A new photo of Jon Bernthal as The Punisher on the second season of Daredevil recently surfaced, thanks to Entertainment Weekly.
The photo shows Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) in his Daredevil costume tied up with chains, with Frank Castle, aka The Punisher, standing over him with a gun. It seems as if the two are having some sort of conversation, but no context for the image was given.
Regardless, the photo highlights some key information about how The Punisher gets depicted on Daredevil. The first thing to note is the absence of the iconic skull shirt usually worn by The Punisher in the comic books. Of course, Daredevil didn't get his red suit until the end of season one, so maybe that Punisher shirt will show up in later episodes.
However, there is definitely a nod to the comic books here, because the scene is nearly identical to one from writer Garth Ennis' Punisher (Vol.4) #3.
In the comics, Castle is an ex-soldier who takes to the streets of New York as a vigilante. But his methods are more brutal than Daredevil's, because he doesn't believe in justice for criminals, only death.
"Viewers watching the show will be rooting for this guy with a gun but we're also going to force people — the way we force Matt — to second-guess themselves," said showrunner Doug Petrie. "Taking lethal justice into your own hands in America in 2015 is tricky s***. We have not shied away from the rich complicated reality of Now."
Although Daredevil made a name for itself as a dark series, one thing will change in season two: some of the scenes are lighter, literally. It seems that after complaints that some scenes in the first season were almost too dark to see, the series' showrunners decided to add "more layers," so that fans get a better view of what's going on. However, they assure viewers that the tone of the series itself remains as dark as ever.
There's also more romance in season two, especially when Elektra (Elodie Yung), aka Matt's ex-girlfriend, shows up.
"Matt's a deeply moral, complicated guy and she's just the best bad girlfriend you can possibly have," said Petrie. "She does everything wrong and attractive, she's his id, the wild side. Matt is always taming his wild side. Elektra just lets it out. He's both repulsed and deeply drawn to that."
Daredevil returns to Netflix in 2016.
