Netflix Orders ‘The Punisher’ Marvel Series

Netflix just announced that The Punisher, an offshoot of Marvil’s Daredevil starring The Walking Dead alum Jon Bernthal, is getting a series order.

The antihero character of The Punisher, a subject of several failed attempts at launching a film franchise around him, was introduced in the second season of Netflix’s Daredevil, which premiered on March 18. The streaming service had been working on the potential spinoff for several months.

The Punisher is Netflix’s sixth Marvel TV series. Following the successful launches of Daredevil and Jessica Jones, production is underway on Luke Cage for a September 20 premiere, with Iron Fist and The Defenders, a crossover miniseries featuring all main characters, also in the works.

First appearing in The Amazing Spider-Man #129, The Punisher is the alter ego of military veteran Frank Castle, who wages a one-man war against crime after his wife and children are killed during a shootout by rival mob outfits. The character’s belief in killing criminals rather than apprehending them frequently puts him at odds with Marvel’s traditional heroes, a theme that is at the center of Daredevil Season 2.

Three The Punisher feature films have been produced – a 1989 DTV pic starring Dolph Lundgren; a 2004 film starring Thomas Jane; and 2008’s R-rated Punisher: War Zone starring Ray Stevenson. At New York Comic Con in October, Bernthal acknowledged the pressure from fans to get it right, calling the Punisher “an iconic character who people care an enormous amount about,” he said. “I know a lot of people really want us to get this right.” As a possible indication of his approach, he discussed how The Punisher resonates strongly with military and law enforcement.

Marvel TV is repped by CAA.

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