Before Marvel began pulling many of its lost children back into the fold under the MCU umbrella, there were a number of TV series that did pretty well in their own right, many of which were found among Netflix’s offerings until recently. These included Luke Cage, Jessica Jones,Daredevil and The Punisher. Of the four, The Punisher was the one that gained a large following and became the most talked about Marvel series to not have been part of their exclusive universe, so it is not surprising that star Jon Bernthal is constantly being asked the question; Will the Punisher return as part of the MCU?
While promoting his new movie Small Engine Repair, Bernthal had an answer to the question when it inevitably came up, but it probably wasn’t the answer that many fans were hoping for. In short, Bernthal is as much in the dark about any potential future for the character as the fans are, but he doesn’t seem to be too bothered whether it happens or not.
“You know, we’ll see,” Bernthal said to ScreenRant. “I mean, honestly, I don’t think about it very much. I’m really happy — look, we’re all enormously blessed to be doing this. I can say for the other guys that you’re talking to as well, we really love this. We really love doing this. We work hard at it, we support our families by it, through it, but we never lose touch just how grateful we are to be in the position that we are that we get to do this for a living. I like to do this. I like to work with people I really respect and love and admire and make stuff with. This kind of project is precisely, it’s exactly the kind of stuff I want to be doing. So, whatever else comes, you know, kind of down the road, comes. But, this is something that’s really worth celebrating.”
Although not officially part of the MCU, The Punisher appeared in true Marvel style, spinning off from an appearance in the series of another character, Daredevil. The series ran between 2017 and 2019, and was one of the victims of Disney’s cull of Netflix’s Marvel output. Like pretty much all of the actors involved in those shows, Bernthal has registered some interest in returning to the role if it was on the cards, but he doesn’t seem to be waiting on the knock at his door with quite the desperation as his fans.
Another actor to have been recently rumored to be returning Marvel’s way is Daredevil’ s Charlie Cox, who has recently had to bat down suggestions that his Matt Murdock is about to make a return in Spider-Man: No Way Home. While that outcome seems very unlikely right now, with most theories being debunked over time, Daredevil is one of those Marvel characters who you would not expect to be left out of the MCU’s line up forever.
With the likes of She-Hulk taking Marvel down a legal route, who is to say that there may not be an appearance of Daredevil somewhere around there. Whether it is Daredevil, The Punisher or one of the other characters, there is clearly a reason why Disney pulled the Netflix side of Marvel, and it is only a matter of time until we see them again somewhere in the Marvel timeline. This news comes from ComicBook.com.