his care facility to fulfill his dream of becoming a professional wrestler, a young man with Down syndrome named Zak (Zack Gottsagen) forms an unlikely bond with Tyler (Shia LaBeouf), an on-the-run fisherman, who takes the would-be grappler under his wing.

Jon Bernthal doesn’t have any lines in The Peanut Butter Falcon, and only appears in a handful of short flashbacks experienced by Tyler, but you can feel the bond shared by the two brothers and the impact his life and death had only his younger sibling. It’s honestly one of the most beautiful aspects of this incredibly moving comedy-drama.

Stream The Peanut Butter Falcon on IMDb TV.
Rent/Buy The Peanut Butter Falcon on Amazon.
Buy The Peanut Butter Falcon on DVD on Amazon.

With several projects in the works, expect to see even more titles added to the list of the best Jon Bernthal movies in the very near future. If you want to know when and where you’ll see the star in action, check out CinemaBlend’s 2022 movie premiere dates schedule.

The Walt Disney Company, which is usually a name that has a lot of positive connotations for people all over the world, is getting it from all sides right now. The largest employer in the state of Florida was getting hit from one side for its “better late than never” response to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” legislation this week, and now it’s also being attacked for its decision to bring mature shows to Disney+.

The Parents Television Council, an advocacy group that promotes, according to them, bringing ”responsibility and decency to the entertainment industry” has issued a statement denouncing Disney’s decision to bring its six TV-MA rated Marvel series from Netflix to Disney+. PTC President Tim Winter says in the statement that Disney is damaging the trust parents have in the name by making this move, but the hyperbole gets a bit out of hand, with Winter saying…

The slippery slope argument is nearly always a bad one and that’s certainly the case here as well. Nobody is planning mature content at Disney World, and the Netflix shows will be locked behind new parental controls that Disney+ is introducing specifically to help manage kids viewing this content. The PTC hasn’t yet made a comment on the Disney+ ad-supported option, that will provide advertising to children.

The PTC does praise the additional parental controls, but simply feels they are not enough. The feeling is clearly that Disney, being Disney, has a responsibility to only do things that are acceptable to the family environment, and by even having these shows on Disney+, the “brand” is being damaged. Winter continues…

It was a little surprising to learn that Daredevil, Jessica Jones and the rest of the Netflix series were going to make their way to Disney+, after leaving Netflix. Many expected the shows to end up on Hulu, which has been the place where Disney has put content it deemed more mature more than once. At the same time, most of the other Marvel content is already on Disney+, and even it isn’t designed for all members of the family. The existing parental controls and kids profiles already block significant content on Disney+ from younger viewers.

While advocacy groups like this may have a problem with Jessica Jones doing grown up things on Disney+, most people don’t seem to care that much. There isn’t a widespread call not to bring these shows to Disney+, so this minor controversy will almost certainly blow over. The others, time will tell.

Even though it seemed like something destined to happen, there’s something still slightly shocking about Daredevil, Jessica Jones and Marvel Television’s other Defenders series exiting their source of origin at Netflix. That series sextet — which also includes Luke Cage, Iron Fist, The Punisher and The Defenders — is indeed joining Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. as new additions to Disney+’s library alongside an MCU library that includes everything from Iron Man to Hawkeye (in which a certain Daredevil star returned). And guess what? It sounds like fans don’t need to worry about those more mature series being edited for content.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether Daredevil & Co. would end up at Hulu or Disney+, given the series’ rather violent and triggering content isn’t usually synonymous with the family-geared Disney-specific branding. But that’s where they’ll soon be, as the company announced the aforementioned seven series will be available to stream anew starting on March 16. In the same announcement, no doubt to quell the worries of anyone hoping that Vincent D’Onofrio’s Wilson Fisk didn’t lose his hyper-violent edge, the company also announced updates to their parental control system, with all subscribers in the U.S. set to be prompted by the service to make changes if desired.

Let’s take a look at how Michael Paull, President of Disney Streaming, specifically stated things in the announcement:

Now, I am aware that at no point in that does Michael Paull say “Don’t worry, Kingpin is still going to smoosh a guy’s head off with a car door.” But there are definitely some easy assumptions to be made here.

There’s no real reason why Disney+ would implement parental control updates unless there would be a worthwhile reason for parents to need to change permissions regarding Marvel content. Everything about David Tennant’s Kilgrave in Jessica Jones Season 1 could be put in the “worthwhile reason” suggestion box, and I have to think the two are at least somewhat related.

Changes to parental controls are the easiest way for Disney+ to welcome The Defenders and its members to a throng of subscribers who will no doubt stream those shows, and without having to do any controversial edits that send those subscribers to social media to spread complaints about not seeing enough frames of Frank Castle kicking a dude’s kneecap off before shooting him in the face. If people don’t want to watch such things, it seems as if Disney might be setting things up where certain scenes are cut out for younger viewers, while others remain intact. Or maybe The Punisher just won’t be available for viewing for anyone under a certain age.

Plus, beyond The Punisher’s most brutal moments, it’s not like Marvel TV’s output was on par with darker Netflix fare like Texas Chainsaw Massacre or You. There are obviously elements that are a hell of a lot more intense than your average episode of Chip ‘n’ Dale: Park Life, but it wouldn’t take a mountainous shift in morality for Disney+ to find room for more adult fare within its offerings. And if things go smoothly with these shows, one can only hope that the evolution can continue. 

Fans aren’t the only ones who will be celebrating this news, either. Luke Cage creator Cheo Hodari Coker posted some optimism of his own on Twitter, as guarded as it may be, and also makes a good point. 

Luke Cage featured some of the best tracks of any Marvel series to date on any platform, so the biggest tragedy of all would be if Disney somehow allowed the gunplay and bloodshed, but didn’t cough up the rights to Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings and Charles Bradley.

So while things could always change, it looks like Marvel fans can take comfort in knowing Disney+ will be a welcoming home for all of its non-original superhero content. Be sure to check out Daredevil, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, The Defenders, The Punisher, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. when they make their D+ streaming debut on March 16. In the meantime, head to our 2022 TV premiere schedule to see what other big debuts are on the horizon.

Ever since its inception, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has slowly been consolidating into a more unified continuum. Rights to various characters like the X-Men have reverted to Marvel Studios, and that almost always means eventual surprises being added to the Disney streaming universe. Which makes the surprising news that Daredevil and other Marvel shows on Netflix are abruptly leaving that platform in the near future all the more puzzling, as there’s mystery surrounding what happens next after this dramatic exit.

Our sibling site GamesRadar picked up on an odd message when going to watch Netflix’s Defenders universe series, which stated that March 1st is the day to expect all of these series to be snapped. CinemaBlend has independently confirmed this is the case, as when you click on an episode of Daredevil, you’ll be able to see this “blink and you’ll miss it” warning.

As if that isn’t intriguing enough, the two most obvious questions remain unanswered at the moment. Which are: where and when exactly are we going to see these series pop up next? Someone call Jessica Jones, as her investigative skills could come in handy right about now.

While there are no concrete answers to the questions surrounding this case of disappearing Marvel/Netflix content, there are some assumptions that seem pretty safe to make. For the international market, Disney Star+ is the easiest bet when it comes to the future of realistically violent shows like The Punisher, and all other Defenders-connected titles. However, on the domestic front, it’s not as easy of a fix. 

Thanks to Disney Star+ mixing its more adult-oriented titles into the overall library, that's a no-brainer. However, thanks to Disney+ setting the high water bar being set at PG-13 style content, at least for the time being, the picture starts to become a bit murky. While we’ve seen folks like Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin making visits to Disney+ originals in Hawkeye, the brutality of those Netflix days wouldn’t sit well in that side of the house, where car doors aren't quite as bloody on the bottom.

Ideally, the Marvel Netflix series would probably be best at home on Hulu’s platform, as no censoring would be required. Putting that fear to rest after all of the stories of Disney+ altering content in the name of family viewing, crossovers and content can continue as usual. It’s all speculation, as we don’t know the exact answers as to where we can see these shows next at this moment in time. At the same time, the solution seems really clear, and all that has to happen is for someone to officially confirm it.

For the moment, you can still catch Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and all the other Marvel Defenders series on Netflix. But don’t wait too long, as March 1st isn’t that far off. In the meantime, you can find the answers as to what TV premieres you can look forward to, thanks to our complete rundown.

Spoilers for Hawkeye and Spider-Man: No Way Home lie ahead.

Disney+’s Hawkeye finally thrust Jeremy Renner’s Clint Barton into the spotlight, while ushering in a new hero in the form of Hailee Steinfeld’s Kate Bishop. But aside from the two archers, the series also featured another character who’s set to take on a larger role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Maya Lopez/Echo, played by newcomer Alaqua Cox, is getting her own spinoff series. Marvel Studios has remained mum on exact details regarding the show, though reports have begun to circulate. Now, a new rumor suggests that the series is adding some behind-the-scenes talent from Netflix’s Daredevil and The Punisher. 

Marvel’s Echo has allegedly tapped two Marvel-Netflix scribes to its writers’ room. According to The Illuminerdi, Dara Resnik and Ken Kristensen are the two who have entered the MCU production. Resnik penned two episodes of Daredevil during its third season, while Kristensen wrote three episodes during The Punisher’s two-season run. Should the news be genuine, it would mean that the pair would be working alongside the show’s head writer, Marion Dayre. Even though the news has yet to be explicitly confirmed, the pick-ups would actually make a lot of sense. 

In the comics, Maya Lopez has crossed paths with a number of key people, including Wilson Fisk a.k.a The Kingpin. She’s also met (and come to blows with) the crime lord’s archnemesis, Matt Murdock. Hawkeye established Lopez’s connection to Vincent D’Onofrio’s Fisk, as he became somewhat of a father figure to her following the death of her dad. Elsewhere, Murdock (played by the returning Charlie Cox) also made his way to the mainstream MCU via Spider-Man: No Way Home, and chances are he’ll be suiting up as his alter ego sometime soon. 

With Echo’s proximity to the iconic comic book staples, it wouldn’t be crazy to think that at least one, or both, are slated to appear on the upcoming show. One would also think that the creatives at Marvel Studios would want to keep the characters consistent. So one would think that bringing in writers from the Netflix world would help with Fisk and Murdock’s reintroductions. Sure, Vincent D’Onofrio has stated that he’s playing the exact same person but, then again, at least one major change has been made to his characterization. So all in all, having some familiar writers should help to balance things out. 

The Hawkeye series finale ended with Maya Lopez forsaking her role as a member of the Tracksuit Mafia, after learning that Wilson Fisk actually arranged her father’s murder at the Ronin’s hands. Near the end of the episode, Maya held Fisk at gunpoint, as Fisk tried to appeal to the young woman. As the camera moved off the two, a gunshot could be heard, though many are skeptical about the idea that the Kingpin is actually dead. 

But aside from any potential Daredevil characters, Echo is sure to be a solid showcase for its lead hero. It’s safe to assume that viewers will see her come into her own and become the hero comic book fans have come to know. There’s also a firm chance the show will explore a bit more of her backstory, especially when it comes to the relationship between her and her father. 

It’ll likely be a while before any official Echo news is released to the public and, based on Marvel’s jam-packed TV and movie, it’s hard to say when it might be released. But in the meantime, it’ll be fun to speculate on what lies in store, especially if the show has recruited the Netflix alums. While you wait, you can also get a better sense of the character by streaming Hawkeye in its entirety now.

Ahhh, Marvel. You’ve given us so much: supervillains we can hate, heroes we can root for, Big Bads we can look at and say, “Well, he’s kinda got a point…,” and through it all we’ve watched the many movies and shows given to us with a fervent glee, eagerly awaiting the next project. But, now, the MCU is opening up the Marvel Multiverse to fans, and with the recent announcement that Charlie Cox will continue to be the one to portray Matt Murdock / Daredevil whenever the opportunity next arises, many fans now have a major question. Are the Netflix Marvel shows in the MCU? Unfortunately, it sounds like even Daredevil’s former showrunner is confused.

Daredevil kicked off Marvel’s TV offerings on Netflix, and ran for three seasons before being cancelled a little over a month after the third season debuted, leading fans everywhere to hope that we’d be able to see Charlie Cox take on the role again. With Kevin Feige’s confirmation that Cox will be the only man to don the devil-horned suit for the MCU, though, does that mean that the events of all the Netflix shows took place in the official MCU? A fan recently asked that question to Daredevil's Season 1 showrunner, Steven DeKnight, on Twitter, but he sounds just as confused as the rest of us:

Well. That’s a simple enough answer, isn’t it? Steven DeKnight has no clue about whether or not the Netflix shows he helped to get off the ground are considered MCU canon or not, but there are probably a couple of reasons for that. Not only do the folks at Marvel tend leave the creatives behind their many shows and movies in the dark until they absolutely have to fill them in on larger plans, but DeKnight left the show (pretty much amicably) over creative differences. And, seeing as how he wasn't intimately involved with the series for two seasons by the time it was cancelled, it makes sense that he'd be in the dark about something like this. 

As I’m sure you will recall, Daredevil was far from alone on Netflix when it came to Marvel offerings on the streamer. It wasn’t long before Jessica Jones, Luke Cake, The Defenders, The Punisher, and Iron Fist (I know this debuted before Defenders, OK? Just...don’t get me started on Iron Fist.) came along, and gave us a much grittier look at Marvel’s heroes than what we’d gotten so far in the movies, or other television shows. If Charlie Cox is still Daredevil, what does that mean for the rest of these heroes, their allies, and villains like Vincent D’Onofrio’s beloved Kingpin?

Until this year’s Marvel shows on Disney+, there was an amount of separation between the movies and the series that confused many fans. Shows like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Agent Carter could be influenced by the big screen adventures, but not the other way around. The same was pretty much true as we saw it on the Netflix series, with the Battle of New York from The Avengers being referenced here and there, because all of the shows took place in that city.

With Kevin Feige being his typical, Marvel-cagey self and not being ready to divulge the company’s explicit plans for Charlie Cox’s Daredevil just yet, it’s anyone’s guess as to whether or not he’ll be alone when it comes to actors / characters from the Nextlix shows coming into the MCU proper. 

Many fans still think we saw Cox’s arms (and the rest of his midsection) in a trailer for Spider-Man: No Way Home. That’s certainly possible, but seeing as how that movie will introduce us to the multiverse in a big way, it’s also possible that the Matt Murdock in that movie will not be the one who was involved in three seasons of atmospherically lit hallway fights and courtroom battles. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Spider-Man: No Way Home hits theaters on December 17, but you can see what else comes out soon with our guide to Marvel Phase 4 movies and list of upcoming Marvel TV shows!