The Defenders may have released as a truncated, eight-part miniseries back in August, but once the credits rolled on Netflix and Marvel’s long-awaited ensemble, you’d struggle to find any viewer that wasn’t weary of ninjas, the Hand, and talk of the immortal Iron Fist.
Thankfully, both parties are on the verge of launching what is perhaps the perfect tonic: The Punisher solo series. Following his memorable debut in the second season of Daredevil – so memorable, in fact, that Marvel fast-tracked a spinoff – Jon Bernthal’s gruff Frank Castle is expected to pummel his way onto Netflix before the year’s end, and following Tuesday’s info dump, we now have some more clues as to what we can expect.
Turns out a city-wide conspiracy is afoot, and without a Defender in sight – that we know of, mind you – The Punisher will scale back on “every supernatural element.” So don’t go into the Jon Bernthal-led spinoff and expect to hear talk of the Hand and K’un-Lun.
We are stripping down every supernatural element. This show is different. It looks different. Frank is a character rooted in the most basic human emotions … He’s a comic-book character, but he doesn’t fly, he doesn’t have X-ray vision. He’s an unbelievably skilled soldier who’s been very, very angry and very, very hurt. In other words: The Punisher’s story will feature zero ninjas, zero members of the Hand, and definitely zero dragons.
For those of us longing for a more realistic story set within Marvel’s small-screen universe, Bernthal’s comment is music to the ears. Besides, Frank Castle cut his teeth as an impossibly skilled US Marine, one who began his transition to one-man-army after the brutal murder of his wife and children, so there’s really no room for the supernatural in a story that orbits around themes of PTSD and grief. Granted, he’s still a comic book character, so expect Castle to stage a bloodthirsty rampage while on the hunt for justice.
Marvel and Netflix have yet to disclose The Punisher‘s premiere date, but with New York Comic Con right around the corner, we’ll surely catch wind of when to expect the Frank Castle solo series sooner rather than later.