10 Things Marvel Wants You To Forget About The Punisher
2. His Films (Even The Good Ones)
Lionsgate
Since that new Netflix show will be arriving shortly, it's clear that Marvel aren't all that enthused about rekindling the cult following behind two of the newest Punisher films.
War Zone was actually released under the studio's Marvel Knights banner - a label that was meant to differentiate the company's darker properties with the lighter, more mainstream ones leading the MCU. The film proved to be a critical and commercial flop though, despite the fact it wasn't all that bad, with news of a future reboot stalling until 2015 (when news of an appearance on Daredevil first came to light).
While all of Frank Castle's films have garnered a divisive response from audiences, it's safe to say Marvel are in no rush to bring them back into the spotlight. John Bernthal is killing it on Netflix, and while we could quite easily sit around and debate the merits of Thomas Jane or Ray Stephenson's portrayals of the titular character, it's safe to say that Frank - much for the better - has found his home.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
