Frank Castle has become a fixture of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The character made his debut in the second season of Netflix's Daredevil back in 2016, with The Walking Dead star Jon Bernthal bringing him to life. The stint went down so well that he headlined his own spinoff series, The Punisher, which ran for two seasons before the end of the Marvel Netflix Universe promptly killed all hopes of a third season. But it wouldn't be the end for the character.
Bernthal reprised his role in the first season of Disney Plus' Daredevil: Born Again, a sequel series that officially places the events of the Netflix show within the MCU. This has led to other appearances too, with a Disney Plus Special Presentation of his own and a supporting role in Spider-Man: Brand New Day on the horizon. However, these comebacks were close to not happening at all, as Bernthal initially turned down the chance to return to the role.
Jon Bernthal didn't see the original Daredevil: Born Again vision
Nowadays, we all celebrate Daredevil: Born Again for being a direct sequel to the Netflix show, but that wasn't always the case. Initially, Marvel Studios planned to only have Charlie Cox and Vincent D'Onofrio - who had both made "canon" MCU appearances in recent MCU titles - reprise their roles from the previous series, while also playing entirely new variations of Daredevil and Wilson Fisk, respectively. That meant that any character who might have also appeared in Netflix's Daredevil would have had to be recast. And when that happened with Sandrine Holt taking over the role of Vanessa Fisk from Ayelet Zurer, fans were not happy.
They weren't the only ones, it seems. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Jon Bernthal revealed that he was actually approached about returning as The Punisher, joining his Daredevil costars Cox and D'Onofrio in reprising his role. He turned it down, however, as he didn't believe this particular version of Frank appealed to what the fans wanted, saying:
"Ultimately, I didn't see it. I didn't see the version of Frank, and what they wanted from Frank [didn't] really make sense to me and I thought would not appeal to the fans and wouldn't be congruent... It was not something I was really interested in doing. So we had to walk away."
Originally, Born Again was planned to be more of a procedural show that leaned into the law aspect of Matt Murdock's character. According to reports, he didn't even suit up as Daredevil until at least six episodes in. And, now, both Cox and D'Onofrio have been vocal about how they struggled with this new vision for the characters, too. Thankfully, Marvel took action and pressed the reset button on the show.
Somewhere along the line, Daredevil: Born Again underwent a complete creative overhaul and the show was redesigned as a direct sequel to the Netflix shows, officially canonizing the events of Daredevil and The Punisher (as well as the likes of Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, Luke Cage, and The Defenders) as part of the MCU. And with that, everything fell into place.
They couldn't completely scrap what had already been filmed but the-powers-that-be were able to find a workaround to place it in the world of the Netflix shows. That involved filming a new pilot episode with stars of the Netflix show returning, filming new scenes for the already-completed episodes, removing anything that didn't work, and filming multiple new episodes to conclude it with. And, of course, one of those big changes involved bringing back Bernthal's Punisher.
Although Frank was ultimately a part of the season finale, the creative team - overseen by new showrunner Dario Scardapane - was able to slot a new scene featuring the character into the already-completed fourth episode. And with that, The Punisher was able to berate his old pal Matt Murdock over Foggy's death and his continued refusal to cross that line when exacting revenge. Immediately, you could feel the history between the two as Cox and Bernthal were nothing short of electric on-screen together.
Bernthal was full of praise for the creative process in getting him involved again, crediting Scardapane - who was executive producer and lead writer on The Punisher - for the collaborative process in getting him back on-board.
"They really brought me into the conversation... We really got specific about where Frank is psychologically, where Frank's at physically."
From the moment that he first appeared on our screens again, it was clear that Bernthal had recaptured the essence of the character. Frank felt like himself but with even more years of struggles on him, and that has opened the MCU up to future storylines involving the character - which is entirely the point of the Punisher Special Presentation.
But even now, looking back at what Daredevil: Born Again almost was, fans are grateful to Bernthal for taking a stand. The actor credits his commitment to serving the Frank Castle character (and the fans who believe in his journey) for saying no:
"Sometimes you have to be very, very clear with your intentions in this business... You can't get confused with how much you love something... You got to make sure you're serving it. You got to make sure you're doing justice to the people that believe in it and doing justice to the iterations that have come before you."
It's safe to say that it all worked out in the end. Daredevil: Born Again's first season was generally well-received, with fans feeling that Marvel mostly succeeded in marrying the original footage with the new footage. There might have been some teething issues here and there, but overall it was worth it to see the returns of characters like Karen Page, Foggy Nelson, Ayelet Zurer's Vanessa Fisk, Bullseye, and of course, The Punisher. And it concluded on a note that promised a stronger second season.
Although Bernthal isn't expected to return for season 2, he will have multiple 2026 appearances in the MCU with his own Disney Plus special and his big role in Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
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