The Defenders brought together Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist into a single miniseries, but viewers may wonder why The Punisher wasn't part of the crossover event. Starting with Daredevil season 1 in 2015, the Marvel series on Netflix quickly evolved into one of the richest shared universes in the superhero genre. While the jury is still out on whether The Defenders saga is canon for the MCU, the arrival of all shows on Disney+ has introduced that universe to new audiences and brought back some old questions.

In addition to the four heroes who starred in The Defenders, another Marvel character to receive a show of his own on Netflix was the Punisher. Introduced in Daredevil season 2, Jon Bernthal's version of Frank Castle was extremely well-received by audiences and is considered by many to be the definitive live-action Punisher adaptation. Even so, Frank Castle was not part of The Defenders crossover event and instead would only appear in The Punisher season 1 and 2.

Related: Daredevil & All Marvel Crossovers: Every Character In Multiple Shows

According to one of The Defenders showrunners Marco Ramirez, the reason the Punisher wasn't in the crossover series had to do with "availability”. This answer makes sense considering that The Defenders and The Punisher season 1 were shooting around the same time, with the former coming out a few months before the latter. In addition to behind-the-scenes justification, there are also storyline issues that help explain why the Punisher wasn't in The Defenders. While Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist had all already received solo series that delved into their characters, the Punisher had just been introduced in Daredevil season 2. It wouldn't make much sense to add the character to a major crossover event when the audiences still knew very little about that version of Frank Castle.

Daredevil Season 2 Punisher

Another point to consider is that the Punisher isn’t a great team player. The interaction between him and Daredevil had already been complicated enough to generate all the confrontations seen in Daredevil season 2, and things could have gotten even fuzzier when placing Frank Castle along with three other heroes. None of the Defenders is a classic superhero in the Spider-Man or Iron Man sense, but the Punisher's approach to fighting crime was too extreme even in that darker universe. Another reason the Punisher might not fit in very well into The Defenders is the nature of the threat the group was facing. While it would be interesting to see the Punisher go up against immortal ninjas from The Defenders' Hand, the character is at his best when facing grounded villains and moral dilemmas.

The series in the Daredevil universe have interconnectivity that even the MCU would envy, but The Defenders saga rightly treated the Punisher as a more external element. Frank Castle is a complicated character, and his story doesn't follow the same hero's journey as other Marvel names. That said, it would have been interesting, to say the least, to see the Punisher share the screen with Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist, as well as reunite with his old friend “Red”. Now that the MCU has the option to use all these characters, that possibility may still exist.

Next: Why The Defenders Was So Disappointing

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