At the end of season 1 of the Punisher, we saw Frank get his vegenance for his family,
having killed most of the people responsible for their deaths and disfiguring Ben Barnes’
Billy Russo, his ex best friend who betrayed him.
Frank begins season 2 with a fresh slate thanks to the FBI, and up until now, many fans have
been speculating or confused about how his story will continue.
But now, with the release date soon on the horizon, we finally have a trailer that gives
us a hint as to what to expect.
Let’s break it down.
THE TRAILER The trailer opens with Frank Castle speaking
to a young woman named Amy Bendix, who is played by Giorgia Whigham.
Frank, up until now, had been pursuing a significantly quieter life out on the road, but ends up
becoming involved with Amy when he runs into her in need at a bar called Lola’s Roadhouse.
She’s been assaulted when Frank steps in, and beats down on her assaulters, with Amy
saying that he was happy for the excuse to get involved and get bloody.
Frank asks Amy who those people were, and she claims to not know, so he calls her out
for hiding something.
Amy tells him that they’ve killed everyone she’s ever cared about; a sentiment that
Frank can easily understand.
We then get flashbacks of Frank with Billy Russo, when they were friends, and where they
had left off in the previous season, with Frank disfiguring his face in the process.
From there, the trailer cuts to Russo’s voice over and a shot of a facility, with
him stating that he’s dreamt about the Punisher every night.
We then get a series of shots of Russo back out in the world, carrying around a whole
lot of hatred for Frank, and being approached by a new villain, John Pilgrim, who states
that they have a mutual acquaintance, and hires him to go after Frank and Amy.
Russo has a new little gang of his, all wearing masks.
It’s a small army that we see Frank going up against, getting the crap beaten out of
him, and beating the crap back out of them.
After some more action packed visuals, the trailer ends off on a funny beat between Frank
and Amy and some blood covered money.
AMY BENDIX So who exactly is Amy Bendix?
Well, in the comics, her character helped Castle when he was in need, nursing him back
to health when he was on the run, in 1994’s Punisher War Zone issue 24.
But her father, the county sheriff, discovers this, and imprisons Frank.
This catches the attention of a group of assassins, who then kidnap Amy and take her hostage in
order to get to Castle.
Her father releases Frank so he can go rescue Amy.
In the show though, we’ve been given a bit of a different Amy, with her being a street
smart grifter rather than a small town naieve girl with a mental disorder.
JIGSAW Billy Russo, Castle’s old best friend who
betrayed him, was prominently featured in the trailer, and is now embracing his villainous
ways as Jigsaw to the fullest it seems.
He’s holding a grudge against Frank, and has now gotten himself a small army of goons
who wear masks; something that has clearly given law enforcement a run for their money
recently.
THE NEW BAD GUY Josh Stewart plays the new bad guy on the
block this season, John Pilgrim, who doesn’t have any direct ties to the comics, although
some believe he may be a version of a character called The Mennonite who appeared in a handful
of issues in 2010’s Punisher MAX.
He’s a hardcore Christian fundamentalist, if the outfit didn’t give that away, and
Stewart, while being quite tight lipped, has stated that the character is a very all or
nothing kind of guy who is very by the book.
Unlike Jigsaw, it’s unclear what Pilgrim’s motivation is and why he’s hunting down
Amy; Frank helping Amy at the beginning of the season in that bar could likely be the
reason why Pilgrim wants Castle gone, merely thanks to association and the fact that he’s
now protecting Amy.
THE SLAVERS One of the popular fan theories about Season
2 of the Punisher was that it would be adapting Garth Ennis’ 2005 arc The Slavers, which
involved Frank crossing paths with the Gnucci crime family; the crime family that many believe
Amy’s mysterious past has ties to.
The first episode of season 1 of the Punisher showed Frank helping out a friend by killing
members of the Gnucci family during a poker game, which led people to believe that the
Slavers story arc, which involves the crime family, would be the direction the second
season would go in.
Based on this new trailer, that doesn’t seem to be the case per se, unless John Pilgrim
has some sort of larger connection we don’t know about yet.
The second season of the Punisher is set to be released on Netflix on January 18th.