As soon as it was announced that Marvel Studios had pulled Armor Wars from the Disney Plus schedule to refit the project into a feature film, the wheels of speculation instantly began turning.
After all, it would be a tall order to imagine Robert Downey Jr. returning for a TV series, but a movie? Well, that’s an entirely different proposition altogether. It’s all just rumor and hearsay at this stage, and fans may be better off not getting their hopes up for a Tony Stark return – especially when star Don Cheadle is long overdue a stint in the spotlight for a change.
However, it isn’t the genius billionaire playboy philanthropist that’s been stirring up debate among Armor Wars admirers on social media, but Jon Bernthal’s Punisher. With Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio back in the canonical fold, everyone’s expecting the actor’s Frank Castle to be the latest to make the jump from Netflix to the MCU.
That being said, the prospect of him arriving in comic-accurate form by showing up in Armor Wars in a weaponized Stark Industries suit isn’t something the majority have much interest in seeing. Or at least, that appears to be the case judging by the Twitter discourse.
The Punisher generally doesn’t work in a PG-13 environment because his unflinching commitment to violence is such a key part of the character, and based on the skepticism that greeted the buildup to Cox’s arrival in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, could you imagine what would happen online were Bernthal announced to be making his own hotly-anticipated comeback in Armor Wars?