Here We Go Again: FOX Orders ‘The Punisher’ Pilot

They tried in 1989 with Dolph Lundgren.

They tried again in 2004 with the King of Comic-Con, Thomas Jane.

They tried a third time in 2008 with Ray Stevenson.

Well, if Frank Castle can’t make it in pictures they might as well give television a try!

Deadline announced today that FOX has ordered a Punisher pilot from Criminal Minds creator Ed Bernero. It’s a put pilot order which means that there are substantial financial penalties for the network if the show doesn’t make it to air. This, of course , does not mean we’ll actually see the show–The CW ordered a put pilot of The Graysons in 2008 that was never made–but it’s now slightly more likely to air than your average pilot order.

According to the article, this would be a slightly different version of The Punisher than comic fans re used to. In this show Frank Castle is a NYPD detective who spends his off-time as The Punisher, writing wrongs when the justice system fails.

Sounds kind of similar to Dark Justice. (Yes, I watched it.)

One things’ for sure, Jeph Loeb’s Marvel TV division is very busy.

Comments

  1. I wish we could just follow the comic we are in a war in the middle east thats the only change you need but as a huge fan of criminal minds im down for it.

  2. NOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!! Don’t change the Punisher!!!! NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

  3. Can he please have a trash-talkin’, street-wise, break dancing partner?

  4. So basically… Dexter?

  5. Will it be as violent as S.W.A.T? (which was cancelled due to violence)
    And will the Punisher have a cool theme like S.W.A.T.?
    P.S. I hope TV Frank Castle is still a former Marine.

  6. I for one.. would like to see a punisher on film who actually used strategy in order to gun criminals down. As opposed to stuff like….”dropping through a ceiling and relying on a twirling cable and surprise to gun down 20 dudes that are now 10 feet from him”…I mean what ever happend to the punisher that shoots dudes from building tops..where hes safe from harm.
    The Punisher is somewhat believable if: 1. He remains anonymous 2. He shoots people from afar 3. Takes time to plan his potentially suicidal shyte. …Going slightly off topic… I once listened to an interview of a navy seal who did combat in vietnam, He said that all this hand to hand combat shyte is ridiculous.. He said If your special forces and you get into hand to hand combat you fucked up, and you and your team may pay the consequences. My point being.. he was saying we killed people from afar..quietly.. That is the one and only plan. The guy actually laughed when he was asked about beating people up.. “thats what the firearm is for”.

    • I think Frank gets in close for two reasons – 1. it’s more brutal. 2. it makes for a more exciting comic if there is the risk that Frank will get hurt or beaten this time…. which sort of ties back into number 1.

      Either way, sounds like a cool interview.

    • Ya.. im not saying hand to hand combat shouldnt be used. Im just saying especially for this character over 40 if he puts himself in harms way hes going to end up dead this time or the next time. Keeping Frank away during the fire fights makes for a more realistic comic and show. Did you see the movie sniper.. thats a great movie.. very exciting .. and he kills at a much larger distance than frank normaly does… And i think theres a good chance hes going to get hurt even if hes shooting from afar. Maybe they could save close combat for when the mob comes after him.. instead of the other way around.
      Having said all that …. normaly the comics get it right… but the movies have been a bit silly.
      I like close combat.. i just prefer if someone.. like.. deadpool was the one engaging in it.
      Regardless of what they do with the show.. i wish it luck.

    • Yeah. so…. you used a real-world analogy to compare to a fictional story/comic?

      ok.

      Glad you don’t write comics.

      Hypotherical first issue of a new Punisher series written by iRobert007’s:
      30 pages of Frank sitting in a tree waiting… last 2 pages of him getting a sniper shot. Well worth my $4.
      Not really.

      You know what I don’t like? How they draw capes flapping in the wind when the supes fly from the ground to the moon… I mean COME ON, that’s SOOOOOOOO unrealistic.

    • Ya you didnt read my second post did you.
      Did you hear how Nolan and Bale describe the last 2 Batman movies. They wanted a realistic approach. What ?…you dont want a realistic approach from a guy with zero superpowers?
      I said the punisher comic normaly gets it right. You didnt read my posts. 30 pages of siting in a tree eh? He cant do surveillance ? or recon? for part of those 30 pages. If Frank got in a fist fight with multiple gangsters in every episode and didnt get killed.. eventually you wouldnt care about the fist fights cause you would know frank wasnt in any danger and that would be boring and poor writing as well. So should i assume thats what you want in every episode.. like you assume what i want?
      Capes.. moons… Im pretty sure i typed the words i want deadpool in hand to hand combat.. so your off base again…

  7. Wait … Dolph Lundgren starred in a feature film as the Punisher?

  8. If they are doing this, the might as well change it it “Lady Punisher”.

  9. I love the idea of Punisher as a TV show, however I’d rather they not change anything & use Jason Aarons Punisher MAX series as the template for the series. They should probably also put the show on FX, that way they can get away with a bit more.

  10. Dear Fox and Marvel,
    This is a terrible idea.
    Thanks,
    Bye!

  11. ugh, horrible idea. It would WAY better as an FX show. Put some of the guys from the Shield and Sons of Anarchy on it and it’d be amazing.

  12. I love the punisher but i dont think i would watch this. Maybe i would if they were not going to making him a cop by day vigilante by night. That just seems like it has been done before.

    • Yeah it’s being done on Dexter and on a channel that doesn’t pull punches.

      On Fox though it’;; have all its teeth pulled and turn off the in-built fanboys by changing him to much from the source.

      Like shooting a horse before the gate opens and expecting it to win.

  13. Is it possible that this could be on FX??? If so, I just went from 6 to midnight!!

  14. I first read it as “writing songs when the justice system fails”……i could see a singer/songwriter punisher. haha. A vigillante rogue cop TV series huh?…each week a new score to settle. I dunno could be good…if they channel some Shield and other FX genre hits.

    BTW, i just listened to the “how did this get made” podcast interviewing the director of “Warzone” talking about the political nightmare and micromanaging of the film…it was very interesting…kinda felt bad for her.

  15. I’ve never read the Punisher, but I’ve always thought it’d make a better TV show than a movie.

  16. This is definitely a character better suited for television. While the changes kinda suck, they also kinda make sense. They’re not marketing the TV show to us, but to everyone else. We may not watch a Punisher that’s still a cop that moonlights as the Punisher, but other people might find it interesting and want to watch it.

  17. Another case of Hollywood thinking they know better than what is in the original source material. Bold prediction: this will fail miserably. The Punisher is predicated on the fact that Castle PUNISHES people. No mercy.

  18. Well considering Fox fucks up almost every good show ever shown on their network ( Furturama, Firefly) I have not faith in this show if it will be on Fox.

  19. I’ll pass on this one, seeing as it’s FOX. It might make it to air, but will be certainly cancelled a few episodes in.

  20. Shouldn’t FOX get some credit for at least trying genre shows?

    If a show get cancelled isn’t that more on people not watching the shows than the network? It’s not like Fox is waiting to get you excited for a show to then screw you by scrapping it.

  21. It is the networks fault when the show is shown out of order and when the show is shown immediately after football which means that most weeks the show was pre-empted by Footbal. Fox showed Firefly out of order and I believe it was on right after football and I know that Futurama was shown on sundays at 7:30 I believe. So in the case of both of those shows it was Fox’s fault and not the fans.

  22. Fox. Sheesh, they can’t take a crap right, what makes anyone thing they could make this show properly? After treating Josh Wheedon like a domestic abuse victim by screwing up Firefly and Dollhouse, bailing on Locke and Key, and cancelling like 5 shows this season, they should just stick to reality crap. I still haven’t forgiven them for Space: Above and Beyond. This show sounds like it will go the way of Birds of Prey.

  23. AGGGGGHHHHH!!!!

    Why!? Why can’t you just steal from Garth Ennis (or fuck, let it be Jason Aaron at this point) and use the actual comics he wrote for a basis of anything Punisher!? It’s not that hard! I don’t even mind if he isn’t a Vietnam Vet because logistically it wouldn’t work in a TV show. But to make him still a cop killing criminals…What makes that different from The Shield?

    Stupid…Don’t get me wrong, I’ll give it a shot. But that change in character makes no sense.

  24. I think I’m the only person in the world who actually liked the movie Punisher: War Zone, and I liked Ray Stevenson as the Punisher as well.