Why The Punisher Is The Right Move For Netflix's 'Daredevil'

Jon Bernthal (The Walking Dead) has been officially announced as The Punisher, a.k.a. Frank Castle, for the second season of Netflix's Daredevil. It couldn't have been a better choice to propel the series to new heights as Charlie Cox's Matt Murdock has to grapple with another vigilante in Hell's Kitchen—one who's willing to use any means necessary to wipe out his enemies. Here's how it raises the stakes:

Criminal empire aside, Vincent D'Onofrio's Kingpin never felt like a credible physical threat in a fistfight, even given his imposing size. His final confrontation with Daredevil in the season finale wasn't the climactic battle between two evenly-matched opponents it should've been. With The Punisher, Matt Murdock is not only physically matched, but he could possibly be outclassed—and outgunned—given Frank Castle's combat skills and penchant for weapons. Considering the show's critically-acclaimed fight choreography in the first season of Daredevil, viewers are in for even more brutal encounters that will rocket the series to the front of Netflix queues.

Matt Murdock will have to cope with another vigilante taking the law into his own hands—hands likely to be holding a bazooka, that is. His conflicts, team-ups, and interactions with the Punisher will force Matt to realize what kind of hero he wants Daredevil to be, and how far he'll go to root out evil. All the while, the showrunners will be able to mine the dynamic comic history of Daredevil and The Punisher butting heads. Sometimes literally.

Part of Daredevil's success as a series is that instead of trying to cram years of comic book lore into a two-hour movie, viewers had 13 episodes to not only get to know Matt Murdock, but get a broader understanding of the street-level world he inhabits in Hell's Kitchen. And now the same will apply to Frank Castle, who's no longer confined to one film. He has plenty of time to show how ruthless and unrelenting he can be while putting bullets in the mob.

When Daredevil finished its first season, Marvel had fully crafted a gritty little pocket in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that set up its future Netflix shows starring Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist. But that's not all: it's the perfect playground for the Punisher to run around and wreak havoc as he goes full urban warfare on crime. If Marvel's smart, and there's every indication they are, Daredevil won't be the only place we'll see the Punisher spraying bullets, bringing the MCU even closer to its comic roots—where anything can happen.