Jon Bernthal, who played Shane Walsh on the first two seasons of “The Walking Dead,” will play deadly vigilante Frank “The Punisher” Castle in Neflix’s second season of “Daredevil.”
Faster than Matt Murdock can scream “Hey, that’s my job!” Castle will vow to clean up the scum and villainy polluting New York’s Hell’s Kitchen.
Bernthal takes over the role played on the big screen by Dolph Lundgren in 1989’s “The Punisher,” Thomas Jane in 2004’s “The Punisher” and Ray Stevenson in 2008’s “Punisher: War Zone.”
A former U.S. marine and martial arts expert, Castle is the Jack Bauer of the Marvel universe, employing murder, kidnapping, extortion and torture to avenge the mob murder of his wife and children.
Castle joins the Disney/Marvel onscreen universe that now contains Peggy Carter, Phil Coulson, Bruce Banner, Tony Stark, Hank Pym, Luke Cage, Steve Rogers, Matt Murdock, Peter Parker, Peter Quill, Maria Hill, Nick Fury, Thor and so many others. (But not Charles Xavier and not Reed Richards. Not yet.)
Benthal’s other credits include “World Trade Center,” “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian” (he played Al Capone), “The Pacific,” “Fury” and “The Wolf of Wall Street.” He reunited with “Walking Dead” showrunner Frank Darabont for TNT’s six-episode 2013 series “Mob City” and has a supporting role in next year’s big-screen actioner “The Accountant” starring DC’s latest Batman, Ben Affleck.
Season one of “Daredevil” was overseen by a pair of former “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” writers – Drew Goddard and Steven DeKnight. The showrunner on season two is a third former “Buffy” writer, Douglas Petrie.
