For some reason, Marvel have always found the Punisher to be one of their trickiest characters to adapt in live-action, with Dolph Lundgren, Thomas Jane and Ray Stevenson all getting big screen outings as the vigilante that didn’t gain much traction with either audiences of critics. However, it turned out that the small screen was the ideal place for Frank Castle.
Having initially been cast in Daredevil, Jon Bernthal’s take on the troubled military veteran was given his own solo series that ran for two seasons before being canceled along with the rest of Netflix’s Marvel lineup. The general consensus is that The Walking Dead star was the best Punisher we’d seen yet by a country mile, and the actor himself has made it abundantly clear that he’d love to reprise the role in the future.
With the rights set to fall back into the hands of Marvel Studios, there’s been constant speculation that Bernthal could be kept on when the Punisher is eventually rebooted again and absorbed into the MCU, and now a new report claims that the studio are indeed keen for him to return for a new show that wouldn’t be connected to his previous run canonically.
As per the report from tipster Mikey Sutton, Marvel are considering making an adult-orientated Punisher series based on the War Journal comic book run and it could be sent to either FX or Hulu to allow the character to retain his violent tendencies. Which makes sense as Disney Plus isn’t exactly the ideal place for someone like Frank Castle and fans would likely reject a watered-down version anyway.
“There has been chatter about either FX or Hulu for the Punisher to hunt and kill criminals, free from censorship. Regardless of which of the two he ends up, details have begun to emerge on where his future stands,” Sutton says.
“Marvel Studios intends to bring back Bernthal; however, it doesn’t mean the new series will follow the continuity of the Netflix program especially when the multiverse can now explain it away. Or it can they will simply not refer to it [They]would like other adult-oriented heroes to guest including Daredevil and Samuel L. Jackson in his foul-mouthed Fury, [and] the show could be called Punisher War Journal, just as the ’80s comic book.”
All very exciting, no doubt, and while nothing can be officially confirmed as of yet, this isn’t the first time we’ve heard that Bernthal was very much under consideration to return to the fold and play the Punisher again, not to mention the fact that Deadpool 3 makes it increasingly likely that the MCU is finally set to take the plunge and venture into R-rated territory. And how exciting is that?
