Every Marvel Comic Book Movie Ranked From Worst To Best

35. The Punisher (2004)

Fifteen years after Dolph Lundgren's first turn as The Punisher, Lionsgate went for a more faithful adaptation with the R-rating it needed and a modest budget, which was wisely mostly spent on Thomas Jane, who is pretty good.

Unfortunately, the film he's framed in really isn't as good as he deserves: it's thinly-written, John Travolta's villain is one of the worst concoctions of his career and the tone never acknolwedges the inherent ridiculousness. It could have done with some levity to go with the bullets, even if it has cultivated its own cult appreciation in the years since its release.

It could have been good, but it just wasn't in the right hands.