Before stepping inside the Marvel multiverse as, respectively, The Punisher/Frank Castle and Karen Page, Jon Bernthal and Deborah Ann Woll had already seared other illustrious TV characters into our minds: The Walking Dead‘s Shane and True Blood‘s Jessica. Now both are front and center in a trio of high-profile Marvel series:  Daredevil, now in its third season, and the new The Punisher and The Defenders . Jon and Deborah Ann stopped by the HFPA lounge at Comic-Con to talk about the evolution of their characters.

‘Frank (Castle aka The Punisher) is very much in my heart’, Jon told us. ‘He’s a character that I find real empathy for. I’m a father and I’m a husband and I don’t think I’d be able to play this part if I wasn’t that. I think not until you really know what it’s like to find love in this world that goes far greater than yourself and be completely willing to give your life for someone or something can you begin to understand what it would be like to lose that love.’

‘I care about Karen Page the way I care about myself and things that happen to her,’ Deborah Ann offered. ‘One thing that really I love about the part because I had done a series before where I was the superhero, I had strength and I had the special abilities. Karen’s just a regular woman with the powers that most women in this world have. And I like that because while Frank has his brawn and Matt has his special abilities, Karen has to be five steps ahead of you, she’s got to be smarter than you in order to bring you down. And I enjoy that she fights with her brain and with her pen.’