It’s hardly the most surprising news to come out of Hell’s Kitchen, but a welcome announcement for Marvel fans nonetheless. Entertainment Weekly reports that Netflix has ordered a spinoff series starring The Punisher, the lethal vigilante who was a featured player in season two of Marvel’s Daredevil.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5_A0Wx0jU4
Jon Bernthal played Frank Castle, a soldier whose family is caught in the crossfire of a mob war and decides to exact vengeance on those crime families, as well as anyone else who breaks the law in Hell’s Kitchen. His willingness to kill brings him into conflict with Daredevil, who wants criminals to face justice under the legal system. But as Castle explains to the masked hero in season two’s episode three, “I hit ’em and they stay down.”
Here is the teaser Netflix posted on social media to accompany the announcement:
The Punisher is back. Locked and loaded.https://t.co/nGKCa2taEV
— Netflix (@netflix) April 29, 2016
As could be expected, Bernthal will reprise the role in this standalone series. He’s the fourth actor to portray The Punisher on screen, following Dolph Lundgren, Thomas Jane and Ray Stevenson, and whether it was because of the material, not having to carry the story on his own, or Bernthal showing a talent for playing unhinged people on the fringes of morality (The Walking Dead, Fury), this was the best version of Castle yet.
The following clip isn’t safe for work, but indicates the darker, homicidal edge that The Punisher was given in Daredevil. There’s no pretense of him being a hero. He’s taking out as many people as he can, and doesn’t care what means are necessary to carry out that mission.
No other cast members have been announced at this early stage, but maybe a few characters from Daredevil and Jessica Jones (Foggy Nelson? Jeri Hogarth? Claire Temple?) will make appearances, considering they all exist in the same Marvel TV/Cinematic Universe.
The original plan was for the four Marvel Netflix shows — the other two being Luke Cage and Iron Fist — to culminate in a fifth team-up series, titled The Defenders. With Luke Cage set to debut in September and Iron Fist presumably being released next spring, the machine is in motion. The showrunners for Daredevil season two, Doug Petrie and Marco Ramirez, will fill the same role for The Defenders.
Steve Lightfoot, who was a writer and executive producer on Hannibal, will be the showrunner for The Punisher. With the opportunity to tell longer, more in-depth stories on a TV show, will a Punisher series accomplish what three previous movies (one of which went straight to video) weren’t able to in creating a lasting, resonating impression of the character?
