2. The Punisher
2004's The Punisher was a surprisingly entertaining R-rated foray for Marvel, and was itself a reboot of the property after the 1989 Dolph Lundgren-starring version tanked. Negative reviews and a mediocre box office crushed the 2004 version too, despite Thomas Jane giving a fine performance as Frank Castle, and the film boasting a surprisingly sadistic, amusing amount of violence. Still, The Punisher was rebooted for the second time in 2008, with Punisher: War Zone, which regrettably recast Jane with Ray Stevenson, but at least had an R-rating, and admittedly made the most of how ridiculously violent this allowed them to be. The gleefully over-the-top gore aside, the plot was pretty ropey, and it was mainly Dominic West's manic, hammy turn as Jigsaw that kept it pulsing along. Still, it's a property we'd love to see someone have another go at, and why not bring Thomas Jane back? He's easily the best actor to take the role to date, and going by his recent short film Dirty Laundry, he'd be more than up for taking on the role again (he nearly did for War Zone, but didn't like the script and budget cuts). Given how so few comic book properties are this violent and in-your-face, it's not one we're prepared to give up on yet.