Marvel Fans Get Excited: The Punisher’s Coming Your Way!

Marvel fans, are you ready for some good old walloping badassery?

Well, the saying is “no good deed goes unpunished” but I think in this case, this very good deed shall go very much unpunished by the fanbase.

After months of rumours, fans of the vengeful Frank Castle, a military veteran who unleashed his own unique, bloody brand of justice upon Hell’s Kitchen will be delighted to know that Jon Bernthal will once more step into the shoes of this infamous character with a full Netflix series order of Marvel’s The Punisher.

Jon Bernthal as the hotly anticipated and well-received Punisher in the second season of Daredevil.

Way back in January 2016, TV Line had caught the tiniest glimpse of a possible spin-off when the executive producer of Daredevil said this: “Viewers watching the show will be rooting for this guy with a gun but we’re also going to force people to second-guess themselves. Taking lethal justice into your own hands in America in 2015 is tricky s–t.”

This means it is Netflix’s sixth collaboration with the huge Marvel universe at the moment. With runaway hits such as Jessica Jones (so impressive it garnered a prestigious Peabody Award win), perhaps one of the best surprise television hits of the year, Daredevil and of course Jessica Jones’ spin-off Luke Cage among others, it will be something to ponder: how many more Marvel projects are Netflix planning to take on? With Entertainment Weekly reporting that they have also ordered The Defenders, which will also guest-star—hey, you guessed it—Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle, it’s a messy but awesome mesh of a universe that expands and collides into each other. We’ve gotten a little teaser image for you below…

Whilst tight-lipped in January, the bosses have since spoken out about this exciting development for Netflix and Marvel fans. The executive producer and head of Marvel Television, Mr. Jeph Leob, said: “We want to thank the fans who are clamoring for more of Jon’s stunning and powerful performance as Frank Castle from ‘Marvel’s Daredevil. Now combined with showrunner Steve Lightfoot’s compelling writing, we’re thrilled to bring Marvel’s The Punisher to Netflix.”

And you heard that last snippet right—Hannibal’s executive producer Steve Lightfoot is set to become this exciting spin-off’s showrunner, which was sorely missed after a quality run—and the unfortunate and controversial lack of renewal by its network, NBC. Yet Lightfoot’s work will surely be another draw-in for Marvel fans already hungry for more content from Netflix. Lightfoot’s statement was this: “For me, the complexity and unpredictability of Frank Castle make him an incredibly compelling character and I couldn’t be more excited to dive into his world. After watching Jon’s performance in Marvel’s Daredevil I could not be more excited to be working with him to further develop and progress the story of this anti-hero in a show of his own.”

It comes as a delight but perhaps not a surprise. With Daredevil and Jessica Jones hitting the critical acclaim in all the right places, it was predictably not long before fan-favourite Frank Castle got his own spin-off—and we’ll be excited to see what a raw, powerful, gritty show they’ll create!

For the meantime, let’s not say Netflix don’t ever tease us…