13 Broken Comic Book Movie Franchises (And How To Fix Them)

8. The Punisher

The Punisher is a baffling property: on the surface the character would appear to have everything required to sustain a well-made and popular franchise, but none of the three versions that have been attempted manage to do the character justice. However, barring the 80s B-movie pleasure inherent in Dolph Lundgren's version, each screen version of Frank Castle does manage to capture something of what makes the Punisher special. Both Jonathan Hensleigh and Lexi Alexander's versions are hamstrung by the obvious studio enforced guideline of avoiding an R or NC17 certification and what we were left with were two softened and sanitised "Almost Punisher" versions, which managed to disappoint hardcore fans and alienate new audiences respectively. All is not lost: with Marvel's Netflix approach there exists a fantastic opportunity to reintegrate the Punisher into the MCU, or alternatively to devolve the character from any connection to the rest of the universe and give him his own film, which would allow for an adaptation in-keeping with adult-oriented later versions such as Garth Ennis' classic run on the title. As Thomas Jane proved with gusto in the fan produced short Dirty Laundry there is life in the character yet, even in a way that rejuvenates a previous cinematic version, which should give Marvel the confidence to try again. The most pertinent factor to emerge from Dirty Laundry was that audiences would respond well to a hard-edged Punisher, which is something comics fans have known since the 1970s, and which hopefully we will see shaping the next iteration of the character.