Commentary — ‘The Punisher: One Last Kill’ Reveals There Are Different Varieties Of Punishers
by Frank Martin
Not all comic characters are the same. They can vary over the decades depending on the creative team. Sometimes, a character can be depicted as more reserved while, other times, they can be a little more loose and crazy. This doesn’t typically happen with someone like Spider-Man, who is mild-mannered and fairly consistent. The Punisher is the exact opposite. He’s such a wild and crazy concept with many ways to depict him. This has become obvious in the many different times he has graced the live-action screen, and the recent Marvel Special Presentation of The Punisher: One Last Kill is his most unhinged portrayal yet.
As a continuation of his appearance in Daredevil: Born Again, Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal) is in hiding after taking out the mobsters responsible for killing his entire family. With his PTSD at its height, Frank is having hallucinatory episodes and struggling with massive depression. While this is occurring, the surviving matriarch of a mob family he nearly annihilated has put a bounty on his head. The thugs looking to cash in relentlessly attack his neighborhood, forcing Frank to go into full-on Punisher mode and take them all out.
Different variations of the Punisher have different balances of depression, PTSD, anger, and vigilance towards his crusade against criminals. There are versions of the Punisher that have segmented their mental pain and anguish away and instead have become nothing more than brutally efficient killing machines. This is not the Frank depicted in One Last Kill — even when compared to his portrayal in the Netflix series. In this case, he was completely traumatized and raw. He’s less a measured instrument of violence and more an unrelenting force of nature driven by rage. It’s a good example of how a character can be interpreted in so many different ways in contrast to other more stable heroes.
The Punisher: One Last Kill is now streaming on Disney+.
