In the opinion of actor Jon Bernthal, the reason The Punisher and his more ‘complete’ methods of crime fighting continue to enjoy such a large fan base is because, at the end of the day, each and every person has “a little bit of Frank Castle” inside of them.
The latest actor to don the Marvel anti-hero’s signature skull offered his thoughts on the ongoing debate regarding The Punisher’s popularity – on one side are the fans who enjoy the character’s take-no-nonsense-outlook on morality and likewise modus operandi, on the other are those, including Marvel itself, who have grown concerned that individuals, particularly law enforcement, will look up to him as a justification for their own violence – while speaking with Collider regarding his upcoming return to the role in Daredevil: Born Again.
Pressed for his thoughts on the topic of by the outlet’s Christina Radish, Bernthal opined, “I think there’s a reason why that character has resonated as deeply and strongly as he has. In the hearts and minds of comic book fans and first responders and people in the military and people all over the globe. I think there’s a little bit of Frank Castle in everybody.”
“He exists very strongly inside me and I care about that character deeply,” the actor added. “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. I’m gonna do my absolute best to make sure that, if and when we do it, we do it right.”
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Notably, this is not the first time Bernthal has expressed such a deep-seated connection with and appreciation for the Ebony Executioner.
Asked during a December 2021 with The Hollywood Reporter’s Brian Davids whether or not, in light of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s turn towards multiversal storytelling, he would ever consider once again stepping into Frank’s boots, the actor asserted, “That character, in particular, has real, real, real deep, deep meaning for me and resonance in me. He’s really in my heart, man. He’s really in my bones.”
“I’m enormously protective of that character,” he continued. “I’ve said before that there’s nothing in this world more important to me than my wife and my kids, and only until you understand that kind of love and what it really means to willingly die for somebody, [do you understand] what it would be like if somebody took them from you. That’s a road and a darkness and a rage that really, really scares me and brings me to places that I’ve worked the last 20 years to get away from. So I was really grateful, respectful and wary of the places where that role took me and the world in which I had to live in.”
However, despite his love for the character, Bernthal then noted “That being said, that’s where that character needs to be. It needs to be a level of darkness. I think if there’s any let up on that character, you do a disservice to the character, to every iteration of the character, to every comic book that’s come before, and to all of the unbelievable fans of the character.”
“This character means so much to people in the military,” he concluded. “So like I said before, it’s not about whether you do the character; it’s about whether you can do it right, and I’m only interested in doing it right.”
As noted above, Bernthal is currently set to reprise his role as The Punisher for Marvel’s Daredevil: Born Again, which is due to hit Disney Plus sometime in 2025.