After Rewatching All 11 Hours Of The Punisher Season 1, I Can’t Get Over How Excited I Am To See 1 Key Member Of The MCU’s Fantastic Four
After rewatching all 11 hours of The Punisher season 1, I'm seriously excited to see how the MCU tackles 1 major member of the core cast of The Fantastic Four: First Steps. While it released in 2017, The Punisher season 1 had few links to the wider MCU, instead existing in a liminal state of canon when looking at the overarching on-screen franchise. After several years - and after the show's own conclusion with season 2 in 2019 - this changed, however, as the Netflix shows became more officially MCU canon, and Jon Bernthal's Punisher debuted in 2024's Daredevil series.
This is arguably to the benefit of the MCU timeline, as some of these prior shows - The Punisher included - are still regarded as some of the best Marvel television to have been released to date. After rewatching The Punisher, I can certainly agree, and this perspective has made me all the more excited to see one actor who was a key part of the 686 minutes that make up The Punisher season 1 come back anew in The Fantastic Four: First Steps cast.
The Punisher Is One Of The Best Superhero Shows Of All Time, Thanks In No Small Part To Its Phenomenal Cast
The Punisher effectively blends its violence and action with a genuinely suspenseful and interesting story, and a range of characters that feel three-dimensional and engaging, making a series that could have easily fallen to the wayside in terms of ignoring its own plot for the sake of more action scenes instead feel like something special. Given Frank Castle has verged on being a one-dimensional character in even some of his own comics, this is a feat in of itself, and one that's arguably pulled off with such aplomb because of the talented range of actors who appear within the series.
First and most obviously, Jon Bernthal's role as Castle himself is one that has rightly been praised ever since his first appearance in Daredevil season 2, with Bernthal taking care to show the more human and vulnerable elements of the character as much as he perfectly encapsulates the ruthless killing machine the Punisher transforms into at several points in his on-screen arc. With that said, though, The Punisher wouldn't work if only its lead did a good job with their character.
The range of allies and enemies that The Punisher comes into contact with are almost all embodied with a nuance that allows them to feel like more than just side characters - especially in the case of characters like Ebon Moss-Bachrach's Micro and Ben Barnes' Jigsaw, who are handled in a way where even the larger-than-life aspects of their stories feel tangible because of their complicated characterization, and the way in which their stories mirror and contrast Castle's own. Bernthal's Punisher has now returned in Daredevil: Born Again, and another Marvel actor is set to return in a different way too.
One Of The Punisher's Main Characters Is Getting A New Role In The MCU
While Jon Bernthal has returned as seemingly the exact same version of the Marvel character he played in both Daredevil and The Punisher, the MCU is bringing back another member of The Punisher cast in an entirely new role. This is because Ebon Moss-Bachrach will be appearing in The Fantastic Four: First Steps as Ben Grimm, also known as The Thing - the best friend and essentially brother of Reed Richards in the comics, and seemingly in the MCU as well.
This isn't the first time that an actor has had two roles within the MCU, as several people have played different parts in the franchise - with some notable examples being Benedict Cumberbatch playing Doctor Strange and Dormmamu, and Linda Cardellini playing Kree Minn-Erva in Captain Marvel and Lyla the Otter in Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3. In fact, these prior roles may have set the stage for Moss-Bachrach to be The Thing, since many actors who've played multiple roles in the MCU have played one character whose face is changed via practical or special effects.
Rewatching The Punisher Season 1 Made Me Appreciate Just How Promising It Is The MCU Has Cast Ebon Moss-Bachrach as The Thing
Ebon Moss-Bachrach's role as Micro is the polar opposite of Ben Grimm in many ways - with him playing a paranoid tech-savvy hacker who'd avoided detection for years in The Punisher, and being set to play a seemingly more brute-force-focused and straight-forward figure in The Fantastic Four: First Steps. However, rewatching the previous Marvel show has made me way more excited about the upcoming MCU movie and The Thing's debut because of what it suggests about the Marvel character's impending appearance.
Micro is a key part of The Punisher season 1, with Frank Castle working alongside David Lieberman so the former NSA analyst can return to his old life and be reunited with his family, which he does in the season 1 finale.
First and foremost, the way in which Ebon Moss-Bachrach plays Lieberman is notable because it's hard to not root for the character as The Punisher goes on - partially because he becomes Frank Castle's moral compass of sorts, and partially because his sense of loyalty to his family and new vigilante friend become increasingly clear as time goes on. This is especially praise-worthy in terms of acting and writing, because it seems like it'd be very easy for Micro to be unlikable, given he's introduced as someone who's faked his death to his family and bugged their home without them knowing.
Given Ben Grimm's gruff and sometimes abrasive personality can sometimes present similar potential complications, seeing how Ebon Moss-Bachrach makes a character like Micro into a figure who is in many ways the heart of The Punisher season 1 bodes really well for The Fantastic Four: First Steps. In particular, Micro being someone who fits into The Punisher's most brutal moments and scenes just as well as its more light-hearted comedic bantering looks promising for The Thing's MCU characterization, since he's known for his quips as much as his ability to put up a fight.
With the Fantastic Four having such a late debut in the MCU, expectations are certainly high regarding how they will finally make their appearance in the franchise, and in terms of how spot-on the respective depictions of them will be. As such, having an actor who nailed a complicated role like Micro in The Punisher play a central role in The Fantastic Four: First Steps certainly raises my hopes the MCU will manage to have a stellar depiction of one of Marvel's most iconic heroes, and create a cherished cornerstone one of the franchise's biggest teams.
The Punisher
- Release Date
- 2017 - 2019-00-00
- Network
- Disney Channel
- Showrunner
- John Romita Sr.
- Directors
- Mark Goldblatt, Lexi Alexander
- Writers
- Gerry Conway
Cast
- Franchise(s)
- Marvel Cinematic Universe
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