Best Punisher

[Guts]

 

[KnightErrant]

Thomas Jane

 

[Rowsdower!]

Bernthal. Brought an edge to the character none of the other actors did. I did like Jane though.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

I liked Jane a lot in the role, damn shame he never got to reprise it, but Bernthal is just perfect.

 

[Spiderine]

Bernthal had better material to work with. Love Bernthal moving forward. But Thomas Jane was my personal favorite. Imagine if Marvel got him first.

 

[Mani-Man]

Bernthal really had better material to work with, but visually i thought Ray Stevenson made a very convincing Punisher.
Thomas Jane worked as the man behind the punisher so to speak.

 

[Mandon Knight]

Thomas Jane

 

[Rorschach2012]

Thomas Jane
Jon Bernthal
Ray Stevenson
Dolph Lundgren

I loved Jane and Bernthal both, but I saw the first Punisher movie at a pivotal time in my life and Jane will probably always be Punisher to me. He embodied the character in the same way that Hugh and Reeve did with Wolverine and Superman

 

[Joe Von Zombie]

I think this video sums up my feelings on it fairly well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xB4_kGsDpE

 

[2kt09]

 

[James]

Jon Bernthal all the way. Ray Stevenson could have done a fine job too, but he didn't get the quality script to work with that Bernthal did. Stevenson is a great actor though, and he certainly looks the part.

I've never seen the Dolph Lundgren Punisher so I can't judge there, and I genuinely don't understand what anyone likes about the Thomas Jane version. Not only does Jane look the least like Frank Castle out of the four, but his acting is passable at best and the movie as a whole is a terrible representation of the character. Thank goodness for the Netflix show, a good (great?) on-screen Punisher was well overdue.

 

[Joe Von Zombie]

Jon Bernthal all the way. Ray Stevenson could have done a fine job too, but he didn't get the quality script to work with that Bernthal did. Stevenson is a great actor though, and he certainly looks the part.

I've never seen the Dolph Lundgren Punisher so I can't judge there, and I genuinely don't understand what anyone likes about the Thomas Jane version. Not only does Jane look the least like Frank Castle out of the four, but his acting is passable at best and the movie as a whole is a terrible representation of the character. Thank goodness for the Netflix show, a good (great?) on-screen Punisher was well overdue.

Dolph's Punisher is definitely worth a look especially if you like 80's action schlock. I very much hold the opinion that the movie wouldn't garner as much hate as it gets if he had just wore the damn skull.

 

[Dark Raven]

Yeah, Dolph's Punisher captures a lot of the spirit of the character and feels more similar to the vigilante movies of the 70s and 80s (because it is an 80s movie) that epitomised the Punisher back then. He just didn't have the skull, which made him too much of a random vigilante. But then Bernthal has barely worn the skull apart from a minute at the end of DD season 2.

I don't know how much he wears it in his own series, but there don't appear to have been many pics of him in it apart from recently, so he too could appear like a random vigilante.

Thomas Jane's Punisher just felt like it had the wrong setting in Florida.

I haven't seen Warzone so can't comment on that.

I'm hoping Bernthal is seen more around the gritty locations of New York. I want it to be more like Deathwish.

Lundgren is also more articulate now than he was back in the 80s. Not that Castle speaks that much, but Lundgren sounds less of a dumb brute than he did back then.

 

[Darepool]

Really no contest, Bernthal. Instantly iconic.

 

[writer0327]

Dirty Laundry is still one of my favorite Punisher portrayals.

 

[Wildcard]

I'll forever love Jane's depiction of Castle but Bernthal gets my vote here. He's absolutely perfect as the character and every time I watch him I feel like he stepped right out of the pages of a comic book.

 

[Dark Raven]

The only problem with Bernthal is that Marvel TV seem to be intent on not giving him his slicked back hair. In real life, he's sometimes looked more like the Punisher than he actually has either in DD or in his own series. Either he ends up shaving his head, or he he has long hair which he wears loose and then has a beard. Or the other alternative is that he has a crew cut with it shaved short on the sides even though the top is fuller.

But I'd just like, for once, for him to not have the crew cut but to have mid length hair, just slicked back, a bit similar to Stevenson, but maybe not quite as extreme.

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

I don't think the leads were the problem with the movies, as I actually did like them. But the answer is still Bernthal.

 

[Drseuss]

Thomas Jane all the way.

 

[Batmannerism]

Bernthal benefits from a strong series from which to springboard the character - and the world building of the MCU.

So he's the best Punisher all in all, however, I still have fond memories of Dolph Lundgren as the Punisher, a terrible movie that was still better than that Thomas Jane piece of crap.

 

[Drizzle]

Bernthal is the best overall, but if we're just talking the movies, Jane wins.

 

[James]

...that was still better than that Thomas Jane piece of crap.

 

[Tg11]

Tom Jane hands down

 

[chamber-music]

Dolph's Punisher is definitely worth a look especially if you like 80's action schlock. I very much hold the opinion that the movie wouldn't garner as much hate as it gets if he had just wore the damn skull.

Yep.

Dolph's Punisher movie is worth watching for two scenes. The jail sell scene Louis Gossett, Jr's character Jake Berkowitz tries to get though to Frank and The Punisher's scene with Franco's son at the end.

Oscar winner Gossett, Jr delivered way better acting than you would expect for a late eighties comic book B movie in that scene.

I think my favorite exchange in a Punisher movie is still this t:

Jake: What the f**** do you call 125 murders in 5 years?
The Punisher: Work in progress.

It is corny but still pretty awesome.

This was also a good line as well and totally something the Punisher would say in the comics

The Punisher: You're a good boy, Tommy. Grow up to be a good man. Because if you don't... I'll be waiting.

My Punisher list goes

1.Jon Bernthal - Easily the best. He had the best writing and they really got under the skin of the character in a way they didn't with previous adaptations.

2. Ray Stevenson - A good Punisher is a bad movie. Stevenson had the acting chops to really deliver a great Punisher if he had the material to work with. He had good presence.

3.Dolph Lundgren - Dolph isn't a good actor but he did ok in what was a somewhat generic B movie take on the Punisher of the eighties. Deadpanning one liners and being a tortured sewer dweller probably isn't want most people expect of a Punisher but I thought he was entertaining in his own way.

4.Thomas Jane - Not a popular opinion but Jane never really won me over as the Punisher. I found him a bit soft and not as intimidating or tortured as the others. I really couldn't picture Jane's Punisher brutally executing criminals outside of his revenge vendetta for against his families killers. He doesn't have that psychological break that Frank in the comics has or Bernthal, Stevenson and Lundgren had.

 

[GREEN =w= DAY]

Bernthal followed by Jane