‘The Punisher’: penny and dime — a riot of a time

Showrunner Steve Lightfoot shares how Marvel’s ‘The Punisher’ will continue to explore the volcanic internal landscapes of the famous anti-hero

Marvel's The Punisher

After Daredevil season 2, audiences the world over were struck by Jon Bernthal’s emotionally gritty performance as Frank Castle as he unleashed his insurmountable anger — complete with his haunting murmurings of “one batch, two batch, penny and dime,” — upon those who killed his wife and two children. This portrayal coupled with the fans’ excitement geared a standalone series around The Punisher himself, which airs later this week.

Portrayed in different forms since his debut in the 1974 comic book The Amazing Spider-man as a villain, The Punisher’s evolution has become strangely relatable for its intrinsic connects with pain, grief and rage, which all culminate in the human need to retaliate. He’s one of the few characters in MCU without any superpower, instead making use of his specialised military training. The character was created by Gerry Conway and artists John Romita and Ross Andru.

 

Building character

Producer of

The Punisher, Steve Lightfoot, was so impressed with Bernthal, that the experience of creating the show became a naturally collaborative one. “At first, I didn’t realise how big a property it is,” he explains, “I got to find my own version of Frank that made sense to me, while feeling the weight of the history... Trusting your actor is integral; you hire them for their take.” Bernthal — who’s known for his rugged, unstable and contemplative roles such as Shane Walsh on The Walking Dead — played Castle before Lightfoot hopped on board.

For both Lightfoot and Bernthal, it was important to formulate the show around finding some sort of redemption for Castle, who is merely a ghost in the bustle of New York. While people will see him merely existing, it becomes obvious he has not started grieving for his family — which very much sets a precedent for ‘the calm before the storm’. So expect plenty of emotive flashbacks to fuel your curiosity for Castle’s soft spot.

Marvel's The Punisher

Early on, Lightfoot decided to narrate Castle’s progression from an artist of revenge in Daredevil to putting on the famous skull-blemished vest and becoming The Punisher, adding, “We wanted to find a way to reset Frank and make this season its own. In a way, we wanted to decommission him at the beginning, so that we could find a reason to bring him back into circulation. I am a big fan of Westerns, so our pilot was always a version of the 1953 Shane , the gunslinger who’s just quietly working on the farm until bad guys roll into town. In Daredevil , Frank was always on a mission, and he was always seeking revenge, so you only got a quarter of him. Filling out the rest of the man was the best part of doing The Punisher .”

Poignant discourse

So how did Lightfoot approach sensitive subjects of gun control and violence, while retaining an empathy towards Castle? “You try to find something universal,” he comments, “We can’t all be special forces guys who kill a bunch of people, but what we can empathise with is watching a man overcome this huge loss and see him experience profound grief. Personally, I wouldn’t know how to even deal with that. Frank’s a certain sort of man who isn’t necessarily great with showing his feelings, so watching someone like that deal with grief became the heart of the show.”

In Daredevil, Frank was always on a mission and he was always seeking revenge, so you only got a quarter of him. Filling out the rest of the man was the best part of doing The Punisher

Lightfoot adds that it takes a lightness of touch to deal with these issues. In order to nail the success formula, working open-heartedly with a diverse group of writers with different viewpoints of cultural contexts supplements the plot, while avoiding sounding preachey.This isn’t the first time the Scottish producer steps into the dark; he produced Hannibal , a couple of episodes of Narcos and the Emmy-winning and multi-BAFTA-nominated House of Saddam , which have all made for thrilling television — more of which fans can look forward to in all 13 episodes of The Punisher,

( Netflix, from November 17) .