Photo: Brooklen Ashleigh on Unsplash
Jon Bernthal has now played Frank Castle across a decade, two streaming services, and one very large summer movie. Here's the full run, in order.
The Netflix years
Bernthal debuted as Frank Castle in the second season of Netflix's Daredevil in 2016, and the response was immediate enough that Marvel gave him his own show. The Punisher ran for two seasons starting in 2017 before Netflix's Marvel lineup was shut down.
Born Again
When Daredevil: Born Again brought Charlie Cox and Vincent D'Onofrio back to Disney+ in March 2025, Bernthal turned up too. The series was originally planned as 18 episodes and got split into two seasons after a creative overhaul.
Season 2 ran eight episodes from March 24 to May 5, 2026, with Wilson Fisk running New York as mayor. Critics generally called it an improvement on season 1. Frank Castle sat that season out.
The Punisher: One Last Kill
Instead, Frank got his own hour. The Punisher: One Last Kill, a Marvel Television Special Presentation, premiered on Disney+ on May 12, 2026, one week after the Born Again finale. Bernthal co-wrote it with director Reinaldo Marcus Green.
It follows Castle trying to work out who he is when he isn't chasing revenge, and it takes place before and during season 2. Marvel Television's Brad Winderbaum described it to Entertainment Weekly as a shotgun blast of a story with the pathos you want from Frank.
Then the big one
Bernthal's Punisher showed up in Spider-Man: Brand New Day this summer, his first time playing the character in a theatrical movie. Reviews singled out the relationship between Peter Parker and Frank Castle as the best thing in it, and the film has since become one of the highest-grossing movies ever released. Not a bad promotion for a character Netflix canceled.
We covered the numbers in our Brand New Day box office piece.
What's next
A third season of Born Again is in production and set for March 2027. Whether Frank turns up in it, or in the Avengers movies, hasn't been announced.
Sources: Disney+, Variety, The Wrap, Entertainment Weekly, Comic Book Club.