Fans are convinced Jon Bernthal may have just spoiled another MCU hero’s return in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. It’s hard to believe the Marvel Netflix heroes have gone mainstream for the MCU; back in the day, Marvel Studios went out of the way to avoid any reference to the more brutal, R-rated TV shows. Now, though, Jon Bernthal is coming to Spider-Man‘s world, and fans are convinced his Punisher may not be the only one.
Speaking to Noovie, Bernthal casually mentioned a scene where Frank Castle is apparently watching over Peter Parker in hospital. Given Peter will find it pretty hard to get medical insurance (the world doesn’t believe he exists), fans are speculating this means he’ll wind up needing help from an established Marvel Netflix character: Rosario Dawson’s Claire Temple.
Jon Bernthal may have alluded to Rosario Dawson's rumored return as Claire Temple in SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY:
"I just did ADR, and I got the scene of [Frank] waking up when [Peter is] in the hospital." pic.twitter.com/lsYwz52GW8
Oddly enough, Marvel has been dropping hints about Claire Temple’s potential return for quite some time. Hailing from the comics, where she was one of several characters known as the Night Nurse, Claire Temple was the glue that held the Marvel Netflix world together; in functional terms, she was their Nick Fury. Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 alluded to Claire Temple in its first episode, with mention of Metro-General – the hospital where she worked. Many viewers assumed Claire would make her post-Netflix debut, but she never turned up.
In the comics, Night Nurse was the only one who’d treat vigilantes and superheroes. She provided healthcare for some of the more dramatic situations; the Night Nurse could wind up dealing with everything from standard injuries to supernatural possession. On occasion, she’d team up with the likes of Doctor Strange to help deal with specific crises – explaining why Doctor Strange adapted one of the Night Nurses, using her as Strange’s love interest. It would make sense for Night Nurse to be helping Spider-Man, simply because she respects the anonymity of superheroes and vigilantes.
At the same time, though, I can’t help feeling this particular interpretation of Bernthal’s words is something of a stretch. Fans are jumping from the idea of a hospital scene to an apparently inevitable Claire Temple return, when there’s just as much a basis for suggesting Doctor Strange will cameo. Instead, a more likely explanation is that this is a normal medic, Peter Parker has figured out how to get around the American healthcare system, or Bruce Banner has helped get Spider-Man treated.
That said, if Claire does return in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, I’ll be delighted. My suspicion, though, is that she’ll be saved instead for the Defenders reunion story of Daredevil: Born Again Season 3. We already have so many Marvel Netflix characters turning up, and it would be great to see Claire again; it would also be much more interesting to see how she handles the new status quo, given her ex Luke Cage is now married to Jessica Jones. There’s a much more interesting story to tell there for Claire, frankly.
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