Casting 30 of our favorite Marvel and DC Comics superheroes and villains
By Mark Lynch
16. The Punisher
Playing the Punisher is more than just shooting guns and punching people. When Jon Bernthal and Thomas Jane played him, they showed a side of Frank Castle people didn’t know existed. He was caring. Punisher does spend most of his time killing and torturing bad guys, but he is more than that. His relationship with Amy (in The Punisher on Netflix) and his neighbors in the Thomas Jane version are perfect examples.
However, Frank Castle still has to look hardened and scary. It should also be someone in their thirties at least. It’ll be easier to give the character a weathered look. Someone who looks like they wake up every morning and eat broken glass and nails for breakfast and survives on three hours of sleep.
Our Dream Casting: Karl Urban
Karl Urban has already played one of the toughest characters in comic books, Judge Dredd. You could actually look at Dredd as the future version of Frank Castle. Well, if Punisher was a cop. He was violent, smart, and had a gruff voice that would be perfect for the Punisher.
A quick look at Karl Urban’s IMDB page will show you that he’s no stranger to action movies or playing dark characters. Urban is playing a tough character named Billy Butcher in Amazon’s The Boys series, a show based off Garth Ennis’ comic book series. Someone who has a similar backstory and morals to Frank Castle. He could be Frank Castle in a movie or in a TV series and can be extremely grim when he needs to be.