The cancellation of Marvel’s Netflix series earlier this year may well have been the first nail in the coffin of Marvel Television as we know it, what with Marvel Studios venturing into the TV arena with its upcoming Disney+ shows, and a Marvel restructure which has seen the television division coming under the control of MCU mastermind Kevin Feige.
Given that Feige and Marvel Studios have paid little-to-no attention to the Marvel Television side of things these past few years, there’s surely a good chance that the various small screen entries in the MCU from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. onwards will be dropped from canon as and when it suits, with many of the characters eventually rebooted into the “genuine” Marvel Cinematic Universe.
It does of course remain to be seen whether that will be the case, but one person who’s hoping to extend their time with Marvel is The Punisher star Jon Bernthal, who has revealed at a fan Q&A that he’s not ready to move on from Frank Castle just yet, and hopes to get to play the role again as part of the MCU.
“It’s all about Frank,” said Bernthal (via LadBible), who stressed he has no “inside knowledge” of the character’s future at present. “He needs to be portrayed in a very certain way, in my opinion, and he means so much to so many people in the comic book community, and the law enforcement community, and the military community. In my opinion, you don’t just do a Punisher, you don’t just do a Frank Castle thing, you know? You gotta do it right, and you gotta respect what he stands for, what he’s all about. To me, if that works out, then I’ll jump in with everything I have. And if not, I’m not gonna. I love Frank, too. I really don’t have any desire to move off of him.”
Bernthal made his debut as The Punisher in the second season of Daredevil, before reprising his role in his own spin-off series, which ran for two season before Netflix swung the axe on it and the other Defenders shows. His performance was very well received by fans, and Marvel Studios would have its work cut out to deliver a better interpretation of the gun-toting vigilante, should it decide to reboot the character for his potential MCU introduction.
Would you like to see Jon Bernthal back as The Punisher? Could the character work as well in the PG-13 world of the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below, or on our social channels @flickeringmyth…
