What first started out as four street heroes defending New York City has since expanded into something else in the Marvel TV universe. The Punisher is the latest addition to the Marvel and Netflix collaboration, and though Frank Castle aka The Punisher didn’t appear in the Defenders miniseries ensemble, he will make his presence known… one bloody victim at a time. Jon Bernthal returns to reprise the title role, which was first introduced to us during the clunky Season 2 of Daredevil. The character was arguably the best thing about that season, even though the role felt more like it was shoehorned.

That being said, The Punisher is out for revenge and to bring justice to the family he lost thanks to a shadowy government organization. It doesn’t matter who Frank Castle has to go through to get that. Even if it means hitting Homeland Security, the CIA, the FBI, and more. Check out the first full trailer for Marvel’s The Punisher here below, which puts Metallica’s “One” to good use.

I’m really hoping the quality of this is a vast improvement over the Daredevil Season 2, the second half of Luke Cage, the entire season of Iron Fist, and the entire Defenders miniseries. The shows ran out of gas pretty quickly and were thinning out their plots by the mid point of their seasons. But since The Defenders, all of them, don’t kill, it should be interesting to see what the Punisher has in store for us. One thing is for sure, the body count is going to be high.

The new show follows two poor attempts to bring the character to life on the big screen, though Lexi Alexander’s effort in 2008’s Punisher: War Zone gave us proof that female directors are just as capable of directing action flicks as the guys. But both films performed way below box office expectations, and the character was never explored again until now.

Obviously the budget for the TV shows isn’t as high as for the films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but Netflix has done an excellent job showing that these characters are fine where they are at. Of course, that hasn’t stopped some from expressing their interest in letting them loose in the MCU. But for what it’s worth, I’m happy to see that these characters have their own demons to deal with. That is especially true for Castle, who will mow anyone down, whether or not he is bruised and bloodied.

Deborah Ann Woll returns as Karen Page. While other Defenders characters have made cameos, Page seems to be the only one with a pivotal role. Newcomers include Ben Barnes, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Amber Rose Revah, Daniel Webber, Jason R. Moore, Paul Schulze, Jaime Ray Newman, and Michael Nathanson.

Netflix has not announced a release date, but the end of the trailer tells us to expect it to be released sometime before the end of the year. Of course, we’ll keep you posted when that time comes.

Trailer

Marvel’s The Punisher | Official Trailer [HD] | Netflix

After exacting revenge on those responsible for the death of his wife and children, Frank Castle uncovers a conspiracy that runs far deeper than New York’s criminal underworld.

[Source: Netflix]