MCU: How Marvel Should Re-Introduce Every Netflix Hero
"You wanted more?!" Yes, Wong, we in fact did.
So, Netflix have decided that some of the best examples of superhero media no longer belong on their platform, with all of the Marvel shows from Punisher to Jessica Jones having been given the axe not too long ago.
It's certainly a shame from the perspective of fans of those characters, it now seeming as though it will be a good while before any of the Defenders and friends appear in the MCU again. Yet, that does not mean that they will never return, with Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige remaining vague about what will be done with them - creating the possibility that Marvel's street level heroes may reappear on-screen in the future.
Such a possibility does lead to the begging of the question of how each of these characters will re-join the House of Ideas' cinematic universe - due to how each series left their protagonists in vastly different states to the other, the status quo found previously having been well and truly disrupted by the events of the seasons that followed the Defenders limited series.
Despite this, there are still many ways that these heroes could be brought back in, here are a few suggestions...
5. Punisher
The Punisher is in rather a good place to be brought back into the mainline MCU - his decision to remain a vigilante at the end of his show meaning that the two years that Marvel Studios cannot use the character can simply be explained away as him travelling from place to place killing criminals.
Such use of this time period means that Frank would have been able to establish a definite presence in the MCU, allowing for those outside of New York to actually know of him.
So, with all of that set up out the way, how would he actually be brought back in?
Well, over the years, the Punisher has been a part of several super-teams, one of the most notable being the Thunderbolts. This team often consists of villains working for the government (Suicide Squad style) or a group of anti-heroes working in a more of a grey area than the likes of the Avengers.
Due to Frank's distrust for all things government-run, the MCU version would have to go one of two directions: being run by the Winter Soldier or by Norman Osborn. Either way, it would be relatively easy to bring Castle into whichever version Feige and co. went with.
If it were the Bucky option, then the Punisher could be given a soft reintroduction in the Falcon and Winter Soldier series and then the trust created between the duo and Castle could be leveraged to get the vigilante to join Barnes' new team; and if it were the Osborn version, then the fact that Stormin' Norman is an unknown quantity would make it simple to convince the audience that this is someone Frank would trust enough to join up with.