Marvel's The Punisher: 10 Reasons To Be Excited

10. Taking Inspiration From Punisher Max

Ask any Punisher fan and they'll tell you that the best (modern) run on the character came with the involvement of Garth Ennis and the late Steve Dillon, who combined to create Punisher: Max in the early 2000s.

The series, although temperamentally linked to mainstream Marvel continuity, went to great lengths to fundamentally dissect the psychology behind the character. It was twisted - certainly - but beneath the grim veneer lies a really interesting character study of Marvel's most misunderstood vigilante. The stuff Ennis did during the 'Born' storyline in particular made for tragic reading, as it uncovers an uncomfortable truth regarding the character's violent nature.

In Born, we really get to see Castle's military service during the Vietnam War. His platoon is overrun by the Viet Cong and, miraculously, he emerges as the sole survivor. The event is billed as being wholly transformative for the character, as he makes an ethereal deal with the devil to emerge from the massacre with his life intact.

The brief teaser we saw last week (dissected by yours truly), showed a great deal of Frank's army days, with Vietnam having been substituted for Afghanistan. One particular sequence showed Castle with his back literally against the wall, taking on an equally literal OPFOR with nothing but a shotgun to his name.

Could we be getting Born on the small screen? Only time will tell.