Marvel Comics’ Punisher may be headed to television – and not at ABC.
Deadline.com just reported that FOX has put in a “put pilot commitment” to a TV series about The Punisher from longtime Criminal Minds showrunner Ed Bernero.
The Deadline report describes the project with Frank Castle being “a rising star detective with the NYC Police Department who moonlights as the vigilante Punisher seeking justice for those the system has failed.” Hopefully this is not the official series logline, as the Punisher is actually a former soldier who becomes a vigilante after his family is gunned down.
The Punisher first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #129 nearly 40 years ago. Originally a villain who’d appear only sporadically, he rose to popularity with a five-issue comic book miniseries in 1985. This led to a time when he headlined multiple monthly comic series. Currently, he stars in two ongoing comic series at Marvel – the recently relaunched Punisher series, written by Greg Rucka; and Jason Aaron’s Punisher MAX for more mature audiences.
The Punisher has also been adapted to movie form three times with varying success. The first film starred Dolph Lundgren in the title role and is largely forgotten. The 2000’s brought The Punisher starring Thomas Jane in the title role, and later, Punisher War Zone starred Ray Stevenson as Frank Castle.
This is definitely a Marvel comic that would work better for TV than for movies – maybe even a modern day Equalizer or Wiseguy type of show, if done right. There could be concerns with how violent a show could get on broadcast TV, but remember, both of the shows that were just mentioned aired on broadcast.
6 Comments
So, what makes Fox think a TV series about The Punisher will be better than the horrible movie version?
i am just praying and hopping that the tv version will get it right and maybe help the fan to forget about the horrible movie version. the writer didn’t do their homework about the punishers. the villain was preditable. the punisher was more like a robot in it. i would like to know about the heroes background.good luck to the future. your truly charles david haskell
Only will watch if Tom Welling plays The Punisher.
Tom would have to learn how to appropriately play angry before I’d come even close to believing him as The Punisher. Plus, he’s already played a comic book character… I know Chris Evans, Justin Hartley, and Adrianne Palicki have played multiples too, but more times than not, I’d prefer for someone to play just one.
No one has yet stated that the article is wrong. “Hopefully this is not the official series logline, as the Punisher is actually a former cop who becomes a vigilante after his family is gunned down.” Umm…no, The Punisher is NOT a former cop who becomes a vigilante after his family is gunned down. That was only in the movie. In the comics he’s a former SOLDIER.
It was a typo :-( If you read the context of the line, obviously I knew “being a former cop” was wrong… I just wrote the article in a hurry, apparently, and put “cop” where “soldier” should be.
Been reading Punisher comics since issue #27 of the first series… it would be kind of sad if I didn’t know what was up there.