If circumstances require you to take out a man's wife and children, perhaps double-check that the family patriarch isn't a violent, highly skilled Marine vet with a bad temper. Enter the Punisher, AKA Frank Castle, Marvel's fictional antihero who first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man in 1974. Depicted as an Italian-American vigilante, he employs murder, kidnapping, extortion, torture and more in his campaign against crime. Driven by the deaths of his wife and kids, who were killed by the mob for witnessing a killing, the Punisher wages a one-man war on crime using various weapons. A U.S. Marine vet, Castle is skilled in hand-to-hand combat, guerrilla warfare and marksmanship. He is well known by the infamous skull motif on his chest.
The Punisher's brutal nature and willingness to kill made him an anomaly in mainstream American comic books when he debuted in 1974. In feature films, Dolph Lundgren portrayed the character in the 1989 film The Punisher, as did Thomas Jane in the 2004 film The Punisher, and Ray Stevenson in Punisher: War Zone. Jon Bernthal portrayed the character in the second season of Netflix's Daredevil and the spin-off The Punisher, set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Indeed, Marvel is due to release a new series of comic books centering on the famed antihero. Plus, according to rumors that have already done the rounds and have now been reignited by recent events in the MCU, Bernthal is said to be wanted to the MCU as The Punisher. In the meantime, here's a closer look at the feature films released so far that follow Frank Castle and his punishing antics.
3 The Punisher (1989)
Based on the Marvel comics, Dolph Lundgren (Rocky IV) is Frank Castle, an ex-cop who lives in the sewers and acts as judge, jury and executioner to the city's criminals in retaliation for the unpunished murders of his wife and kids. Frank's ex-partner Jake (Louis Gossett Jr.) finally catches up with the vigilante as he tries to stop the Japanese mob, which is trying to take over the city's mafia operation.
The film changes many details of the character's comic book origin, and the main character doesn't even wear the trademark "skull" shirt. Shot in Sydney, Australia, this low-budget Dolph Lundgren vehicle ignored many of the central components that made the Punisher character compelling. The movie received generally negative reviews upon release, particularly for the special effects, action sequences and acting. Despite the criticism, the 1989 film recently dominated Netflix on the streaming front. Nevertheless, it still makes the bottom of our list in comparison to other Punisher films.
2 Punisher: War Zone (2008)
In this reboot of the franchise that spawned a hit feature film just four years earlier, our fan-favorite ex-military man goes after an entire mob family and gets everyone except enforcer Billy Russoti. He tracks Russoti down and chases him into a vat that is used for crushing bottles, which severely injuries Russoti to the point where plastic surgery leaves his face looking like a jigsaw puzzle.
Despite the uniquely creepy-looking villain here, Punisher: War Zone received mixed reviews overall and bombed at the box office. Its soundtrack, meanwhile, fared well on Billboard's Top Independent Albums chart—one perk that came out of the franchise's third feature film. It was the final Punisher film to be produced by an outside studio before the rights reverted to Marvel Studios.
1 The Punisher (2004)
"This isn't revenge. This is punishment." Frank Castle's whole universe couldn't be better summarized in this epic from from lead actor Thomas Jane in the 2004 hard-R-rated film. Castle had it all: A loving family, a great life, and an adventurous job. But when his life is taken away from him by a ruthless criminal (played by John Travolta) and his associates, Frank becomes reborn.
Despite its mixed reviews, The Punisher grossed $13 million in the U.S. over its opening weekend and reached a total gross of $54 million against a budget of $33 million. It has a 29% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Marvel Comics and Lionsgate began development on a sequel, The Punisher 2, which instead became the 2008 reboot Punisher: War Zone after Jane and Hensleigh left the project due to creative differences. Jane spoke to MovieWeb back in 2004 about playing the antihero.
"It was a lot of fun. I had been looking to do something like this for a while now. I liked the mix of comic book irreverence with the dark and gritty urban reality to it and I wanted a sense of heart and to be on the edge. People have been responding to the emotional edge to the film as while it is violent, they can connect to it on a human level. Frank is not taking out people just to kill them, there is a reason behind what he does as he does not leave a wake of misery and death behind him towards the innocent as he has his own sense of morality."