There’s been a lot of talk about Daredevil hopefully coming back in the MCU, following Netflix clearing house of its Marvel content, due to him being a good fit for the franchise. The Punisher, meanwhile, is not a character you could easily drop into, say, an Avengers movie and have him team up with Rocket and Groot. Instead, the studio would have to be willing to commit to keep the mature tone of the series to make sure it works.
Thankfully, we’re hearing that’s exactly what they’re planning on doing. We Got This Covered’s been informed by our sources – the same ones who said Marvel was considering recasting Hawkeye, which has since been confirmed, and that Charlie Cox is returning as Daredevil, which trusted insider Daniel RPK has backed up – that Jon Bernthal’s Punisher may get his own R-rated film. The studio’s currently considering the option, given that they’re already beginning to make R-rated movies in the form of Deadpool 3 and Blade. What’s more, a Punisher flick would lead to a crossover as well, but not with the Defenders this time around.
Sources say that Moon Knight or Blade, or even both, could possibly feature in a Punisher film, and that they’d attempt to get Frank Castle to join the Midnight Sons. We’ve previously reported that Kevin Feige’s hoping to do a movie based on the darker superhero team and the Punisher would likely be part of it. This is a bit surprising as the group is usually know for its supernatural heroes in the comics, but the MCU version could be pitched as more like an R-Rated Avengers.
In any case, it’s early days yet, as Marvel can’t do anything with these characters for another couple of years, but it looks like nearly all the Defenders have futures in the MCU, including Jessica Jones and Luke Cage as well. Iron Fist, though, will most likely be rebooted with a new actor, but more of the Punisher is clearly good news for fans and also Bernthal himself, as the star recently said he’s not ready to leave Frank behind yet.
