Hey, Frank, the first trailer for your Marvel TV Special, aka The Punisher: One Last Kill has been released — and, well, it’s left me with more questions than answers.
Fancy tellin’ us sumthin more about your forthcoming Disney+ Special Presentation? No? I guess I’ll have to give my two cents on what it appears to tell us about its plot, supporting cast, and more besides.
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Below, I’ve rounded up some of the most popular questions that Marvel fans have asked since the above teaser, which dropped yesterday (April 9) and came a few short days after One Last Kill‘s first clip was revealed. Then, I’ll do my best to answer them — or, at the very least, offer my theories on its story ahead of The Punisher: One Last Kill‘s release on May 12/13.
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Potential spoilers follow for The Punisher’s Special Presentation. Full spoilers also follow for his self-titled Netflix show and Daredevil: Born Again season 1, so proceed with extreme caution.
1. Is Curtis Hoyle dead in The Punisher: One Last Kill?
One of the biggest — if not the biggest — question on Marvel fans’ minds after the teaser’s release concerns Jason R. Moore’s Curtis Hoyle.
For those who might have forgotten: the former Navy SARC is not only a close friend of Jon Bernthal’s Frank Castle, but also someone who regularly aided Castle in both seasons of The Punisher on Netflix. Indeed, whether it was giving Castle free therapy — Hoyle became a counsellor for other veterans suffering from PTSD after he lost a leg during active service — or feeding him intel, Hoyle was always someone Castle could rely on.
That makes his likely demise all the more heart-wrenching. Hoyle was alive and well at the end of The Punisher but, based on One Last Kill‘s trailer, it appears he’s no longer around. That much is evident in the brief scenes we see of Castle hallucinating his fallen US armed forces comrades. With Hoyle among their number, it appears he’s died — or, even worse, murdered — in the time since we last saw him.
Will Castle find out about one of his best friends’ demise as part of One Last Kill‘s story? Or is this something that happened prior to, say, his small supporting role in season 1 of Daredevil: Born Again?
If it’s the latter, it would explain why he was laying low when we were reunited with him in that Marvel Phase 6 TV show, especially if someone was gunning for Castle — and, later, his allies — to seek retribution for something Castle had done. Who could that be? Well…
2. Who is trying to kill Frank Castle in The Punisher TV Special?
A sizable chunk of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) TV Special’s first trailer is dedicated to Castle’s inner demons re-surfacing and him struggling to deal with the mental toll they continually take on him.
Around its midpoint, though, we see Castle standing in the largely empty room he’s renting in New York City as a fuel trail, which has been poured and seeped underneath the door of said apartment, is lit on fire. With his trousers igniting, Castle roars before charging headfirst towards the apartment’s front door, presumably to attack whoever’s trying to assassinate him.
So, who’s the culprit? We don’t know but, as I’ve speculated in my dedicated guide to The Punisher: One Last Kill, the most likely candidate is Ma Gnucci.
For those who don’t know: Ma Gnucci — real name Isabella Carmela Magdalena Gnucci — is the head of the, well, Gnucci crime family. In the comics, the leader of New York’s biggest criminal enterprise has a long-standing vendetta with Castle that began when the latter killed her three sons.
What is the runtime for The Punisher: One Last Kill?
Marvel Studios hasn’t definitively confirmed how long it’ll be, but industry insiders have claimed it’ll last for around 60 minutes. Whether that’s inclusive of its end credits crawl and potential post-credits scenes, though, is unclear.
Will One Last Kill adapt this storyline and reveal that Bernthal’s anti-hero murdered Gnucci’s offspring, thereby kickstarting a feud that’s claimed lives on both sides? It wouldn’t surprise me, especially as Gnucci and Castle’s deadly tussle begins in ‘Welcome Back, Frank’, the 2011 graphic novel created by Garth Ennis, Steve Dillon, and Jimmy Palmiotti.
That comic book series is a clear inspiration for the Anti-Vigilante Task Force (AVTF) in Daredevil: Born Again (NB: it’s called the Punished Task Force in the source material), so there’s already a connection between said graphic novel and Daredevil’s own MCU TV series.
Let’s not forget that, when Jon Bernthal unveiled One Last Kill‘s first poster on Instagram, it was accompanied by the caption “Welcome back, Frank”. Coincidence? I think not. To me, then, it would make perfect sense if One Last Kill imagines the story told in ‘Welcome Back, Frank’.
3. Where does The Punisher: One Last Kill sit on the Marvel timeline?
The MCU timeline has confused plenty of fans in the wake of Avengers: Endgame — you can learn more about this in my Marvel movies in order guide — so it wouldn’t be a shock if some viewers weren’t sure where One Last Kill fits onto said timeline.
My view is that it’ll likely taking place around the same time as Daredevil: Born Again season 2. For one, Bernthal’s Castle won’t appear in the aforementioned show’s latest season, so it’s clear he’ll be off doing his own thing rather than helping the titular vigilante take down New York’s autocratic, criminal mayor Wilson Fisk.
There’s an even bigger clue in One Last Kill‘s trailer, though. At the 1:03 mark, we see Castle walking down a street as chaos erupts around him. Born Again 2 spoilers notwithstanding, if Fisk’s iron fist approach causes riots to erupt in latter episodes, it’s not outlandish to suggest that The Punisher’s TV Special will be set in the final throes of Born Again season 2.
Alternatively, it could occur immediately after this season’s finale, which, as Born Again showrunner Dario Scardapane has already confirmed, will bring the Mayor Fisk storyline to a close. Without a recognized mayor, New York might temporarily descend into anarchy, which would explain why Castle is surrounded by scenes of a chaotic nature.
4. How will One Last Kill set up Spider-Man: Brand New Day?
By this point, it’s common knowledge that The Punisher will show up in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Indeed, after reports indicated Bernthal’s Castle would show up in Spider-Man 4 last June, his appearance was confirmed in Brand New Day‘s first trailer.
Of course, that begs the question: will The Punisher: One Last Kill directly impact Spider-Man 4‘s story — or, at the very least, Castle’s role in proceedings? I think it will. Aside from the fact that Spider-Man and The Punisher both live and operate in NYC, though, it’s difficult to say why the latter will have a supporting role to play. I’ve got my theories — you can read those in the guide to One Last Kill that I linked to earlier — but, until the Bernthal-led Special Presentation is released, I can’t fully answer this query.
For now, find out what we know so far about Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Once you’re done, read my Brand New Day cast and character guide to see who else will appear in the MCU movie.
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