One of the most frustrating things about modern fandom is that people will scream from the rooftops demanding something to happen, and then when it does, they immediately turn their backs on it and decide it’s destined to fail. Just like clockwork, the backlash over Jon Bernthal’s long-awaited return as the Punisher in Daredevil: Born Again has already started.
Ever since Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio made their Marvel Cinematic Universe debuts in Spider-Man: No Way Home and Hawkeye respectively, Netflix’s Frank Castle was always at the top of the wish-list to be next in line. Through all the rumor and speculation, though, one major concern lingered in the minds of many.
Based entirely on his status as a violent vigilante who dispenses brutal justice on the streets of New York City, Disney taking a character that arguably doesn’t work in a PG-13 setting and dropping them into the family-friendly MCU was heralded as a disaster waiting to happen.
As thrilled as everyone is to see Bernthal back, then, it’s already led to an outpouring of worrisome reactions claiming that there’s no chance the MCU has either the intention or the stones to give the Punisher the treatment he reserves.
It goes without saying that judgement should be reserved until we get to see the 18-episode Born Again in motion, but it was always going to be the case that the Punisher’s return to the fray would be treated with a mixture of cynicism and skepticism, particularly when the Multiverse Saga has seen the entire superhero sandbox reach its lowest ebb in terms of both critical and audience reception.
