Disney and Marvel Studios kicked off 2021 full steam and don't seem to have plans to slow down any time soon. WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki, What If?, Ms. Marvel, and Hawkeye all hit Disney+ this year, plus She-Hulk, Moon Knight, Ironheart, Wakanda, Secret Invasion, Armor Wars, Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, I am Groot and more are set to follow in 2022 and 2023.
With this new streaming-focused release line-up within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the tangentially connected series such as Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Iron Fist, The Punisher, Helstrom, The Defenders, Inhumans, Agent Carter, Runaways, and Cloak and Dagger are officially a thing of the past. However, not only has Kevin Feige proven that he isn't afraid to re-use actors from other "universes" in our own (Alfred Molina, Jamie Foxx, Evan Peters, J.K. Simmons,) but the MCU itself is on the precipice of finally exploring the concept of the multiverse and what it will mean for our current (and potentially past) heroes.
Many fans are hoping to see Charlie Cox reprise the role of Matt Murdock/Daredevil for the upcoming Spider-Man: No Way Home, and although Tom Holland stated that Andrew Garfield and Toby Maguire weren't involved, he chose not to shut down the rumors of Charlie Cox having shot scenes or any other involvement from the Devil of Hell's Kitchen. True or not, the internet has been ablaze with rumors of other heroes we could see a "revival of" from Chloe Bennett's Quake to Jon Bernthal's Punisher.
The latter is precisely what we discussed with stuntman and stunt coordinator Joe Fidler when we recently chatted with him about his involvement in both Netflix seasons. We learned about the behind-the-scenes transition between seasons, which involved the stunt aspect of the show. He talked a lot about how Bernthal made everyone in the crew feel like family by training with them at the gym and taking them out to the bar (though you'll have to listen to the audio interview for that tidbit). Of course, talk turned to the MCU and Bernthal's potential to wear the skull again and his hopes for that to happen.
You can hear Fidler talk about The Punisher, The Suicide Squad, Peacemaker, Army of the Dead, and more below. We touch on John Bernthal and The Punisher around the 2 minute and 30-second mark.
"I worked on both seasons. So the first season, I helped with the pilot getting together some stuff for the stunt coordinator, Tom Williams. And so I worked on the pilot, and then I went out and worked on a couple of episodes for Tom. And then the second season, it was a change of stunt coordinators. So the fight coordinator from the first season was Eric Linden. And he was the one that they tapped to do the second season as the stunt coordinator.
I helped Eric on the second season, and I played some roles on there and then also helped coordinate a few of the episodes for that as well. So by having been part of the first season of Punisher and then working with everybody there and getting to know John, and then working on the second season, you come back together, and it's mostly the same cast and crew, it just becomes more like family.
Any opportunity to work with John would be a great opportunity. Unfortunately, I think that the show's rights might stipulate something that might not make it feasible because now Disney+ and Netflix have split. So I'm not sure how it all works, but if John were to get that opportunity again, I would love it. And I'm sure that we would be right there with him. I think the comic book world and everybody else would be super stoked to have that happen. I think John filled that role better than anybody in the past or anybody could have hoped."
*This interview has been edited for clarity.*
The Punisher is currently available to stream on Netflix.