Who is Frank Castle / The Punisher in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

The 1989 film stars Dolph Lundgren, who you might better know as Ivan Drago from the Rocky and Creed movies, as Frank Castle. In this movie, Frank was also a cop before losing his family and going rogue. (Perhaps that’s why so many cops IRL idolize the character, despite them being quite literally on opposing sides of the law.)'The Punisher'In 2004, Thomas Jane played Frank Castle. John Travolta is also in this movie as a character called Howard Saint. In this iteration of the lore, Frank is an undercover FBI agent before losing his family.STREAM NOWAdvertisement - Continue Reading Below'Punisher: War Zone'Only four years later, a third movie recast the character a third time. It was supposed to be a sequel to the 2004 movie, to be fair. Directed by Lexi Alexander, the movie starred Ray Stevenson as Frank and also Dominic West as Jigsaw.STREAM NOW'Daredevil' Season 2Jon Bernthal, who was already known in comic adaptation circles for playing Shane on The Walking Dead, first appeared as Frank Castle in the second season of the Netflix/Marvel series. Matt Murdock a.k.a. Daredevil represented him in court. Karen Page wrote an investigative piece on him. It was the start of two beautiful friendships and, in Frank and Karen’s case, one of the MCU’s most painful will they/won’t they ‘ships.STREAM NOWAdvertisement - Continue Reading Below'The Punisher' Season 1On the first season of Netflix’s Punisher series, we see more of his origin story. We also see more of his relationship with Karen. And, fans of Jon in The Bear might be interested to hear that Ebon Moss-Bachrach plays a Marvel character named Micro in this season.STREAM NOW'The Punisher' Season 2If you’re a fan of those “lone wolf and cub” stories with a grumpy guy and a scrappy kid, definitely put The Punisher season 2 on your watchlist. Frank begrudgingly teams up with a teenage grifter named Amy, played by Giorgia Whigham. It’s an unofficial and unintentional precursor to his hilarious dynamic with Peter Parker in Brand New Day. Karen Page appears briefly.Advertisement - Continue Reading Below'Daredevil: Born Again' Season 1Jon reprises his role at the end of the first season of the Disney+ series and thus officially enters the MCU. (The Netflix shows always were MCU canon but... it’s weird and complicated.) Frank doesn’t live in an abandoned tugboat, like he does in Brand New Day, but he is in his loner era for sure. He does not appear in the second season, however... and Karen and Matt become a sad couple. See what happens when you separate her and Frank?!STREAM NOW'The Punisher: One Last Kill' Jon himself co-wrote and produced this special stand-alone episode that helped bridge the gap between the Punisher’s vibe in the Netflix series, the Disney+ series, and Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Karen Page is there... as a vision! Thank you for your service.STREAM NOW