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:
How ugly is this beard, man? My wife won't even make out with me now. I'm not kidding. It's terrible. . . . I'm having a hard time with this fucking beard, man.
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:
Frank Castle. It's just that, you know, he means a lot to me, and the folks that love him mean a lot to me. The resonance it has in the military community, the law enforcement community, the comic fans. I think there's a little bit of Frank in everyone. It's daunting, and I'm just super humbled by it. And I hope that we can get it right, you know? If you're going to do it, you gotta get it right.
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.
