The Punisher’s MCU Return Can Finally Confirm A Winter Soldier Theory
Jon Bernthal's return as The Punisher in the MCU's Daredevil: Born Again could answer whether a Captain America: The Winter Soldier theory involving Frank Castle was always true or not. The Multiverse Saga has been incorporating actors from previous Marvel franchises into the MCU. And just like Patrick Stewart's Professor X and Charlie Cox's Daredevil officially joined the MCU during Phase 4, Jon Bernthal's Frank Castle will make his MCU debut in Phase 5 several years after the release of his Netflix show, The Punisher.
Netflix's Defenders characters had vague connections to the MCU since the beginning, but it's only now that Marvel Studios is confirming their canon status. The MCU's version of Netflix characters such as Daredevil, Wilson Fisk, and The Punisher may be slightly different, but within MCU canon, they have always existed in universe 616 without the need for multiversal explanations. This is what makes it possible for The Punisher to have interacted with other MCU characters in the past, just like Captain America: The Winter Soldier co-director Joe Russo suggested.