The live-action rights to both Jessica Jones and The Punisher recently reverted back to Marvel, causing fans to speculate about whether or not they could make an appearance in the never-ending MCU. Through the magic of fan art, viewers now have an idea of what Jon Bernthal’s Frank Castle could look like with a Tony Stark suit in Marvel Studios‘ Armor Wars series for Disney Plus.
The Punisher and Jessica Jones first appeared on Marvel television show for Netflix, which included Daredevil, The Defenders, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist. All of these shows have since been canceled and for a while, it seemed like audiences had seen the end of these versions of the characters, but it may not be the end after all now that the rights have reverted back to Marvel.
The Punisher has been around in Marvel comics for decades now. For those who don’t know, Frank Castle is a former US-Marine and Vietnam Vet whose family was killed in a botched mob hit in central park. After this tragic event, Castle vowed to wage a one-man war on New York City’s criminal underworld, taking on the name Punisher and leaving a trail of dead bodies wherever he went. The Punisher has actually been adapted for the screen a few times, notably with a 1989 adaptation starring Dolph Lundgren and a 2004 live-action movie starring Thomas Jane and John Travolta. While the Jane and Travolta film has its fans, neither movie was particularly successful and for a long time it, seemed like the character would be relegated to the pages of Marvel comics, and maybe a Punisher video game or two.
In 2015, Netflix started making its own Marvel television shows, which were intended to be “darker” and “grittier than the MCU films, with a focus on the more on street-level characters. Former The Walking Dead star Bernthal was cast as The Punisher in the second season of Daredevil, receiving a lot of praise for his portrayal of the broken down, traumatized vigilante and eventually landing his own spin-off series focusing on the character. After two seasons Netflix’s The Punisher was canceled along with the rest of the streamer’s library of Marvel shows. However, rumors have been circulating for a while now that Bernthal could return to the role at some point and Marvel Studios president Kevin Fiege is open to bringing in The Defenders characters to the MCU.
One of the many projects announced late last year during Disney’s Investor Day was the Disney Plus series Armor Wars, which will star Don Cheadle as his Avengers character Colonel James “Rhodey” Rhodes AKA War Machine. The official synopsis for that series reads, “Tony Stark’s worst fear coming true: what happens when his tech falls into the wrong hands?” The series seems to be based on a well-known Marvel comics storyline, but with Robert Downy Jr.’s Stark being dead in the MCU, it seems his close friend and fellow Armor-clad Avenger Rhodey will take his place in Armor Wars. This is where the fan art comes in. The art, posted to the Fan Art/Creations section of the Marvel Studios Reddit board by user BegoXx, depicts Frank Castle wearing what looks like a suit of Iron Man-style armor, with his signature skull logo painted on the front.
Fans of the comics will recognize this look immediately. In a fairly recent comic arc, The Punisher actually got a hold of War Machine’s armor. In that storyline, Frank Castle was recruited by Nick Fury Jr. to track down some ex-SHEILD agents who were causing havoc in a small Eastern European country. Castle stole the War Machine armor from a government facility and used it to become an unstoppable one-man army. So, perhaps this is the person whom Rhodey wants to keep Starks technology away from. It would definitely be interesting to see these two characters meet on screen, seeing as they both have military backgrounds but VERY different approaches to vigilantism. It’s hard to imagine Cheadle’s Rhodey/War Machine being particularly thrilled with The Punisher’s methods of ‘Avenging.’
The Punisher seasons one and two are now available on Netflix.
Source: BegoXx|Reddit
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