Daredevil Season 2: 10 Reasons This Is The Definitive Punisher
9. He's A Supporting Character
Who knew that after three failed big screen adaptions, it would take a secondary role in another heroe's TV show to get the Punisher right?
It takes a lot of guts to take such a popular comic book character and relegate him to a supporting role, but it’s now obvious that this is how you handle such a difficult character.
While the Punisher as a main character works in the short form of the comic books, it becomes problematic when you put him front a center in his own movie. The Thomas Jane Punisher failed because the “vengeful father and husband” story has been seen far too often and nothing new was added.
The Ray Stevenson version, on the other hand, tried to do justice to the character’s brutality, but ended up going over-the-top and making him too sadistic to root for.
The Netflix version found a happy medium between the two. By putting Frank Castle’s dark past as a secondary plot and having his violence viewed through other characters’ eyes, it makes him a sympathetic yet merciless figure. Exactly how the character should be.
All that being said, it’s hard not to want a solo Punisher series.