I have enjoyed plenty of comics featuring The Punisher, but his live action appearances have always fallen short for me. Non of the three attempts have really brought the character from the comics to life effectively in my opinion. That said, I am really looking forward to his appearances on the second season of Netflix' Daredevil series. Not only do I have faith in Marvel after the first excellent season, but the casting of Jon Bernthal in the role is just about perfect. I have a feeling that the fourth time is going to be the charm.
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I wonder if there is any "there" there. The Punisher has always struck me like Bronson's character in Death Wish. He's not fighting crime, or fighting as a crime-fighter in general. He's getting a narrow, specific kind of revenge. So, he's not so much like Spider-Man or Batman. Hopefully, he'll find a niche with Daredevil on Netflix.
Personally, I still prefer the Dolph Lundgren version of the Punisher (from 1989) a lot better than the one who offed John Travolta's crime family.*
*And, no, I don't mean the Scientologists! ;-)
I think this will work, largely because it puts Punisher in the context of a larger universe. The story of one man, out for vengeance, who uses over the top macho toughness and an unending supply or bullets to kill hordes of bad guys has been done to death in movies. Punisher needs something to make him stand out from that crowd.
But Punisher in a world where he's not the only vigilante, and where other costumed heroes have very different ideas about violence and killing. That's interesting, and that's what the character needs.
I remember that the original cover featured Firestorm (the original Ronnie Raymond/Martin Stein fusion) in place of the Punisher. I also remember that in the actual story, Supes did NOT take the high-handed attitude shown on the cover. ^_^
Not long after that issue, Dick Dillin died (may he rest in peace in Raspberry Heaven). Dillin formed my idea of what the JLA was supposed to look like. At least DC found a worthy successor to Dillin in George Perez.
The Punisher was essentially a rip off of Mack Bolan, The Executioner. In the right hands, like Garth Ennis, he can be interesting, but he's not an intrinsically interesting character. Now, I forget who created him, but I'm pretty sure he was originally intended as a one off foe for Spiderman.
And like Matthew says, he's more interesting within the larger universe.
FreeLiverFree said...
"The Punisher was essentially a rip off of Mack Bolan, The Executioner. In the right hands, like Garth Ennis, he can be interesting, but he's not an intrinsically interesting character. Now, I forget who created him, but I'm pretty sure he was originally intended as a one off foe for Spiderman."
but then, Wolverine was originally intended as a one-off foe for the Hulk...
^_^
Chalk up their popularity to a messed-up fascination with anti-heroes in general.
One bit that I find interesting about this crossover is that both character don't wear masks, but for completely different reasons. Superman not wearing a mask can be constructed as per the idea that this is the real man and Clark is the mask (a la Kill Bill) -- which is an idea I'm not on board with -- or the fact that the lack of a mask is an attempt to establish a layer of trust.
The Punisher on the other hand doesn't wear a mask because he has no need to, he has nothing more to lose, no loved ones to safeguard, nothing to protect, and he want his enemies to know that.
On the subject of how well the Punisher fits in any superhero based universe ... I'd say depends. The Marvel universe is sadly limited to a single city most of the time, which makes any kind of cohexistence difficult to market, although the same can be said about having the Avengers and the F4 both in New York and so on. The big issue with a Punisher is that his way of doing things tend to clash with many others. Even for other anti-heroes, like Wolverine, killing was usually option B, but not for the Punisher, for him it's the first and often best option.
This reminds me of the occasion when some JLA members were looking suspiciously at Hitman, and then Superman -- who knew him only as somebody who'd helped Supers himself in one case -- turned up and (to their surprise) gave him a friendly greeting...
^_^
Yeah, I personally can't wait for the new season of Daredevil, especially because I want to see the Punisher and how he'll fit into DD's world. Lots of fighting between the two I'm sure, as DD figures out just what type of hero he wants to be. Can't wait.
Love the cover though. Just wait 'til Captain America finds out about this though;)
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