PC POST #378: -OPINION- THE PUNISHER TRAILER + Details

It took me awhile to write this article but finally let's start to talk a bit in about the newest Punisher trailer who got us all pumped up!

Check it out below!

After seeing the trailer this is nothing like we have ever seen before. It's emotionally intense and with an amazing action that makes the viewers stuck to the screen. To add to this amazing equation Netflix decided to call upon nostalgia and give to the trailer soundtrack "One" by Metallica.

This trailer does give to every viewer the direction Netflix/Marvel wants for the character and they were pretty convincing, also gives us some sort of plot keys to what's going to happen, Frank Castle is being hunted by Homeland, FBI, etc..

There have been some myths that were built around this trailer and some controversy. Based in MY OPINION i will try to clear that out.

Maria Castle wasn't killed in the bedroom with Frank

Like it was mentioned in Daredevil season 2, Castle's family were killed in Central Park during a meet with three gangs, the Mexican Cartel, the Irish and Dogs of Hell. This meeting was set up by Blacksmith. But looks like it didn't end here, Blacksmith was just the guy who arranged the meeting. This particular image is a dream sequence that turns out to be a nightmare for Frank.

Who/What is Zubair?

"Zubair" seems to be a vital element for everything that went "wrong" with this covert operation that Frank Castle was part of.

So what is/who Zubair? Zubair is the guy who's being tortured in the video that Frank is watching.

We don't know yet who he is but a few days ago one of the official accounts from the Punisher series leaked this image.

Rawlins

Rawlins is a Punisher comic book character and was also a CIA operator. In this portrayal, he is more than just a single operator he is the man in charge of CIA.
We don't know yet what went wrong in that covert operation I mentioned above but Rawlins and Frank shared a past together back in the day.
In the first trailer was shown both characters fighting and we saw Rawlins with a serious injured in the eye.

Aside from being the head of CIA and want to take out Frank for something that happened in the past, I believe we will be seeing some sort of grudge about Frank that will make it personal for that injury.

Micro

Micro, another character that belongs to the Punisher comics, created by Mike Baron. This take seems to be a little different from the comics. From what I have seen in the trailer both characters have a common goal, getting rid of the guys who are after Frank and probably him too.

It's still a clue why he will be joining Frank, Micro doesn't seem to have a son but he has a wife, maybe something bad will happen to her...

FBI, Homeland & CIA

There's been a lot of people saying that the government is after Frank. Well, it's not the government. It's a guy who has a grudge against Frank who runs the CIA and he sees him as a loose end he should have died when his family was killed. 

FBI and Homeland Security because he's a fugitive. In case you forgot he escaped from prison in Daredevil season 2. He's a wanted man.

Not to mention those mercs from ANVIL, the military private corporation that is owned by Billy Russo that was probably contracted to get rid of Frank. 

So basically it's the Punisher vs the World.

There's still no official release date for this series but more and more I'm thinking that they will release all the episodes by surprise.

Posted by Ivo Santos ( FB / Twitter)

PC POST #377: New Marvel's the Punisher promo and some thoughts about the soldiers who are hunting down Frank.

Another promo is out and this one is bloody and violent. It's 30 seconds of pure mayhem when we see Frank in the hoods killing some soldiers one by one.

It was amazing how they developed these specific fighting scenes when we see Frank Castle pull off some amazing guerrilla warfare techniques to beat those soldiers to the ground permanently. While seeing Frank Castle in this specific situation it gave me some sort of nostalgia from the classic film "FIRST BLOOD" ( Rambo I).

Check out the teaser:

Here is the question who are these soldiers? Well, one thing is almost certain, these are not soldiers from the government. These soldiers are from some sort of private military company and they might belong to Anvil Corporation that was founded and headed by Billy Russo.

On the other side, these soldiers seem to have the same gear as we see Frank using in this picture.

"I'm coming for you." These are the words from Frank Castle in this short teaser but to who he is talking about? Rawlins or Russo? Or both?

Despite that, we don't have a release date. I guess we will find out to whom Frank was threatening somewhere in the upcoming months.

Ivo Santos [FB/Twitter]

PC POST #375: New images and teaser from Marvel's the Punisher

A few days ago new stills were released by Netflix from Marvel's the Punisher. Also, a new logo and teaser were released too. During the teaser we see a lot of redacted words it appears a mysterious mission called "Cerberus".

As far as I know, there is no relation to anything ever mentioned in the comics. Sadly we don't have the official release date.

Check out the teaser:

And check out the images released by Netflix:

It's impossible not to notice that we got two images with Frank and Karen together. I believe she will be an important character in the series, not just an appearance. 

And once again we see Frank in a military outfit, which leads us to how important and influential Frank's past will be during this series.

Ivo Santos ( FB / Twitter )

PC POST #347: New images of Jon Bernthal as the Punisher fully geared up!

The wait is over for those who were expecting to see Jon Bernthal all geared up as the Punisher and of course seeing the skull.

Looks like that Frank got rid of the old trench coat which is great.

Doing his own homemade "skull" seems the right choice for someone like Frank who lives "off the grid".

I'm very excited for this upcoming series and i'm going to risk that this could be one of the most expected Marvel/Netflix series.

These photos can be seen in the original source in Getty Images.

-Ivo Santos (@ivomgs)

PC POST #321: Jon Bernthal photos on set for Marvel's Punisher... and the beard!

The Punisher's appearance in Marvel's Daredevil was a huge success. And Netflix/Marvel knew this answered to the fans with the confirmation of a solo series exclusively for the Punisher, with Steve Lightfoot as Executive Producer.

The series doesn't have a release date yet but the executives assured the fans that this would be released in 2018. Despite the rumors of the Netflix "gaffe" that pushed back this series for 2017.

Yesterday we had some developments about Marvel's Punisher. Just Jared shared some photos on set in Brooklyn featuring Jon Bernthal with a beard, jacket and a hoodie.

For some Punisher purists, Frank's beard might not look too good. 

Without speculating too much is that this might portray some hard times of Frank Castle after Daredevil season 2, he is a fugitive and well known by the public, this can be some sort of "disguised".

I can think that this might be a temporary "look" or it can portray the Punisher from Greg Rucka and Marco Chechetto's run.

The hair and beard look really similar to this.

There is another option. This looks to be a very early stages of the production it might be some prep work for the role, Jon Bernthal has posted images of a film he is doing right now exactly with this look.

New film. Coming soon. Big love y'all. pic.twitter.com/sWgTcDLdOT

— Jon Bernthal (@jonnybernthal) 16 de setembro de 2016

There are a few possibilities about this new look of Jon Bernthal, for now we can just speculate about it.

Ivo Santos | @ivomgs

PC POST #310: Marvel's Punisher catch up news!

In the past several weeks there have been some news related to the upcoming Punisher series produced by Netflix/Marvel.

For many this isn't exactly "news" but it's a way to catch up with everything.

This screen grab wasn't officially confirmed by Netflix at this moment and despite the initial reports stated that Marvel's Punisher wouldn't come out until 2018.

But the fact is, no matter if this a rumor or even a mistake the fact is Netflix only posts these landing pages when the shows is about year out.

If Netflix is going to follow this pattern we will sure the Marvel's Punisher in 2017.

Current landing page on Netflix app.

Of course there are some aspects that can hold back that certainty. The schedule. 

Next year, we will have Iron Fist and Defenders. If Netflix will continue with the usual half year gap between series will clearly difficult the release the Punisher series unless they cut the episodes of Defenders or speed up the production of Marvel's Punisher.

We should to keep our feet on the ground, the landing page might be a positive sign that we will have the Punisher series sooner than we think.

There has been some news about the casting of "Micro". David Linus "Microchip" Lieberman also known in the Marvel Universe as Micro or Microchip. 
We don't know yet who will be the actor to represent this role. What we know is that the studio who will produce Marvel's Punisher is looking for someone for the role.
Microchip first appeared in the first Punisher ongoing series (1987) and it was created by Mike Baron.

Microchip is the Punisher's personal hacker and creator of gadgets. He also was many times the only link to mankind that Frank ever had. He is a faithful sidekick who suffered similar fate as Frank. His son was killed by criminals while both were working for the Punisher.
He was a very important character for the Punisher for everything i mentioned above and specially has someone who supplied intel for certain missions. He even worked as undercover.

Along the way some writers make him a villain and Frank had to finish him off.

Let's hope this doesn't happen again. 

Ivo Santos | @ivomgs

PC POST #298: -REVIEW- Jon Bernthal's Punisher + Complete Easter Eggs list

It took awhile i know, but finally i could review the great performance of Jon Berntal as Frank Castle. And after watched the whole season two times, it's more than enough to give a decent review.

Jon Bernthal nailed Frank Castle. Marvel is well known for making great casts and this is no exception. One thing i could guarantee before watching the show is that he would give intensity to the character due to his previous performances in other roles, specially as Shane in the Walking Dead.

The credits aren't only for Bernthal, sure he did his homework, he read Punisher comics to get into the role but we have to mention the writers.

The showrunners Doug Petrie and Marco Ramirez deserved the other 50% of the credit, due to their research and writing the Frank Castle (Punisher) i care the most, and the one i was expecting to see not only in the TV but in comics too.

In my opinion part of the success of this portrayal was because we saw a humanized Frank Castle and the source material (comics). The showrunners make sure to add tons of elements from comics (which i will list below in the Easter eggs list).

Bernthal gave such an intensity to the role that i have never seen on screen if we compare to the previous Punisher portrayals (Dolph Lundgren, Thomas Jane and Ray Stevenson).

In this series, Frank Castle is hunting down all the gangs that were present in the day his family was killed. And he rampages all the gangs looking for answers.

The first four episodes are entirely focused in Frank Castle where his motivations and objectives are explored by his interactions with the criminals or during the moral/physical fights with Daredevil.

Until episode four, Frank Castle actions might look like a villain in some ways (for those who don't know the character) but in this back, everything spins around at his favor when at the cemetery he talks with Daredevil about the story of "One Batch, Two Batch. Penny and Dime". The last story he never told to his daughter before his family was killed. At this point we get to know more about Frank Castle... His feelings and his human/vulnerable side. 

It's important to mention Frank's relationship with Karen Page. Page admires Frank, she doesn't approve his actions but she believes that he is a necessary evil to fight crime. Both character have a weird chemistry between them. Sometimes it looks like a father/daughter connection and some other times they can be brother/sister and there are times it seems that both can make a relationship more than friendship.

Page is essential to aid Frank on his quest to find the responsible for his families deaths. Frank is the only character he trusts the most and we will see it many times through the season.

The action scenes are unbelievable in this season and we were presented with a very skilled Frank Castle in hand to hand combat.

The fights with Daredevil, the infamous prison fighting scene which is by far the best fighting scene ever in Daredevil.

There was a big answer to be explained during this season that i hope that it will be explained in the Punisher series.

What happened in Kandahar to Frank and his team?

Another thing that i wanted to see on screen was that Frank used the law to bring down those who were responsible for the deaths of his family. He used all the legal resources and the law failed.

SPOILERS AHEAD!!

At the end of season Frank Castle accomplished his mission. He eliminated most gangs involved in the massacre of his family and he even get rid of the man behind the meeting of the gangs... 

Blacksmith aka Colonel Schoonover, Frank's former colonel.

Overal Rate: 9.5 out of 10

Complete list of Easter eggs

MAX

Directly from the comics, Max was imported to Daredevil season 2, after Frank rescue him from the Irish mob who used him for dog fights. Similar fate was used in the comics too. Frank adopt him to guard a secret warehouse.

FINN COOLEY 

Fin Cooley is another character imported from comic books. More precisely in Punisher MAX written by Garth Ennis. In the series there is "a" Finn and everyone who read Punisher MAX soon related to this character from the comics, like in the series he is the leader of the irish mob. 

Frank shoot his face in point blank it would be hard to explain how he could survive the shot but it would a good way to know why he had a mask like in the comics.

MICROCHIP

In the last minutes of this series, Frank goes home and breaks a frame with him and his buddies from the marine and takes this CD with the name "Micro".

Micro or Microchip was the code name of Linus Lieberman, a long time partner of Frank who is an excellent hacker and weapons supplier. Microchip was friend of Frank, who most of the times was the only link Frank had with a human being. Aside from the criminals he kills every single day.

I'm almost certain that Microchip will appear in the upcoming Punisher series.

CELL BLOCK D

Cell Block D, was the cell that Frank met Wilson Fisk in the series. It's the same name of a Daredevil arc, when Frank went to prison to get Matt Murdock out of there when his identity was known to the public. 

Colonel Schoonover

Colonel Schoonover appeared in the series to testify in court how good man Frank Castle was.

He is Blacksmith too. The main man behind the drug deal between the three gangs that killed Frank's family.
In comics he was responsible for many casualties during war when Frank was his Captain and was a drug dealer too.

Rooftop Scene

This epic scene was taken directly from "Welcome Back, Frank" during Ma Gnucci's arc. 

But there are a few differences from the comics and the tv series.

In comics Daredevil tries to shoot Frank when he threats to shoot Dino. The problem is that Frank removed the striker and Daredevil couldn't shoot him to stop. This scene generated a lot of controversy between fans of Daredevil. He wouldn't shoot Frank to stop him.

In the tv series he shoots the chains and managed to free himself from it and try to stop Frank. This is more "Daredevil's way".

Quick References

The number of the trial was 1986-4447. 1986 was the release date of Circle of Blood by Steven Grant and Mike Zeck. Circle of Blood was the beginning of the first solo series based on the Punisher.

They gave the name of this trial "People vs Frank Castle", the exact same name as the Punisher arc from the mini-series written by Marc Guggenheim and Leinil Yu. The Trial of the Punisher.

Some prison scenes were taken from the Punisher run by Nathan Edmondson and Mitch Gerads.

During the Schoonover's testimonial in the trial he described perfectly the scene from Punisher MAX: Born.
When Frank by himself clear the landing zone against 32 enemies.
Specially when he said how he found Frank with a pile of dead bodies around him.

Article by @ivomgs