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Jon Bernthal may have had his breakthrough withThe Walking Deadbut he became beloved to a whole fandom when he played Frank Castle in Netflix/Marvel’sThe Punisher. Making his debut in season 2 of the acclaimed showDaredevil, he went on to lead his spinoff for two seasons before it was canceled along with the rest of the Netflix shows.
Bernthal’s performance as the troubled and violent Frank Castle proved to be the best take on the character to date and he is set to reprise his role in the MCU. Getting it right did not come easy for the actor, though, as he recounted an instance when his casting announced when a fan warned him to not mess it up.
Jon Bernthal was warned by a fan to not mess up Punisher when he was cast
Despite being synonymous with the role, Jon Bernthal was not the first actor to portray the Punisher on film. Three attempts have been made with the character, with all three of them being given the B-tier action movie treatment. Dolph Lundgren played him in the 1989 film, while Thomas Jane and Ray Stevenson portrayed him in 2004 and 2008 respectively.
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Needless to say, none of the three worked well with the fans and despite the character being one of the most well-written anti-heroes in the Marvel universe, his adaptation just did not seem to work. It changed when Netflix and Marvel began aslate of streaming shows that explored characterslike Daredevil, the Punisher, Iron Fist, and more.
WhenJon Bernthalwas cast as Frank Castle in the second season ofDaredevil, he reportedly wanted to make sure he did his research right and went to multiple comic book stores to explore the world of the character. He said that while he received a warm welcome in California, he had a different experience in New York. He said onConan,
I go into a comic book store in Brooklyn. I get a whole stack and I go up to buy them and he [store clerk] looks at me and goes, ‘Yeah, I know who you are.’ I go, ‘Ok, cool, man. I just want to buy these comics.’ He goes, ‘No you don’t. You’re not taking this…You need to read this, this, this, and this’. I was like, ‘Ok dude’. And he’s like, ‘Do not mess this up’.
Bernthal seemed to take the warning from the fan very seriously as his take on the character worked so well that he was given his own spinoff show and he is set to return inDaredevil: Born Again.
Marvel needs committed actors like Jon Bernthal who take comics seriously
There was a time in the late ‘90s and the early 2000s when the more fantastical and “goofy” elements of the comic-book genre were relinquished in favor of a more grounded setting. Despite changing the game for the genre, even theX-Menfranchise initially stayed away from embracing all the elements of the superhero genre.
While the genre has come a long way from then, with the advent of the MCU, the franchise itself seems to be straying further away from its core audiences i.e. fans in order to appeal to the broader masses. Few new actors in the franchise seem to be as committed to their roles, with onlyMs. Marvelactress Iman Vellani being a huge fan of the comics in recent times.
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Actor Jon Bernthal mentioned back in 2021 what made him so beloved among Marvel fans and it all boiled down to him making the effort to explore and researchto get Frank Castle right.He said toForbes,
It’s a character that has had a deep, deep resonance with the comic book community, with the law enforcement community, [and] the military community; these communities I care a deep, deep, deep amount about. I looked at playing Frank as a real responsibility to those communities and if they are behind it and think that I got it right, it’s humbling and I’m full of gratitude for it.
As the MCU grows larger with more superheroes like the Fantastic Four and the X-Men set to make full-fledged appearances soon, it might do the MCU good to actually consider the comic-book fans’ love for the franchise and not just cater to a broad audience with nostalgia-bait and bringing back beloved actors whose characters have ended.
The Punisheris available to stream on Disney+.
Nishanth A
Senior Writer
Articles Published :2417
Nishanth A is a Senior Entertainment Writer at FandomWire, majorly focusing on TV shows with over 2,000 articles published. He has been an entertainment journalist for the past two years and a scriptwriter at various corporations before that, working on educational content. With a Communications, English Literature, and Psychology triple major, Nishanth usually covers news and analyses on Star Trek, particularly Strange New Worlds and The Next Generation; Doctor Who, the DCU, and more.A Nolan fan, Nishanth spends his time exploring the filmographies of various directors with an auteurial style or can be found making short movies of his own. He has also contributed as a feature writer for Film Companion, focusing on the South division.
