On three occasions, film studios have tried to successfully transition the Punisher to the silver screen – and three times they have failed. Going from 1989’s The Punisher with Dolph Lundgren to 2004’s Thomas Jane remake and 2008’s Punisher: War Zone with Ray Stevenson, they never have been able to make it work. The most successful out of the bunch was the 2004 The Punisher, but even it failed to come even close to making $100 million.
With all the furvor surrounding the Marvel movie announcements at last year’s San Diego Comic-Con, a question from a fan led Marvel Studios’ head Kevin Feige to reveal that they had regained the rights to Punisher films and “hope to bring him into the fray shortly.”
And that’s a loaded statement.
Moving forward in the storied life of Frank Castle, there’s a wealth of opportunities for him – especially if “the fray” means the shared universe occupied by Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, The Hulk and Nick Fury. Although he’s proven to be a successful solo star in comics, he’s also one of the most potent supporting characters – an adversarial ally to heroes going all the way back to his debut in Amazing Spider-Man #129 and his surprise appearance rescuing Spider-Man in 2006’s Civil War. But assuming that they'd put Frank Castle back in the driver's seat, what could a Marvel-led Punisher movie look like? Let’s give them something to go by.
The Concept:
Throughout his numerous origins both in comics and film, the Punisher’s backstory boils down to a simple thesis – he's a man who was unable to stop his family from being gunned down in front him. He’s been depicted as a Marine, an NYPD detective, and several others things over the years, and in all he’s worked for the government and he knows weapons – but neither can stop his family’s murder. So for retribution, Castle the good guy becomes just as bad as the bad guys – except only to the bad guys. In a twisted way it’s akin to Showtime’s Dexter, except more solidly based in the crime genre. And that’s what a new Punisher flick needs.
Imagine a new film, titled Frank Castle: Punisher, that dwelled not on his origin but on what comes after – when it stops becoming straight-revenge and becomes a career for him. I’m not necessarily saying it should go 30 years into his career like Garth Ennis did at one point, but pushing it out past being a revenge flick and into being about a determined man who will go to any means necessary to take down crime. Although it could take place in Marvel’s shared Movie-verse, I’d keep the ties to that limited – but present. Heroes exist in Frank Castle: Punisher, but they’re far above and out of reach for a street-level character like Frank Castle; just as no one was able to stop the death of his family, so to has Castle’s retribution been brought to their attention … yet.
The Director:
We’ve seen three attempts at a Punisher movie, and all go the route of an action movie — and fail when they become “just” an action movie. Imagine instead a crime movie, done by a noted writer/director like David Mamet. Mamet’s writing has been a rich resource for comics writers from Bendis on down, and he’s gathered an extensive history of crime movies that are smart – without sparing the action; he’s written The Untouchables and Ronin and directed Spartan, Red Belt and several episodes of The Shield and The Unit. Some people might thing Mamet to be a writer too good for Frank Castle: Punisher, but that’s exactly what the hero needs if he’s to become more than just an action star.
The Cast:
This would be a tentpole movie in that it would rely almost exclusively on two things that hold it up — the director and the actor. I'd leave it up to them to work out a story, but here's the man for the job.
Javier Bardem / Frank Castle: Bardem’s currently being courted for main roles in both The Dark Tower and the next James Bond movie, but he could possibly sign up for to be the Punisher for the right script and the right director. He'd be an outside-the-box choice, but he has the acting skills and the action star potential to carve out a new niche for Frank Castle and get people to get over three failed movies beforehand.
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I want to see an old Frank Castle in a future film, preferably played by Mel Gibson, with Chan Wook Park attached to direct. It would get rave reviews, I’m sure.
Can’t we give Thomas Jane another crack! I wanna see him punch a polar bear…
<.<
not that this idea isn’t good but I can wish can’t I?
Liam Neeson.
Taken was essentially ‘The Slavers’ arc from Punisher Max (probably the single best of that entire run) and Neeson kicked ass while still remaining a cold, tragic figure.
Javier Bardem is a great choice. I wasn’t a huge fan of the ’04 remake and even less of a fan of the “War Zone”. Frank Castle, to me, is a grizzled Vietnam vet who has lost his mind. Bardem played that persona to a tee in “No Country For Old Men”. The unapologetic killer. What more can anyone ask? As far as a director goes, I hate to say it but, Quentin Tarantino would be a good fit.
The Punisher hasn’t lost his mind. They’ve repeatedly said that he’s not a psychopath, I think it’s Microchip that once said ‘I know you’re not a psycho killer. If you were, you would have stormed a McDonalds with an Armelite years ago’. Frank Castle can and always has been able to distinguish his potential targets from innocent bystanders, a psychopath only thinks that they can.
Punisher Max Bullseye & Kingpin or actually do the Welcome back Frank arc properly. Not that I saw the other two punisher movies.
Directed by Tony Jaa
Bardem can’t do anything with his thick accent. It wouldn’t be pretty. I guess the obvious replacement would be Jeffrey Dean Morgan, but I think that’s a step back for him.
I personally liked the Thomas Jane movie, but the alcoholism made him too sad-sack. Ray Stevenson still could do it, but I’m guessing he has parted ways with the franchise.
I was actually back and forth on the last Punisher movie, “War Zone”. I loved the casting of Ray Stevenson. I think he embodies the look and feel of Frank Castle almost too perfectly. I liked that parts of the movie went so over the top as to be almost parody, but I also think a lot of that was unintentional.
Javier Bardem would be nice, but since he’s in The Gunslinger now, I doubt that will happen. I think give Ray Stevenson another shot at it. He was underutilized in War Zone and could really kick ass with a competent director and a good script.
On the concept and director, I like the idea of putting him further along in his mission against crime. I think he could positioned as a more brutal Batman. A Batman that uses guns and kills people. Someone who’s past tragedies have put him on this obsessive, single-minded path for justice/revenge that all lines have blurred.
If Joe Wright doesn’t mind doing action again (after Hanna) I’d love to see him do something like this. Otherwise, I think Paul Greengrass needs a job.
Jeffrey Dean Morgan is a smart choice as well.
Javier Bardem. That is so good!
Jeffrey Dean Morgan would be the dream choice, as long as the script is worthy of him.
I think you’d actualy need to push the MU ties to make the Punisher movie something worth seeing. What makes an Ennis-era Punisher movie different from any other gritty-revenge-action drama? Nothing, right? But put Punisher, feet firmly planted, in the Marvel universe, and it should be about a guy with a gun fighting super-powered, costumed yahoos. I’ve never seen that before.
I just saw the korean film “I saw the Devil” and I thought that (with a couple of changes in the storyline) this could have been a good Punisher movie.. A few years ago when torture-porn was all the rage, they should have make a bunch of Punisher films in that direction.
A new Punisher movie should be made by the same people who make all those Jason Statham movies. Transporter. Crank. (But not Jason Statham.) The movie just needs to be an all out action movie, which I’m generally not a fan of, but for the Punisher, it’s the only way to go. I would like to see him in the shared Marvel movie universe. I would like to see how the heroes react to his crime fighting ways. I would like to see a sequel where he fights Captain America and, or, Hawkeye, or something like that.
I also like that the movie would move beyond vengeance and just be a flat out, “I’m going to kill all criminals,” movie. Especially if some of those criminals turn out to be a costumed criminal, like in a sequel or something. Maybe Punisher could go after Shocker. (Just for an example). It’d be interesting to see him fight someone who is more powerful then he’s used to.
As far as who should play Punisher. I don’t know. I think Thomas Jane was okay. Javier Bardem doesn’t work for me, but I don’t hate the idea. I guess I would just go back to Thomas Jane. He didn’t do a bad job. It was the movie that was done bad.
The Transporter movies are made by Luc Besson producing and (insert Luc besson butt-sniffer here) as director.
The problem with a Punisher movie is the same as the problem with most of the book (Excluding Ennis) and why it promptly always fails. The focus is never on Frank. It’s always on the villains or whatever cranked up child molester Frank is draggin along the pavement this week. We get to see the villains doing all their dastardly deeds and we just sit there and think, “Frank is going to reeeallly work you over for that Skippy”. It’s sort of like why X-men 3 sucks. Magneto carries a lot of the movie (all 45 minutes of it). People want to see the hero have a meaningful storyline in which, by the end, he is somewhat changed. Not the villain. Villains should be villains. That’s partly why the Dark Knight works so well.
Frank: Ryan Reynolds, Chris Evans, or Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Director: Christopher Nolan
BOOM.
$200 million opening weekend.
Oh, or Nathan Fillion of course.
But that would probably hurt the opening weekend.
Can we get a script by someone who knows the character? This is a chance for Garth Ennis to break into movies!
He needs to be big, tall, and physically imposing.
I love the comics, but it may not translate that well (for a general audience.)
The previous movies weren’t only action movies, they were bad action movies.
@James696 Frank might not be a psycho but that doesn’t mean he’s sane. He’s not doing this because he thinks it’s right or out of some misguided notion of revenge. Frank is doing this because he’s good at it and it needs to be done in his eyes. He’s not a poster boy for sanity but he’s not a psycho either. There are gray areas. There’s a lot of lines to cross between batman and the joker.
I thought Ray Stevenson was perfectly cast. Good actor, looks the part, could do some interesting things with the role. It’s unfortunate that the rest of the movie wasn’t all that good because he’ll probably never be involved in the role again. I think with the right script and director he could have been awesome as Frank Castle.
there is no excuse for not hitting a grand slam with a punisher movie. Should be the easiest comic book superhero movie to make. Hollywood has made the classic tough guy revenge tale so many times with great success…why can’t they hit this out of the park with this character?
@wallythegreenmonster Because they are morons.
My preference would be Karl Urban (the Russian assassin in the Bourne Supremacy and Bones in the Star Trek re-boot). Although Bardem is a good choice.
Story wise that’s easy…the Punisher Year One mini series from 1994. Not only does it have Frank’s definitive origin but Jigsaw’s as well. It’s a cornerstone piece for this character in my opinion.
I think the Punisher would be best served by an HBO/Starz/etc tv series. Twelve episodes a season. And we should get to see a slow burn of Frank plotting, scheming, disguising himself to work undercover, etc.
Ideally we as the audience should be given no more explanation for Frank’s actions beyond what we see him telling another person or work out for ourselves by observation. That way there’s the constant suspense of guessing how the end game will work itself out.
And as for the villains; I personally vote for the spending a good chunk of time with them. I can totally understand wanted a movie to feature Castle for the bulk of the screen time. But some truly foul villains, and having to see their repulsiveness over multiple weeks, would truly provide some satisfying season finales filled with glorious torturific revenge. While also providing opportunities for sympathetic antagonists to make you feel truly crappy about the Punisher killing them. Getting in some nice shades of grey.
I don’t think they should make a Punisher movie. There is clearly something about the character that doesn’t work on the big screen. While he may feel somewhat unique as part of Marvel’s superhero universe, on screen he is just another badass looking for revenge. Put him in a new Daredevil movie, sure. But I just can’t see a new Punisher movie working.
Of course, by my own logic, Punisher Max should never have worked…
Jane’s punisher was awesome…
Who else:like names so far but the guy from the loser/comedian in watchmen would be nice. The rock??? Chris whatshisname from the last star trek could swing.
Jane’s Punisher confused me, but it also inspired an idea….here it is, wait for it….Adam Baldwin as Frank Castle. SKADOOSH!
I wouldn’t be shocked at all to see someone like Gerard Butler cast as Frank Castle, especially if the movie is just going to be him blowing shit up and killing mother fuckers, though I’d rather see Jeffery Dean Morgan in the role, or if not him then my second choice right now would be Mark Strong, I have a feeling he could pull the Frank Castle character off as well
What’s the problem that some people here have with placing Javier Bardem in the role? At no point has any writer of the character inferred that The Punisher could only have existed as a White American – if anything – his birth name Castiglione means that he should be played by an actor of Latino or Italian descent.
I suppose that would work, but it still doesn’t explain the accent and originally, the character was/is a Vietnam vet.
There was actually a good Punisher film made , it was called Death Wish .
amen.
Sylvester Stallone. He’s the right age, size, ethnicity (remember, Frank changed his last name from Castellone) and the Punisher’s basically an urban Rambo, anyway. Channel a bit of ‘Copland’ and ‘Cobra’ and it’s a done deal. For some extra awesome, Schwartzenegger (or Dolph Lundgren) could cameo as ‘The Russian’. Ray Liotta makes the best ‘Jigsaw’. Or even snag Colin Farrell as ‘Bullsye’ (the only not sucky thing about ‘Daredevil’). The Kingpin can be long-dead. No love interest, no mercy. Could be Stallone’s ‘Unforgiven’/’The Shootist’…
The Punisher TV/cable series – should be a crime show akin to the Sopranos meets Lost where the series focus is on the criminals and Frank Castle is the island – seldom seen and keenly felt.