If there’s one thing Jon Bernthal respects about The Punisher, the character he’s playing in Daredevil season two, it’s everything. He respects everything that came before, but especially the way the character has had an impact on people.
“It’s really two-fold,” Bernthal told ComicBook.com in an interview at the Daredevil season two premiere, speaking about how he hopes to put his own spin on the character. “I get how much this guy means to so many people. I think that, when you look at a comic book, and the medium of comic books, not to be on my high horse, to read a comic book, it requires so much imagination. It requires the audience to use that imagination. The Punisher’s been around since the 70s. I think anytime the audience puts so much of their own imagination into it, this character really belongs to the audience, really belongs to the fans. I get that, and I respect that.”
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“I know how important he is to so many people – I’ve said before that I know how important this character is to people in law enforcement and the military,” he continued. “That’s something that means an enormous amount to me. Guys putting the Punisher insignia on their body armor and their equipment as they’ve gone into battle and fight for this country, that’s something I take very seriously.”
Of course, all that talk about the past then leads him to the present, and his personal take. His focus was to let the character evolve over the course of the season.
“Also, I think that this is different. This is a thirteen-hour dive into who this guy is. It gives you a chance to grow, gives you a chance to evolve. The Punisher that’s introduced – the Frank Castle that’s introduced, in the beginning of the season is not The Punisher, he’s going to develop [into that],” Bernthal said. “What I set out to do, and what I hope we did is something that honors the fans, honors the character, but is also unique. I had to make him my own.”
Daredevil Season 2 premieres March 18, 2016 only on Netflix.
