Jon Bernthal reprised his role as Frank Castle in Daredevil: Born Again Season 1, offering Matt Murdock some harsh words of advice before later coming to his aid.
Furious that the Anti-Vigilante Task Force had stolen his symbol, The Punisher took the fight to them, but eventually found himself overwhelmed by their sheer force of numbers. With that, Frank was left among those imprisoned in the Kingpin's makeshift jail.
In a post-credits scene, the anti-hero mounted an escape attempt, and he's nowhere to be seen when Swordsman is found guilty in a mock trial and returned to his cell.
Later, we find out from Matt Murdock and Karen Page that The Punisher is "missing." They don't know where Frank is and believe he's still out there somewhere doing his thing. It's not the most satisfying explanation, and it will be down to the upcoming Special Presentation, The Punisher: One Last Kill, to explain why Frank hasn't been taking the fight to Fisk and the AVTF.
Of course, the former Marine isn't stupid, and even he can't fight back against a seemingly endless army of cops without risking his mission for a one-man war on crime (plus, the AVTF members are ultimately cops, not hardened criminals; and not all of them are as bad as Powell). Plus, a bigger threat to New York than Fisk might have emerged: Ma Gnucci.
With it clear now that we likely won't see The Punisher in Daredevil: Born Again Season 2, The Punisher: One Last Kill will be tasked with doing the heavy lifting this May to bridge the gap between where we last saw Frank in Season 1 and his starring role in this summer's Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
Without Frank to lend a helping hand, Daredevil attacks Fisk's Red Hook compound and manages to free many of those prisoners after teaming up with Swordsman in Daredevil: Born Again's most intense, brutal fight sequence to date.
Were you satisfied with how the Disney+ series explained The Punisher's Season 2 absence?
In Daredevil: Born Again, survival, resistance and redemption collide as the battle for the soul of New York begins. In Season 2, Mayor Wilson Fisk crushes New York City underfoot as he hunts down public enemy number one, the Hell’s Kitchen vigilante known as Daredevil.
But beneath the horned mask, Matt Murdock will try to fight back from the shadows to tear down the Kingpin’s corrupt empire and redeem his home. Resist. Rebel. Rebuild.
Created by Dario Scardapane, Chris Ord and Matt Corman, Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 stars Charlie Cox as the titular masked vigilante (aka Matt Murdock) and Vincent D’Onofrio as Wilson Fisk.
"A brutal, relentless tour-de-force, Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 is a Marvel masterstroke that sees Charlie Cox take the Man Without Fear to unprecedented heights, delivering the definitive take on Daredevil," we said in our 8-episode review published last week.
Daredevil: Born Again is now streaming weekly on Disney+.