At this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, Marvel Studios really did blow the competition out of the water with its ridiculous number of announcements about future projects. Two ‘Avengers’ films, a new ‘Captain America’ announcement, ‘Thunderbolts’ confirmed, and much more. But as excited as fans are for all of those, the thing that seems to be low-key the most fan-favorite thing announced was “Daredevil: Born Again,” plus the reveal that Daredevil, played by Charlie Cox, would show up in ‘She-Hulk’ this summer. Is this a revival of the old Netflix/Marvel ‘Defenders’ franchise? Will we see even more heroes from those shows appearing in the future? Well, according to actress Rosario Dawson, that’s definitely happening with another fan-favorite character, the Punisher.
Speaking this weekend at C2E2 (via Twitter), Rosario Dawson talked about the future of the ‘Defenders’ characters after the SDCC announcement a couple of weeks ago. Dawson, of course, stars as Claire Temple in just about every Marvel series on Netflix, acting almost like the Nick Fury-esque person who links the shows together. And while speaking about the future, Dawson seemingly confirmed that Jon Bernthal’s Punisher is set to make a comeback in the MCU.
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“I heard [the SDCC] announcement, but I found out yesterday that ‘The Punisher’ is happening again,” said Dawson. “So, I feel like it’s my second chance because it was the only one of the [‘Defenders’] shows I wasn’t in, and I love Jon Bernthal. So, let’s all make it happen, collectively, you guys!”
Sure, this is far from a sure-thing confirmation from the mouth of Kevin Feige. But still, this sure does sound like Punisher is going to show up in one of the upcoming Disney+ projects, right? Odds are, he’ll show up in Daredevil: Born Again, since he already has a strong comic book history with Daredevil and they actually crossed paths on Netflix. Of course, all that depends on just how much of the Netflix canon Marvel Studios is willing to stick with. Right now, judging by DD’s appearance in “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and Kingpin showing up in “Hawkeye,” they’re not committing to doing full reboots or sticking completely to the previous canon. So, Marvel is playing fast and loose with that, it would appear.
It’ll be extra interesting to see how Punisher is handled in the MCU. He’s a character that brutally kills villains. And the term “brutally kills” isn’t one that is used much, at all, in the current Marvel Cinematic Universe. Will Punisher be toned down a bit in his reintroduction? And how will Marvel Studios handle the fact that Punisher has become a bit of a problematic character being co-opted by violent groups in real life?
Lots and lots of questions. But those can be answered another day. For right now, it seems like fans should be excited to see Bernthal return as Frank Castle, aka Punisher, in the future.
Update: Dawson is now back peddling a little bit, saying she got her info from fans, but that could be just trying to save her mistake? Time will tell, keep an eye out for this one cause it is a rumor floating around.