I'm going to be honest with you—the last few years have felt like a long, slow-motion sigh for a lot of us who love this stuff. So much of the big-budget superhero space has been… safe. Sterile. Everything's gotta fit into the grand machine. It works, I guess. But where's the edge? The danger?
And then, you see a few grainy videos from a set, and suddenly, you remember. The energy is back. The Punisher is back. And he's not doing a focus-group-approved, family-friendly version of his thing. Thank god.
New footage of Jon Bernthal on the set of Marvel Studios' upcoming The Punisher Special Presentation has hit the internet, and man, does it look brutal. Frank Castle is doing what he does best: making bad guys very, very dead. We're talking a full-on assault here, with Frank mowing down a car full of criminals before storming into what looks like Ma Gnucci's restaurant. It's chaos. Pure, unadulterated Frank Castle chaos.
The look is classic, too. He's sporting that iconic skull vest, paired with a long trench coat. It immediately calls to mind some of my favorite comic runs, especially Greg Rucka and Marco Checchetto's work on the character. Bernthal's beard adds to the rugged, weary feel of it all. This isn't a fresh-faced hero. This is a man who's been through hell and is still walking through the flames.
When we last saw Frank, he was Wilson Fisk's prisoner. But apparently, he's escaped, and instead of going straight for the Kingpin, he's targeting the Gnuccis. It's a solid nod to the comics, and it makes you wonder what the larger plan is here. Could this be setting up a team-up—or more likely, a head-butting—with Daredevil in the second season of Daredevil: Born Again? Maybe. Frank has never been a team player, though. Last time, he only came back because Karen Page asked him to, to stop an anti-vigilante task force from killing Matt Murdock. He's a man on his own mission, and I'm glad to see that hasn't changed.
The fact that this is a Special Presentation and not a full series is… a little disappointing. Not gonna lie. But Bernthal writing it himself with Reinaldo Marcus Green directing? That's promising. It shows they're taking this seriously, and it gives me hope that they'll get the tone right. Bernthal has always been vocal about the character, saying he has to have “sacred integrity to the source material.” He understands what Frank Castle represents to people—from comic fans to first responders and military members. It's not a celebration of violence, it's a grim look at a man who has lost everything and is living in his own kind of darkness.
And Bernthal promised as much, teasing that this special won't be “Punisher-lite.” It's going to be dark. It's not going to be easy. That's what we want. That's what we need.
The best part? This isn't a one-and-done deal. The Special Presentation will reportedly set up Frank's role in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which is set to hit theaters on July 31, 2026. And with Daredevil: Born Again returning in March 2026, the next few years are looking absolutely packed with the kind of brutal, street-level Marvel stories we've been missing.
So, yeah. We're feasting in 2026. The Punisher is back. And judging by these videos, he's not just kicking ass—he's reminding us why we cared in the first place.
