Daredevil: Born Again showrunner Dario Scardapane has teased The Punisher’s violent return in upcoming episodes. Jon Bernthal will be reprising his role as Frank Castle from Netflix’s Punisher series.

Scardapane reunites with Bernthal on Daredevil: Born Again, after previously working as both a writer and producer on the Punisher show. The Punisher has yet to appear in Born Again, but his arrival has been signaled by the appearance of his skull symbol around Hell’s Kitchen.

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Speaking to TVLine, Scardapane confirmed that Bernthal’s return was in the works before he joined Daredevil: Born Again as part of its creative shake-up. Marvel Studios brought in Scardapane to replace original showrunners Matt Corman and Chris Ord as part of a retooling of Born Again, which included more prominent roles for Matt Murdock’s trusted confidants Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll) and Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson).

“Jon is near and dear to my heart,” Scardapane said. “It was amazing to come back and get to work with him again.”

The stage is certainly set for The Punisher to wreak havoc once again, with Murdock now on a quest to prove New York City mayoral candidate Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio) is up to no good. Scardapane promised “hijinks ensue” when Frank Castle finally shows his face.

“He comes in for a very, very particular reason, he is brought in by a very, very particular person, and I think that it will be immensely satisfying — and a bit like, ‘Oh, my God,'” the showrunner warned.

Scardapane went on: “Whenever you put Frank and Daredevil together, all bets are off. It’s a tornado. I mean … we broke some stuff!”

“I think that [Frank’s return] will be immensely satisfying.”

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• Jon Bernthal originally appeared as Frank Castle in Daredevil‘s second season premiere on Netflix in 2016. He later returned for his own spinoff show.
• The first live-action depiction of Frank Castle came in the low-budget 1989 action movie The Punisher, where he was played by Dolph Lundgren.
• Thomas Jane starred in a 2004 Punisher film, in which John Travolta portrayed The Man Without Fear’s nemesis, crime boss Howard Saint.
• A gritty 2008 reboot, titled Punisher: War Zone, cast Ray Stevenson as the vigilante and Dominic West as his arch-enemy Jigsaw.

It was recently announced that Daredevil: Born Again will lay the groundwork for an all-new Punisher one-off special coming to Disney+, in the style of Marvel’s Special Presentations Werewolf by Night and The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. Bernthal is co-writing the script with We Own This City’s Reinaldo Marcus Green, who is also on board to direct. The Punisher’s Special Presentation episode is expected to air in 2016, alongside the second-half of Daredevil: Born Again.

Bernthal recently confirmed during an appearance at GalaxyCon Raleigh that he actually trained with Thomas Jane – who previously played Frank Castle in a 2004 film – to get ready for Born Again. Fans’ interest was piqued when the two actors were seen in a social media video training with firearms in May 2023. Bernthal previously told Collider that The Punisher has “resonated as deeply and strongly as he has” because people understand his righteous anger.

“I think there’s a little bit of Frank Castle in everybody,” the actor said. “He exists very strongly inside me and I care about that character deeply. I also know that it’s absolutely essential that if we do it, we do it right and we have real sacred integrity to the source material and to what is at the core of Frank.”

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Following Wilson Fisk’s recent reference to Spider-Man in Daredevil: Born Again, it has since been reported by TVLine that “a current MCU hero will be name-checked — as well as appear (in a manner of speaking)” during season 1.

New episodes of Daredevil: Born Again are released on Disney+ every Tuesday at 9 PM.

Source: TVLine

Daredevil: Born Again

Release Date

March 4, 2025

Showrunner

Chris Ord

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  Charlie Cox

  Matt Murdock / Daredevil

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  Vincent D’Onofrio

  Wilson Fisk / Kingpin