Marvel's The Punisher: Ranking Every Major Character From Worst To Best
Rating the weapons in The Punisher's arsenal.
After the total misfire that was Iron Fist and the enjoyable but muddled The Defenders, the pressure was on The Punisher to put Marvel's Netflix subfranchise back on track.
Thankfully, the series - starring Jon Bernthal's ultra-violent vigilante - actually did just that. It had some issues, sure, but, all in all, it was arguably the best of these shows since Jessica Jones season 1, thanks to its terrific central character, strong themes of grief and loss and thrilling, gore-filled action.
Like the best Marvel-Netflix series, another big part of why it worked so well was its cast. These shows are often criticised for being too slow, but the gradual pacing allows the characters room to move and grow. Even a show about a loner like Frank Castle is driven by its great character dynamics. That said, some of the cast didn't shift their weight as much as they could have done.
Counting the adult characters who appeared in over half the episodes (along with one big exception who couldn't be leave out), there were 10 main characters in The Punisher.
10. Bill Rawlins
In contrast to the usually underwhelming villains of the MCU, Marvel's Netflixverse has spoiled us with one amazing adversary after the other. Daredevil had Wilson Fisk, Jessica Jones had Kilgrave, Luke Cage had Cottonmouth, Iron Fist had... Well, let's forget Iron Fist.
Unfortunately, while there is a great villain in The Punisher (more on that later), the big bad of the season is a bit of a let-down. Top CIA boss Bill Rawlins AKA Agent Orange might be at the top of Frank Castle's hitlist but he's a pretty two-dimensional antagonist, especially when compared with the rest of the well-rounded cast.
This isn't any fault of Paul Schulze, though, who does the best with what he is given and plays Rawlins in a suitably detestable and psychotic manner. In many ways, it's a shame that the series decided to rehash the whole 'conspiracy from Frank's past' thing that already took up too much time in Daredevil season 2.
As such, Rawlins suffered as a character by being the face of this plotline.