Punisher Star Wants to Join the MCU as a Comics

Actor Ben Barnes explains why he would be open to returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as The Punisher antagonist Jigsaw.

The Punisher star Ben Barnes recently revealed that he would love to return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a more comic-accurate version of Jigsaw.

In an interview with SFX, Barnes, who currently stars as The Darkling on Netflix's Shadow and Bone, was asked if he would be interested in rejoining the MCU. "Oh my god. I saw pictures the other day of one of my best friends, Will Poulter, in Guardians of the Galaxy [Vol. 3]. Man, he looks good," said Barnes before admitting that he wants "someone to put [him] in a superhero suit before [he ages] out." He continued, "I’ve watched all the Marvel movies. DC is going to start becoming an interesting space again. Batman feels taken, but I love that style of alter-ego/hero. I loved playing Jigsaw. I’d love to reframe him and really mess his face up this time."

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Barnes and Poulter previously starred together in the 2010 high fantasy film, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the third and final of Disney/20th Century Studios' live-action adaptations of C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia series. Barnes later went on to star in both seasons of Netflix's The Punisher as Billy Russo/Jigsaw, which aired between 2017 and 2019. Poulter, meanwhile, was cast in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in October 2021 as Adam Warlock, with the character appearing in the critically and commercially successful threequel as a secondary antagonist to the titular cosmic team.

Following the returns of Charlie Cox (Daredevil) and Vincent D'Onofrio (Kingpin) in Spider-Man: No Way Home and Hawkeye, respectively, Jon Bernthal was announced to be reprising his role of Frank Castle/The Punisher in Daredevil: Born Again, an upcoming Disney+ series that will be a spiritual continuation of the Marvel/Netflix Daredevil show. Bernthal has already begun training for the reprisal, posting a video on Instagram in April of him working out with professional boxer and rapper Slink Proper.

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Filming on Daredevil: Born Again's 18-episode first season began in February 2023 in New York City under the working title "Out the Kitchen." However, production was shut down in May after Teamsters refused to cross picket lines at Writers Guild of America East protests. Born Again is the second MCU project to be affected by the 2023 WGA strike. Marvel's upcoming Blade reboot was originally scheduled to begin filming in May, but production was delayed since the film's new screenwriter, Nic Pizzolatto, was unable to complete his rewrite before the start of the strike.

The Punisher is currently streaming on Disney+.

Source: SFX

Lee Freitag is a Senior Writer at CBR, reporting on the latest movie and TV news. Raised on the Canadian Prairies, Lee enjoys spending time with friends and family and watching Back to the Future for what has to be the hundredth time.