Bernthal wreaks vengeance as Punisher
Daredevil introduces us to man broken by trauma
Welcome to the gun show.
The Punisher, one of pop culture’s most identifiable anti-heroes, makes his debut in the second season of Marvel’s Daredevil (premiering on Netflix Friday) and, as in the comic books, he arrives with a vengeful mean streak and armed to the teeth.
As played by Jon Bernthal, though, the character’s not sporting that iconic skull on his chest at first. Instead, the focus is more on Frank Castle, the man rather than the infamous name and a former soldier waging his own street war in New York City to take out the criminals who killed his family.
“This is going to be a bit of an origin story, and we find this guy still absolutely reeling and his world has been completely flipped upside down,” says Bernthal, who’s played violent characters before on TV’s The Walking Dead and in the Second World War movie Fury. “This unbelievable trauma that he went through . . . That’s going to be a part of him forever and it’s going to colour every move he makes, every thought he has. We’ll see the birth of a Punisher.”
Of course, a guy running around killing people in Hell’s Kitchen is going to get on the crazy-good radar of the locale’s resident blind superhero Daredevil and his lawyer alter ego Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox). Matt at first feels that his own presence as a vigilante has wrought men like the Punisher, and the run-ins between the two lead to them first being foes and later, uneasy allies.
After having chained the hero on a rooftop, Frank tells Daredevil, “You know, you’re one bad day away from being me” — a line that goes back to a discussion Cox first had with the first-season showrunner Steven DeKnight in fleshing out Daredevil’s mindset and personality, according to the series’ star.
Bernthal fit the Frank Castle mould perfectly because of what he brings to his roles, Cox says. “He doesn’t necessarily need to do very much to be very menacing. That’s the thing with these anti-heroes: it needs to feel effortless, otherwise it begins to become caricature-ish.” Plus Bernthal looks the part, adds executive producer Douglas Petrie: “He’s got a face with a nose that’s been broken14 times. That’s literally true.”
Frank is a very damaged but also, deep down, a good and just man, and because of that, the Punisher’s pain is felt more than his violent nature, Bernthal says.