Marvel Developing The Punisher as a TV Series

Posted by on October 21st, 2011   Filed under: Action, Books/Comics, TV
Source: Deadline

After another successful summer blockbuster season, Marvel is continuing to branch out with some of their comic book properties and pursue other opportunities on the small screen as well as the big screen. Last year we heard that they were setting up a new Incredible Hulk TV series with Guillermo del Toro listed among the producers, and although that project appears to be moving somewhat slowly, now they’ve got another series on the go over at Fox. According to Deadline, the network just committed to a pilot for The Punisher, a weekly series based on the ultra-violent vigilante anti-hero who kills bad guys in cold blood. The show is being set up by former Criminal Minds showrunner Ed Bernero.

The series is being developed as an hour-long procedural that revolves around Frank Castle, a New York City police detective who moonlights as a costumed vigilante in his off-hours. It’s unclear how fans will react since I don’t think The Punisher has ever had a day job before, but considering that none of the previous Punisher movies have really been all that successful, perhaps this is a medium more suited to the character. Plus, with the popularity of Dexter on Showtime, a “heroic” serial killer is clearly a character that people can get behind.

It also makes a lot more sense for television than most comic book properties because The Punisher has no super powers and would require little in the way of special effects (unlike the previously mentioned Hulk series). The real issue here is that The Punisher needs to be violent, and I’m not sure they can do the character justice on network TV. Either way, Fox is looking for something to replace the recently canceled Human Target, and this could be a good fit. What do you think, could The Punisher work as a weekly TV series?



  • Nelson

    It COULD work on HBO or Showtime but Fox has a habit of cancelling shows prematurely if they aren’t immediately uber-successful.

    This show wouldn’t work for the same reasons that shows like the Sarah Conner Chronicles didn’t work on Fox.

    If you are going to start a new show, especially a science-fiction show, you have to be willing to give it time to develop an audience, you can’t always expect super popularity right away and Fox doesn’t understand that.

    A PG-13 rated Punisher show just isn’t a good idea anyway.

  • Napalm

    If it ain’t R-rated it ain’t worth making.

  • Maopheus

    If you want the violence it would only work on FX at 10 PM, but tonally the show doesn’t seem to fit on FX. I think they are doing it wrong by turning the show into a weekly police procedural. Doing it the other way might not work either because normally Punisher is presented as a revenge story, so how long could you stretch out a series that shows his hunt for his family’s killers, it might not hold the attention of an audience. It’s similar to the problem with the FX cancelled show “Lights Out”. The show had an obvious goal and it just didn’t seem that there was anywhere else to go after that goal was achieved.

  • Hawk

    When I first heard this, I thought Good Lord, another Punisher reboot? Please just let it go!
    But I must say I’m intrigued by what they want to do with this show. It might work.

    But as Nelson pointed out FOX has no faith in new shows that aren’t instant ratings winners.

  • Tinkering with the essential of the character and his origin is rarely successful in comic book adaptations. There is a reason the character took off, it was the conception of the writer that made it work.

    Frank Castle as the Punisher works because he’s the tragic victim of the failure of 1970’s NYC, beset by violence and a police/political culture that does nothing if not corrupt, and an uncaring, distant superhero being. He’s Death Wish’s Paul Kersey in city filled with distant and uncaring superheroes, and over-run by violent crime.

    He’s very much NOT a cop, rather a decorated ex-Marine who conducts his own “War on Crime” like he was back in Vietnam. He had a rabid following though never huge because the readership approved of a more ruthless Batman taking revenge where others refused to act. Frank Castle is the anti-Hamlet. Its what makes him interesting, and in conflict guaranteed with the “nicer” superheroes like Spider-Man or Daredevil who never kill anyone.

    This will fail because it strays too far away from the central conception of the character: a decorated ex-Marine who conducts his own war on crime after the failure of society to prevent his family’s murder or punish the bad guys who did it. A tragic victim who takes brutal action in revenge. “Winning” the war America refused to win.

  • Murphy’s Law

    I think Whiskey summed up the Punisher up pretty well.

    Additionally, he’s fully aware that he doesn’t really belong in civilized society. He knows he’s a monster, but a necessary monster.

    Also, his opponents and struggles can be related to a lot more than some of the other superheroes out there. Let’s face it, not too many of us are afraid of being attacked by a crazy scientist with eight mechanical arms. But crime? Drug Dealers, murderers, rapists. Those are very real threats. Most everyone has, or knows someone who has, been a victim of crime at some point in their life.

    The idea that there’s someone out there who’s engaged in a war against crime can be very appealing.