To put it in the simplest of terms, the Punisher doesn’t work within the confines of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Sure, the Netflix shows originally took place in the same narrative space as the movies before Kevin Feige disregarded them as canon, and for a while, Frank Castle was technically bludgeoning criminals and gunning down bad guys not far from Tony Stark’s Avengers Tower, but you couldn’t imagine the two ever crossing paths.
Plenty of film and television projects feature excessive and often needless violence, but if you take that away from the Punisher, then you greatly reduce both the appeal of the character and the connection to his comic book roots, turning him into just another PG-13 action hero. Jon Bernthal isn’t shy about admitting that he’s got unfinished business with the role, but you can hardly picture the grizzled actor trading witty barbs with the MCU’s roster of superheroes during brightly lit scenes set on a sunny afternoon.
That hasn’t stopped him from constantly being linked with a return, though, and the latest report claims that the 44 year-old is currently in active talks about a comeback. However, take this one with a pinch of salt because Marvel may not even have the rights to the Punisher yet, with the two-year hold that stops them from legally speaking to Bernthal not set to expire until next month. Unless, of course, they’ve somehow gotten around that.
In any case, the MCU isn’t going R-rated on the big screen under the Marvel Studios banner, and it definitely won’t be happening on Disney Plus, either. So unless we’re getting a PG-13 version of the comic book vigilante, it seems unlikely that the Punisher will be showing up anytime soon, especially when there are already twelve movies and thirteen TV series in various stages of development.
