When The Punisher first appeared in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man #129 as a hired hitman, fans might have had difficulty seeing how popular the one-time Spidey villain would become, with numerous comic series that has led to a few animated and live-action adaptations over the years.
While the Punisher's current live-action status is unknown as fans wait for the rights to revert back to Marvel Studios, there are quite a few adaptations that have appeared on both the big and small screens for fans to enjoy until he makes his inevitable return to the MCU.
THE SUPER HERO SQUAD SHOW (2009)
While The Super Hero Squad Show was a very kid-friendly animated series that starred a wide-range of Marvel characters, The Punisher still managed to find his way onto the show as one of the series' most intense characters.
The Punisher was also made kid-friendly with the use of lasers and other non-lethal weaponry in his Battle Van, though he was still very passionate about stopping crime. Punisher was voiced by Ray Stevenson, who would play the character in 2008's Punisher: War Zone.
SPIDER-MAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES (1994)
Frank Castle's appearance in Spider-Man: The Animated Series was also made non-lethal for a younger crowd, though the tragic deaths of his family were alluded to in his debut episode "Neogenic Nightmare Chapter VII: Enter the Punisher."
Castle (voiced by John Beck) tried to hunt down Spider-Man after he was falsely accused of a crime, though Peter Parker was transformed into the six-armed Man-Spider. Punisher would later work on a case investigating the disappearance of Mary Jane, though her return would end his time on the series.
THE PUNISHER (1989)
Marvel had a series of live-action bombs in the late 80s and early 90s that included the first adaptation of The Punisher in 1989, starring Dolph Lundgren as ex-cop Frank Castle, who had been operating in New York City for five years.
Castle, who never wears his iconic skull logo, is forced to intervene in a gang war between the mob boss who killed his family and the Yakuza. Unfortunately, the film is filled with bad acting and even worse action scenes that only manage to capture the chaos of the character without any of his depth.
IRON MAN: RISE OF TECHNOVORE (2013)
Marvel Animation released a series of anime-inspired series starring some of the Marvel Universe's most popular characters like Blade, Wolverine, and Iron Man that would lead to a series of follow-up films.
Iron Man: Rise of Technovore followed Tony Stark as he investigated A.I.M. and their plans to unleash the Technovore, with Punisher (voiced by Tesshô Genda/Norman Reedus) assisting Iron Man alongside other heroes like Black Widow, Hawkeye, and War Machine.
AVENGERS CONFIDENTIAL: BLACK WIDOW & PUNISHER (2014)
Punisher would return to Marvel's Anime films with 2014's Avengers Confidential: Black Widow & Punisher, which saw Castle forced to join a S.H.I.E.L.D. mission alongside Black Widow in order to stop a terrorist organization.
This version of Punisher (voiced by Tesshô Genda/Brian Bloom) wasn't forced to pull his punches for kid-friendly audiences, though the inclusion of Avengers like Iron Man, War Machine, Thor, Captain Marvel, Hulk, and Hawkeye take the spotlight away from Castle slightly.
PUNISHER: WAR ZONE (2008)
Lexi Anderson's Punisher: War Zone was an incredibly comic-accurate adaptation of the character that introduced an established version of the Punisher alongside the debut of one of his few recurring villains, Jigsaw.
Castle (played impressively by Ray Stevenson) wore a tactical version of the Punisher outfit and the film introduced a number of comic characters while also upping the violence, though it chose to take a more comic book approach that abandoned the gritty realism that had worked well in previous adaptations.
THE PUNISHER (2004)
Thomas Jane starred in 2004's The Punisher, which explored the murder of Frank Castle's entire family at a reunion before jumping into a revenge-filled rebirth story that adapted a few storylines, most notably "Welcome Back, Frank."
Jane's Punisher was raw, untested, and took more beatings than he dished out, but it was an enjoyable adaptation that would have benefitted greatly from a sequel that allowed Jane to explore the Punisher more.
DIRTY LAUNDRY (2012)
Thankfully, film producer Adi Shankar gave Jane another small moment with the character with the release of the short film Dirty Laundry, which itself was part of Shankar's "Bootleg Universe" of projects.
The film features an everyday moment in the life of the Punisher, though his identity isn't revealed until the end of the short when his skull-emblazoned t-shirt is revealed. While short, this version of the Punisher highlights the unique perspective of Frank Castle and his war on crime without the bells and whistles of the big-budget adaptations.
DAREDEVIL (2015)
Netflix produced its own interconnected Marvel series beginning with Daredevil, which would go on to introduce the most recent live-action version of Frank Castle into the MCU series, played by Jon Bernthal.
Castle's own vigilantism was used in comparison to Matt Murdock's Daredevil and highlighted the moral differences in their actions while also exploring the loss of Castle's family and how the justice system might possibly deal with a character like the Punisher. The action scenes perfectly captured the comic feel of the character, though he wasn't quite given free rein yet.
THE PUNISHER (2017)
It wasn't until the character was spun-off into his own series that was largely unconnected to the events of the other Defenders-related series that Bernthal was really able to explore the Punisher, while the series effectively built up the villain Jigsaw.
Over two seasons fans got to see amazing action scenes, properly-developed characters, and a perfectly broken Frank Castle that could have run for multiple seasons if the whole line of Marvel series hadn't been canceled by Netflix.