After his debut in Daredevil Season 2, Jon Bernthal's Punisher was such a huge hit that
he got his own series and at the end of the last episode of The Defenders, there's a cool
post-credits teaser for Frank Castle's new solo show.
Yippee-ki-yay movie lovers, it's Jan here and in this video, I'll be breaking down the
new Punisher teaser for easter eggs and clues on what we can expect from Jon Bernthal's
upcoming series.
Also, I'm running a Punisher and Defenders giveaway, so make sure you subscribe and leave
a comment for a chance to win a Punisher or Defenders Funko Pop.
As Jon Bernthal previously revealed in an EW interview, The Punisher series will heavily
feature Frank Castle's military background.
And, true to this, the new teaser shows quite a bit more of Castle's military past with
heavy hints at some serious conflicts he got into during his time in the forces.
You can see his fist here smash the photo of himself with his colleagues and there's
another shot later where Castle is being held back from assaulting this guy.
And, if you look closely, it seems like Castle has given him a nasty injury to his left eye.
I suspect this could be the character William Rawlins who is played by Paul Schulze, an
actor best known for roles in Nurse Jackie, 24, and The Sopranos.
In the comics, Rawlins was a crooked CIA agent who engineered various terrorist attacks and
deliberately abandoned his wife Kathryn O'Brien in Afghanistan.
Later, O'Brien and Castle captured Rawlins who lost an eye while being interrogated by
Castle.
And there's another shot in the teaser of Rawlins with what looks like either a glass
or injured left eye confirming that some aspect of this comic book story will likely play
out in The Punisher.
Comic-book Rawlins also had a hand in drug smuggling, so I wonder if The Punisher series
will give us any links between him and Colonel Schoonover, Castle's former Commanding Officer
who turned out to be a major drug lord in Daredevil Season 2.
The teaser also gives us a glimpse at what looks like Castle's wife being shot.
Actress Kelli Barrett has been cast in the role of Frank's wife, Maria Castle.
Maria looked rather different in the photos of Frank's family in Daredevil Season 2, so
it seems safe to say that her character's been recast for The Punisher.
What's even more interesting though is that if this is Maria being shot in her home, this
could conflict with the story established in Daredevil.
In the tenth episode of season 2, DA Samantha Reyes confessed that Frank Castle's family
was killed in Central Park when a sting operation against various gangs went wrong and Castle's
wife and children were fatally injured in the crossfire.
So, what does this mean for Maria?
Well, either there's something not completely true about DA Reyes' story or perhaps the
shot in the teaser is a fake-out, either a warning or threat to Frank from someone like
Rawlins, or even perhaps a hallucination or nightmare in Castle's mind.
Either way, according to IMDB, Maria is set to appear in 7 episodes and her children in
four, so it looks like we'll get to see Castle spend some time with his family in the new
show, for example this shot of him with his children, sailing past the Statue of Liberty.
Indeed, speaking with EW, Bernthal said that 'the Frank Castle that was in Daredevil is
not in Punisher', so the fact this teaser shows us that we'll see more of what made
Castle the Punisher, in other words, his relationship with his family and their fate, as well as
his military past, ties in well with that.
And during a recent interview with Moviefone, Bernthal talked about taking pains to make
sure Castle wasn't depicted as too 'heroic' in the new series.
For Bernthal, it was crucial to get across just how 'brutal, […] damaged, […and]
tortured' Frank is, and he wanted to make sure they explored his 'pain and what's behind
the violence and the reason he's committing [it]'.
Speaking of pain and torture, it's not 100% clear in this scene exactly who's being tortured.
Could it be Castle, perhaps in retaliation for what he did to Rawlins?
Though the guy's profile doesn't quite look like Bernthal's to me.
Or could it be showing that Castle's taken part in torturing this man?
What do you think?
Jon Bernthal's voiceover in this teaser is also really interesting as it suggests that
The Punisher series is going to delve much deeper into Frank Castle's psyche.
In the voiceover, Castle talks about having made a deal with the devil, which ties in
with Punisher's origin story as told by Garth Ennis in his four-part comic book miniseries
"Born".
In that story, it was a voice inside Castle's head which helped him deal with the horrors
of the Vietnam War.
And that voice which talks to Frank in the miniseries may represent either the devil
or death.
In fact, there's a chilling page in the final issue where, after Frank returns home, he
sees a picture of his own family framed inside an outline of the Punisher skull, and an inner
voice reminds him that there's a price to pay.
This links nicely to the line in the teaser where Frank says "he's coming, he's coming
to collect".
That line not only foreshadows how Frank lost his family after returning from the war, but
it also teases the vigilante justice we can expect to see Punisher dispatching to the
criminal underworld in his new series.
As for the repeated image of Frank sledgehammering a concrete floor, this seems like it could
just be footage for the teaser trailer, although it does make me think of the scene in the
first John Wick movie where he uses a sledge hammer to break out his stash of weapons and
gold to go on the rampage against the criminals who wronged him.
So, what did you think of the teaser for The Punisher?
And has it got you hyped for the upcoming full season on Netflix?
Let me know what you think in the comments below and also subscribe for your chance to
win a Punisher or Defenders Funko Pop.
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to get that as soon as it's ready.
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Thanks for watching and see ya next time.
Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers!