5 Heroes Marvel Saved By Getting The Movie Rights Back

Marvel's Daredevil on Netflix didn't just allow for the titular character to return to prominence, but also did so for another iconic Marvel character. Season 2 of the show, released in 2016, introduced us to Marvel's own iteration of The Punisher, played by Jon Bernthal. Bernthal has already come to be accepted by the fans as the definitive on-screen version of Frank Castle and for good reasons.

Not only is his version of the character as wonderfully violent and unabashedly relentless as the Punisher should be, but he also didn't exactly have a high bar to jump over. The 1989 Punisher film was met with mixed-to-negative reviews upon its release and hasn't exactly aged terribly well.

Then, the 2005 version, while an underrated interpretation of the character, still had its faults and was rejected by many fans, in addition to being absolutely mauled by critics. As a result, the Punisher was yet another Marvel property that was left up a creek as far as live-action media goes.

It wasn't until Marvel re-acquired the character that they were able to turn him into something universally beloved by their television fans. Frank Castle became one of the major talking points in Daredevil in short order and demand for Marvel's most infamous anti-hero has arguably never been higher.

And considering that he now has his own show in the works set to be released later this year, it appears that the love for the character will only grow.