March is fast becoming a hotbed of intrigue for even the passing comic book fans among us, with Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice and Marvel’s Daredevil season 2 set to premiere within the space of a few days.
Promising a leaner and meaner trip to Hell’s Kitchen, it’s the latter debut that has been stealing headlines of late now that it’s been confirmed Jon Bernthal’s The Punisher will get his own spinoff series. A tremendous vote of confidence, really, considering that Bernthal’s portrayal of the rage machine is yet to grace the small screen.
With March 18 inching closer and closer, Collider recently hosted an interview with both Bernthal and the Man Without Fear himself, Charlie Cox, and the former recently outlined the complex nature of his musclebound foe.
It’s a complex character. What was so successful, in my opinion, about Season 1 was how layered and complex the characters were and how rich it was. At the end of the day, it’s a show not about a superhero, but it’s about a man. Hopefully, that’s what we’re doing with The Punisher, as well. It’s an enormous honor to play this character. It’s a character that’s quite iconic and very important to a lot of people. I’m extremely humbled to have the job and I look at it as a real responsibility to try to get it right.
But The Punisher and Daredevil aren’t as different as you would first believe. Both are vigilantes in their own right, and such a conundrum will naturally call Matt Murdock’s status as a hero into question. For Bernthal, though, that’ll mean rolling out his own brand of justice as Frank Castle.
I think the idea is to not spoon-feed anything and say this guy is a good guy or a bad guy, but say that he’s a man and let the audience make up their minds. I think that this character has his own brand of justice, and I think he’s in the process of figuring out exactly what that is. What’s bold and fresh and new about this show is that it’s not going to make those decisions for you. It’s going to encourage you to make those decisions for yourself.
Daredevil season 2 is set to premiere on March 18.
