After Rewatching All 26 Episodes Of The Punisher, I’m Convinced Daredevil: Born Again Sets Up The New MCU Spinoff To Repeat A Perfect Storyline

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After rewatching all 26 episodes and two seasons of The Punisher, I'm even more convinced that Daredevil: Born Again sets up the vigilante's live-action Punisher receiving considerable praise. Frank Castle certainly isn't the last figure to become a concrete part of the MCU, but his return is still decidedly welcome.

Daredevil: Born Again season 1 brought Castle back to our screens, but the Punisher is set to appear in more than just this show, as it's been announced that Daredevil: Born Again season 1 ending closes this chapter of Castle's arc, it looks like he's set to repeat a storyline that has worked effectively many times before over the course of his years-long television journey.

The Punisher's Storylines Tend To Follow A Gripping Trend

The Punisher's Enemies Take Some Specific Directions

In both The Punisher and Jon Bernthal's previous appearance in Daredevil as Frank Castle before it, the shows followed a specific trend when it came to who Castle would face off against in their stories. Daredevil initially has Castle face off against antagonists who serve as a dark mirror of sorts of his own story and motivations by placing him against Finn Cooley - a member of the Irish mob who faces Castle because the Punisher killed his son, serving as a parallel to Frank's own mission being motivated by the group's involvement in the murder of his wife and children.

Later in Daredevil, Castle's military history sets up a version of this dark mirror approach once more, as the story introduces Ray Schoonover, who was an eighteen-year-old Frank Castle's Commanding Officer, and who by the time of Daredevil has become a New York drug lord. The Punisher and Schoonover end up squaring off again due to Ray wishing to wipe out any evidence of the wrongdoings he was part of during his time as part of an organization known as Operation Cerberus, which also led him to orchestrate the death of Frank's family.

However, The Punisher leans into this concept even further, as both Billy Russo - i.e Marvel comic villain Jigsaw - and season 2 villain John Pilgrim serve as even closer parallels to the Punisher's story and how easily he could have gone down a darker path again rather than becoming a vengeance-focused vigilante. Billy Russo and Frank Castle trained together in the military, and are shown throughout to have very similar mindsets about the brotherhood and ethos they learned during their warfare experiences, though Russo becomes more obsessed with having power over others than Castle, leading to his downfall.

John Pilgrim parallels Castle even though they've lived very different lives - given Pilgrim is a former Aryan Brotherhood assassin who in the show works at the behest of Anderson and Eliza Schultz after they offered him a chance at a "new life". Pilgrim's assertion that "I did all those things because there was something inside me that wouldn't stop until the whole world was blood" mirrors Castle's own unending mission, and indeed, John's motivation to pay his "debt" to the Schultzes and protect his ill wife and infant children even leads Castle to spare him in the end.

Daredevil: Born Again Has Already Set Up A Perfect Way For The MCU To Repeat This Storyline In The Punisher's Spinoff

Daredevil: Born Again Has Created A Story For The Punisher That Looks Like It'll Mirror Many Of His Previous Ones

With so many of the most engaging main on-screen Punisher storylines revolving around the vigilante confronting characters who mirror his own motivations and actions back at him, it's already looking promising that Daredevil: Born Again has set the MCU Punisher spinoff to seemingly take the same course. Frank Castle's war against the taskforce who use his symbol begins in Daredevil: Born Again - with Castle expressing particular fury and frustration about the idea that they thought they reflected his values and ideal - and season 1's ending certainly suggests they're still number one on his hitlist.

A Punisher spinoff that pits Castle against a group that believe they replicate Frank's own motivations and mission is promising in that it works as a play on a story that we've already seen before. In The Punisher, Billy Russo creates a criminal gang out of disillusioned veterans, using their struggles to convince them to band together. This group also labels Castle a "traitor", believing that he should not only understand them, but arguably should want to them in their exploits due to his history alongside Russo as a Marine and then later as a member of Operation Cerberus.

In particular, theories have arisen that Daredevil: Born Again sets up anti-vigilante task force member Cole North as the main antagonist of the Punisher spinoff, which would prove an especially fascinating way to explore this idea, given North is revealed to be responsible for the death of White Tiger in the MCU show - a decision that makes him the polar opposite of The Punisher himself, even though both are willing to use lethal force. If this proves true, not only will Castle face a faction who misrepresent his goals, he'll also have one direct figure to contrast with in this way too.

The Punisher's MCU Spinoff Could Be The Best "Dark Mirror" Storyline For The Character Yet

The Punisher Spinoff Is In A Great Position Story-Wise

First and foremost, the MCU's recent willingness to take its stories to more R-rated place opens a lot of potential for the Punisher spinoff, since delving into what defines the vigilante and what makes those who oppose him so different to him - even when there's clear parallels - often requires a decent dose of mayhem and bloodshed. This also raises the idea that the spinoff can provide a no-holds-barred kind of look at both Castle and his enemies, which prior decisions like The Punisher's call to cut back on Jigsaw's face wounds suggest may have not been as possible for prior releases.

On a broader level, the way in which Daredevil, The Punisher, and Daredevil: Born Again have all steadily paved a path to a confident version of Frank Castle who has been through many trials and - against all odds - come out living suggests the Punisher spinoff can explore the idea of Castle confronting those who serve as a dark mirror of what defines him in a wholly new way, which a justifiably extremely experienced version of the vigilante. Though we're some way off seeing the project debut, this certainly bodes well for what to expect next.