Jon Bernthal is getting ready to reprise the role of Frank Castle, better known as The Punisher, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe—and the bad guys better watch out because the actor isn’t pulling any punches.
In a recent gym video shared to Instagram by Slink Proper, Bernthal shows off his fighting form while performing boxing drills. After handing the camera to a friend, the rapper joins Bernthal in the ring for some padwork. It’s only a short clip, but even so you can tell that Bernthal has been keeping up with his superhero training: he is striking hard and fast as Slink holds the pads.
The physical aspect of the role is one that Bernthal has always taken seriously—perhaps too much so. “I broke my hand on the first day of filming the first fight scene of the year for The Punisher 2,” he previously told Men’s Health. “I kept on fighting, and on day two I tore ligaments, then on day three I dislocated it and had to get emergency surgery.”
Bernthal first gained attention as the antagonistic Shane in the first two seasons of AMC’s huge zombie hit The Walking Dead, before taking on the role of Frank Castle in Daredevil, one of Netflix’s Marvel TV shows focusing on the “street-level” adventures of superheroes Matt Murdock, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, and Danny Rand. Following his appearance in Daredevil, Bernthal led his own Punisher series on Netflix for three seasons.
Since then, he has starred in The Sopranos prequel The Many Saints of Newark, and We Own This City, a gritty crime drama exploring police corruption, but it is his return to the MCU that has got fans excited.
It was announced last year that the Punisher will definitely have a part to play in the upcoming Daredevil: Born Again, a new series on Disney+ which will bring several of the Netflix-era characters into the main continuity of the MCU following Charlie Cox’s guest spot as Matt Murdock, aka Daredevil, on She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. In addition to Cox and Bernthal, Vincent D’Onofrio will return as Wilson Fisk, aka Kingpin, last seen in the Hawkeye series.
Philip Ellis is a freelance writer and journalist from the United Kingdom covering pop culture, relationships and LGBTQ+ issues. His work has appeared in GQ, Teen Vogue, Man Repeller and MTV.
