Jon Bernthal’s return as The Punisher in the MCU’s Daredevil: Born Again could answer whether a Captain America: The Winter Soldier theory involving Frank Castle was always true or not. The Multiverse Saga has been incorporating actors from previous Marvel franchises into the MCU. And just like Patrick Stewart’s Professor X and Charlie Cox’s Daredevil officially joined the MCU during Phase 4, Jon Bernthal’s Frank Castle will make his MCU debut in Phase 5 several years after the release of his Netflix show, The Punisher.
Netflix’s Defenders characters had vague connections to the MCU since the beginning, but it’s only now that Marvel Studios is confirming their canon status. The MCU’s version of Netflix characters such as Daredevil, Wilson Fisk, and The Punisher may be slightly different, but within MCU canon, they have always existed in universe 616 without the need for multiversal explanations. This is what makes it possible for The Punisher to have interacted with other MCU characters in the past, just like Captain America: The Winter Soldier co-director Joe Russo suggested.
Punisher May Have Appeared In Captain America: The Winter Soldier
In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Nick Fury manages to escape a group of undercover Hydra agents after a grueling car chase when a yellow Penske truck smashes into the villains’ cars. Later on, as Captain America, Falcon, and Black Widow escort Jasper Sitwell to the Triskelion, the Winter Soldier suddenly appears and throws Sitwell across the highway, where the same yellow Pensky truck promptly runs him over. In 2014, co-director Joe Russo joked that the truck driver’s identity was none other than Frank Castle, suggesting that there was a Punisher cameo in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
The MCU hadn’t been able to confirm this theory, given that the Punisher could only appear in Netflix shows up until recently. But now that Jon Bernthal is set to reprise his famous Marvel role in the MCU, Daredevil: Born Again can now provide a definitive answer. Fortunately, the possibility has been left open ever since Joe Russo suggested it, so Marvel Studios is free to address it at any moment.
Why Would The Punisher Help Captain America And Nick Fury
Netflix’s Daredevil and The Punisher never revealed any possible connection between Frank Castle and Nick Fury or SHIELD. However, Jon Bernthal’s Netflix Punisher was already active as an anti-hero around the time Captain America: The Winter Soldier is set in, and the tragic event that turned him into a ruthless vigilante was recent enough to motivate him to kill any criminal he came across. How the Punisher would recognize undercover Hydra agents is still a major question, but Frank Castle’s admiration for Captain America in Marvel Comics could be retroactively adapted to be the reason Jon Bernthal’s Punisher kept an eye on Steve Rogers and Nick Fury in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.