It’s fine, I’ll fess up to it…I still haven’t watched an iota of the first season of The Punisher. It has nothing to do with the character, but more in just that I’ve grown so tired of the decompressed approach to superheroes that seems to be the stock in trade of the Netflix take on them, that I can’t muster any enthusiasm for it.

Heck, I didn’t even finish The Defenders and that was the entire point of which all these series were building towards! Shame on me I guess.

Anyhow, I’ve heard mixed things about that first Punisher season, you guys tell me…was it any good?

While I’m waiting for your verdict about whether I should invest a few hours of my life into this, here’s some related news: the second season of the series has added three new players for its cast, including two faces that superhero fans may recognize…

Josh Stewart, who you may recognize from The Dark Knight Rises – he was Bane’s best buddy with the sniper rifle – has signed on to play the character John Pilgrim, described thusly:

a man whose calm exterior belies a ruthless interior. Despite having left behind a life of violence, circumstances will force him to use his old skills and bring him into Frank Castle’s world

While Floriana Lima, last seen as Maggie Sawyer on Supergirl, in on board to play Krista Dumont, a “smart, compassionate, driven, psychotherapist for military veterans”.

And to round things up, Scream‘s Giorgia Whigham joins as Amy Bendix, the “the street-smart grifter with a mysterious past” of the new crew.

Of the three, and I could be wrong about this, but I think Amy Bendix is the only pre-existing Marvel character – having originated in an issue of Punisher: War Zone by Larry Hama and John Buscema.

Marvel Television also announced that Ben Barnes will be returning as Billy Russo, the soon to be Jigsaw, along with the ongoing cast including Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle, Amber Rose Revah as Dinah Madani, and Jason R. Moore as Curtis Hoyle.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

6 COMMENTS

  1. Awesome to hear that Barnes will be back (and thus that the Jigsaw storyline will continue). Likewise, I’m glad to see that the description of Lima’s character suggests that the focus on the reintegration of veterans will continue to be a major theme.

    This was the best of the Marvel Netflix series since the original Daredevil (although season two of Daredevil gets partial credit for its really good initial Punisher plotline). I’m already really looking forward to season two.

  2. I’m a little more than halfway through Punisher S01, and I have to say that the show surprised me. It’s not on the level of the first Daredevil season, but I still want to see the next episode when the one I just watched is finished. The show isn’t that much about Punisher as you would expect or his crusade.It is also about the treatment of veterans, people from Middle East-heritage in the US and people who go through huge psychological traumas.

    It certainly is nothing like the last attempt they did on a Punisher movie, and certainly very little like the Punisher series by Garth Ennis (so far). It’s a bit hard to explain. Also nice to see some of the characters from Marvel’s other TV shows popping up, even though I have to admit that I don’t understand why Karen and Punisher are so lovey-dovey towards each other.

    As for Defenders… apart from the ultra boring Luke Cage, that is just the worst show thus far.

  3. I thought the Punisher series is by far Netflix’s best constructed Marvel show, in particular in terms of pacing, pretty successfully avoiding the bloat that’s present in all of them since they insist in on 13 episodes each. It’s handled the character a better than expected, and vigilantism about as best as you can expect. Taking it “seriously” though, means taking it as a villain’s origin story.

  5. It’s going to be ages before I see Punisher S1, on dvd. I heard in a review that they were working a PTSD angle, and yet in DD S2, Frank was refusing a PTSD defence (for which I am grateful, and thank-you Verheiden for excellent Punisher story). Really hope they didn’t cop out and work their way back to a PTSD rationale in S1. I just like Ennis’ Born and Welcome Back Frank way too much to accept big deviations (little details ate really important with Frank

  6. Very unhappy to hear that Agent Madani is coming back. She was equally the weakest part of season one.

    I hope they abandon the season long story arc concept and go for more single episode stories where Frank and Micro find out about a gang or crime going down, and Frank travels to the site of the crime and slaughters the bad guys.

    Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

    Season one was sooo disapointing. It took 10 episodes for Frank to go “Full Punisher” and even then the gore wasn’t what it should have been.

Comments are closed.