Fans of Marvel Television's take on the Punisher may see more of the character sooner rather than later -- if a number of theories pan out. Jon Bernthal's take on Frank Castle debuted earlier this year in season two of Netflix's "Daredevil" series, and a solo series starring the skull-wearing vigilante was ordered back in April. But Frank might return before then.

First, New York Comic-Con revealed that "due to his Netflix production schedule," Jon Bernthal will only be at the con on Saturday or Sunday.

Since Bernthal's missing some of NYCC because of his Netflix production schedule, one has to wonder what show he's shooting. "Iron Fist" is shooting right now, and "The Defenders" is the next show up following that. Or will "Punisher" kick off production next month? Details about when his solo series will debut have remained elusive; Netflix's CCO hinted it won't arrive until 2018, while a screengrab from the site teased it's arriving in 2017.

The second rumor comes via a few disparate sources, but teases Punisher's possible involvement on "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." During their recap discussion for this week's "S.H.I.E.L.D." premiere, IGN's Terri Schwartz said that during her screening of the show's season premiere, Marvel TV head Jeph Loeb introduced Robbie Reyes' creator as well as Gerry Conway -- creator of the Punisher (and yep, Conway's Twitter proves was in attendance). Schwartz said that Loeb told the crowd "you will understand later in the season why all these different [creators] are here." While Conway wrote three issues of "Ghost Rider" in the '70s (starring Johnny Blaze -- not Robbie Reyes -- as the Spirit of Vengeance), he's much more known as the co-creator of the Punisher.

These hints come just a little over a week after Marvel animation's Stephen Wacker teased a crossover of some kind coming to Marvel's live-action shows. Could the teased crossover be Punisher on "Iron Fist," "Defenders" or "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D."? We'll have to wait to find out, speculating all the while.

(via ComicBookMovie)