After Luke Cage , Iron Fist, The Defenders, Jessica Jones Season 2 and Daredevil Season 3 comes Netflix’s newest Marvel series, The Punisher starring Jon Bernthal. While there’s no official release date set, MCU Exchange reports casting is underway. The site even boasts a copy of an audition script for one of Frank Castle’s most trusted allies: David Linus Lieberman aka Microchip.
The name may sound familiar to Daredevil fans. In the Daredevil Season 2 finale, Frank went back to his old house to grab a CD labeled MICRO. Fans began to speculate it couldn’t be a coincidence the label is Microchip’s nickname.
Micro is an expert hacker--just the man The Punisher needs to find some answers.
Karen uncovered it was a sting op that killed Frank Castle’s family, but knowing The Punisher, he’s going to be out for revenge in his solo series. The Colonel and Frank Castle had a mysterious relationship tracing all the way back to when they served in Afghanistan, but before Frank could get any answers, he put a bullet through The Colonel’s head. While we don’t know for sure at this point, The Colonel is the top contender to be The Blacksmith (the man the government was trying to kill the day Frank’s family was murdered in Central Park). Even if The Colonel wasn’t the Blacksmith, it’s clear that's who he was working for. The Colonel admitted to playing a part in Frank’s family’s slaying as revenge for something that happened when they were both serving in the military.
The night Frank Castle faked his death, he met a man who claimed to be The Blacksmith before he set the ship full of heroin on fire. The whole Central Park incident may have been a sting gone wrong, but what is the government trying to cover up? All of Frank’s war records are wiped and there’s no record of his family being killed -- why do they want The Punisher dead?
Microchip plays an integral role in Castle’s vigilantism by managing his finances, getting him rare weaponry, setting up safehouses and dishing out advice. However, the two have a falling out due to The Punisher’s extreme methods. Will Micro be a friend or foe to Frank Castle in The Punisher ’s premiere season?
The leaked audition script suggests the two will be partners. Putting their old beef aside, Microchip tells Castle, “Look, friend, I know your story, and I know we can make things right again.”
In the comics, The Punisher and Microchip do have a common enemy in Wilson Fisk (aka Kingpin), who killed Micro’s nephew. This time, their common adversary appears to be a man tentatively named “Nicholas Simon.”
“I know that we’re after the same people, or I should say the same people are after us, which means that we are after the same people,” Micro says. “I want your help. I had a wife and kids, a family, and those bastards, they just took it away from me, and you know what that’s like, and I want my life back. As far as I can figure this is the only way to go about it, but I can’t do it alone. I know my limits, and I need your help.”
It will be awhile before any official casting announcements for The Punisher series, however, there’s a chance we’ll see Frank Castle once again in The Defenders before his solo debut.
Read MCU Exchange' s full script here. Do you want to see Microchip in The Punisher series? Sound off in the comments below!
