Comic book characters will pop up a few times on this list, and while continuing rights issues is certainly one of the reasons for this. The other reason is because some characters have simply been neglected by the cinema. Frank Castle is certainly one of these. The 1989 film was forgettable, leading to the 2004 reboot. A reasonable amount of time had passed between these films to warrant such a reboot, although in 2008 Punisher: War Zone was released. The four year gap was far too short a period to make this acceptable. What makes this cinematic crime even more egregious is the fact that none of these three films has been well received by critics or cinema goers. With the rights for The Punisher now residing back with Marvel we could see yet another reboot, or perhaps a Netflix show similar to the upcoming Daredevil show. As a character The Punisher is primed for cinematic success, so it is unsurprising that studios have tried so many times to bring the antihero to the big screen. However, the studios should probably have waited a bit longer before releasing War Zone; the four year gap led many to make the understandable mistake of thinking that it was a sequel, explaining some of its failures.
A 21 year old History graduate looking for someone to listen to his ramblings. Lover of comic books, movies and all other superhero related things. Published in The Independent, always looking for interesting things to write about...Follow me on Twitter at @samclements1993, and check out my blog: http://samuelclements.wordpress.com/
