Punisher won’t be delivering hard R-rated justice on Netflix’s Daredevil

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

The Punisher will make his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut next year on the second season of Netflix's Daredevil, and although Steven DeKnight won't be the showrunner for the upcoming season due to other commitments, he did talk a little about the vigilante joining the MCU during a conversation with Slash Film at the Television Critics Association summer press tour.

The thing about The Punisher, and I think there are great things about each of those versions, but none of them was completely the Marvel version. And none of those movies were under the Marvel Studios banner until they recently got The Punisher back. So this is really the first time that we’re seeing the Marvel Studios from the Iron Man days, when they can control their own product, actually do this character.

DeKnight went on to say he doesn't think the violent justice from Jon Bernthal's Punisher will be as graphic as the hard R-rated PUNISHER: WAR ZONE.

Doubtful, that was pretty violent. The first season of Daredevil was violent but I always say it was more implied. It wasn’t nearly as violent as The Walking Dead, a show that I love. On that, if somebody were to crush somebody’s head in a car door, you would’ve seen the head crush on screen but we didn’t want to go quite that far. We wanted to keep it right around PG-16 and not go all the way to the R. I have no idea if they’re planning to push it that far next season but I would be surprised.

This may sound like blasphemy to some of you, but I don't think The Punisher's actions need to be depicted at an R-rated level on Daredevil. The first season was pretty brutal at times anyway, and having Frank Castle bathed in the blood and guts of his enemies may appease hardcore fans, however it could potentially turn off other viewers. THE DARK KNIGHT got away with quite a bit with its implied violence and still managed to land a PG-13 rating, so I have no problem with a "PG-16" graphically violent Punisher. Let me ask you this: would you rather get a live-action project starring The Punisher that truly does him right, or another disappointing hard-R take on the character?

Daredevil season 2 is currently filming, and is set to premiere in 2016.