Age: 49
male
Jonathan Edward Bernthal (/ˈbɜːrnθɔːl/; born September 20, 1976) is an American actor. He came to prominence for portraying Shane Walsh on the AMC horror drama series The Walking Dead (2010–2012; 2018), where he was a starring cast member in the first two seasons. Bernthal achieved further recognition as Frank Castle/The Punisher in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, appearing in the second season of Daredevil (2016), the spin-off series The Punisher (2017–2019), and the revival series Daredevil: Born Again (2025–present), and Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026). For his recurring guest role as restaurant owner Michael Berzatto in the series The Bear (2022–present), he won a Primetime Emmy Award. His film roles include Snitch (2013), The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), Fury (2014), Sicario (2015), The Accountant (2016), Baby Driver (2017), Wind River (2017), Widows (2018), Ford v Ferrari (2019), King Richard, The Many Saints of Newark (both 2021), Origin (2023), and The Accountant 2 (2025). Description above from the Wikipedia article Jon Bernthal, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Let's not beat around the bush here, The DC Extended Universe hasn't exactly had the best history, nor is it in the best shape as of now by any stretch of the imagination. However, with it now being under management in the form of James Gunn, if all things go according to plan, the future should hopefully look a lot brighter for DC on film. With Gunn effectively wiping the slate clean for the DC Comics film franchise with all future installments, I figured now's as good a time as any to present what I would want DC on screen to look like if I were placed at the helm. So if it were up to me, here's who I'd pick to play the respective characters of the new and improved DC Extended Universe
