The Punisher: 10 Ways It Saves Netflix's Marvel Universe

4. There's Something To Get Excited About

The Punisher Micro
Netflix

Although you'd be hard-pressed to find a Marvel fan who isn't excited for the next season of Jessica Jones or Daredevil, it's just as true that the buzz surrounding Marvel's Netflix properties has waned in recent months.

This can be attributed, largely, to both Iron Fist and The Defenders, but there's also the fact that the second half of Daredevil Season 2 wasn't overwhelmingly embraced by viewers, with the same case applying to Luke Cage as well. The Punisher suffers no such lull, thankfully, in part because it was slow to open and brilliant in its end, but still, it doesn't adhere to the DNA of those other Netflix shows.

Further to that is fan anticipation of the yet-to-be confirmed second season of The Punisher, which promises to place Russo in a central role (as the disfigured Jigsaw from the comics), further build upon the many Easter Eggs and references the first season made to classic Punisher staples, like the Gnuccis and the Battle Van, and crystallise Steve Lightfoot's hope to see both Kathryn O'Brien and Barracuda somewhere further down the line.

At the very least, there's no denying that another season of The Punisher sounds infinitely more appealing than another Iron Fist.

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Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.