Last week there were rumors swirling that season two of the Netflix hit series adaptation of Marvel Comics’ Daredevil would feature popular anti-hero character, the Punisher and popular villain/long-time Daredevil nemesis, Bullseye.
Well, we can stop speculating on at least half of that because today Marvel announced that the The Walking Dead‘s Jon Bernthal has been cast as in the role of Frank Castle, New York’s most notorious and bloody vigilante known as the Punisher.
…And why the hell not?
On Tuesday, the highly anticipated Joss Whedon series, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (a spinoff series of the insanely successful film, The Avengers) starring fan-favorite Clark Gregg as Agent Phil Coulson, premiered and though it was clearly the front-runner going into the evening, I’m not sure if anyone saw it doing as well as it did. With 11.9 million viewers and a 4.6 rating among the coveted 18 – 49 demographic, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was the highest rated premiere in all of television in four years.
So, ABC had a choice: air an episode of Shark Tank on Thursday at 8:00 p.m. or, y’know… the highest rated premiere on television in four years. Kind of a no-brainer with that decision. The only downside is for folks who can only get ABC on their TV because after the awesomeness that is Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. ends (yeah… we f*cking love this show), those unfortunate viewers will be forced to watch the two-hour season premiere of Grey’s Anatomy.
I would have posted this last night but my video download software was busy converting a movie from Blu-ray to DVD so I couldn’t jack it from YouTube and post it accordingly until this morning.
Via Press Release:
TWO SMASHING ANIMATED SERIES, “MARVEL’S AVENGERS ASSEMBLE” AND “HULK AND THE AGENTS OF S.M.A.S.H.,” SET TO PREMIERE ON MARVEL UNIVERSE ON DISNEY XD
Voice Casts Include Adrian Pasdar, Eliza Dushku and Seth Green
Disney XD will premiere two highly anticipated animated series on the Marvel Universe programming block, “Marvel’s Avengers Assemble” and “Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.,” it was announced today by David Levine, Vice President and General Manager, Disney XD Worldwide and at New York Comic Con by Jeph Loeb, Marvel’s Head of Television. Produced by Marvel Television, the series feature some of Marvel’s most popular characters — Hulks smashing and Avengers assembling to take down the most infamous villains in the Marvel universe. Filled with action, big adventures and humor, both series are currently in production and slated to premiere in summer 2013 on Marvel Universe on Disney XD.
(Editors please note: photos are available at http://www.DisneyXDmedianet.com. Registration is required.)
“Fans who enjoy the cinematic thrills of Marvel’s The Avengers and Hulk will be thrilled with the new Marvel series, which are the ultimate blend of action, adventure, humor and, above all, great storytelling that perfectly aligns with boys’ interests,” said Levine. “The Marvel Universe block on Disney XD brings together the greatest super heroes on the planet to the delight of kids and families worldwide.”
“All the fun from the movie theater, all the fun you’ve had reading these characters through the years in the comics will be brought to life in a way that will explode out of your TV set!” said Loeb. “But to be a Marvel TV series, it also needs to have humor and heart. We have extraordinary, talented voice casts and superb writer/producers for our new series that deliver both.”
In “Marvel’s Avengers Assemble,” an animated series parallel to the record-breaking blockbuster movie “Marvel’s The Avengers,” Iron Man leads the team of mightiest heroes – Hulk, Captain America, Thor, Hawkeye, Black Widow and newcomer Falcon – who combine their powers to battle threats no single hero could overcome. When the Avengers assemble, evil doesn’t stand a chance. The voice cast includes: Adrian Pasdar (“Heroes”) as Iron Man, Fred Tatasciore (“Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness”) reprising his role as Hulk, Roger Craig Smith (“Wreck-It Ralph”) as Captain America, Travis Willingham (“Shelf Life”) as Thor, Troy Baker (“Ultimate Spider-Man”) as Hawkeye, Laura Bailey (“The Super Hero Squad Show”) as Black Widow and Bumper Robinson (“The Game”) as Falcon. Joe Casey, Joe Kelly, Duncan Rouleau and Steven T. Seagle of Man of Action Studios (“Ben 10,” “Generator Rex”) will serve as executive producers.
“Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.” stars Marvel’s biggest, hardest-hitting super hero, Hulk, as he is joined by his larger-than-life teammates and unconventional family – his cousin She-Hulk, the irascible Red Hulk, the exuberant A-Bomb and the savage Skaar – to tackle threats that are too enormous for other heroes to handle. The creative talents of Emmy Award-winning Paul Dini (“Batman: The Animated Series,” “Lost”) and Henry Gilroy (“Star Wars: The Clone Wars”) have been tapped for this series. The voice cast includes: Fred Tatasciore (“Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness”) as Hulk, Clancy Brown (“SpongeBob SquarePants”) as Red Hulk, Eliza Dushku (“Dollhouse”) as She-Hulk, Ben Diskin (“Codename: Kids Next Door”) as Skaar and Emmy Award-winning Seth Green (“Robot Chicken”) as A-Bomb.
Disney XD is a basic cable channel and multi-platform brand showcasing a compelling mix of live-action and animated programming for Kids age 6-14, hyper-targeting boys and their quest for discovery, accomplishment, sports, adventure and humor. Disney XD branded content spans television, online, mobile and VOD platforms. The programming includes series, movies and short-form, as well as sports-themed programming developed with ESPN. In the U.S., Disney XD is seen on a 24-hour, advertiser supported network that reaches over 78 million households via its basic cable and satellite affiliates. For more information visit http://www.DisneyXD.com/
Marvel Entertainment, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is one of the world’s most prominent character-based entertainment companies, built on a proven library of over 8,000 characters featured in a variety of media over seventy years. Marvel utilizes its character franchises in entertainment, licensing and publishing. For more information visit http://www.marvel.com/
(Originally posted at RedeyeRogue.com)
ABC and Marvel have confirmed that Joss Whedon is developing a TV series spinoff from The Avengers, based around S.H.I.E.L.D. Whedon is signed on to co-write the pilot with his brother Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen. Whedon is bringing in all the previous brain trust from Firefly, Buffy, and Angel on this one so it should be a fun ride ahead. If ordered to series, Jed Whedon and Tancharoen, alums of Joss Whedon’s Fox series Dollhouse, will serve as showrunner-exec producers with Jeffrey Bell. Marvel TV exec Jeph Loeb, who previously worked with Whedon on the ill fated animated Buffy the Vampire Slayer will also be an executive producer.
According to Variety, the series will revolve around the activities of the top-secret S.H.I.E.L.D espionage organization featured in The Avengers.
Trent Moore, writing for Blaster.com says:
“For us, that means all these excellent writers are going to have big budgets and a bigger platform to play with, and with some autonomy from the films, they may get a long leash to really dig in and make this a compelling series.”
So far, Avengers has racked up $1.5 billion world wide. To capitalize on this, ABC is fast-tracking this series.
RedEyeRogue has gotten this advance sneak peek of a rough cut from one of our inside sources:
Deadline is reporting that FOX has handed a put-pilot commitment to The Punisher, a series based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. The series is from ABC Studios and (former Criminal Minds showrunner) Ed Bernero and marks the first time that Disney has ever sold a Marvel Comics series to anyone but Disney-owned ABC. We think we know why. As much as we hate to say it, this is going to suck and we’ll explain why.
From Deadline:
The Punisher is described as an hour-long procedural with a Marvel signature and a new take on one of the comic book giant’s iconic characters, Frank Castle, a rising star detective with the New York Police Department who moonlights as the vigilante Punisher, seeking justice for those the system has failed.
And there it is… the reason this show will not work.
We Need Less of This...
First, let’s be clear, this is not a new take on The Punisher. This is the nearly the same premise as the 1989 film, The Punisher (and to a lesser extent the 2004 film of the same title where The Punisher is former Delta Force and currently an undercover FBI agent), starring Dolph Lundgren that is possibly one of the worst films ever made. The major difference is that there is nothing to indicate that his family has been murdered by the mafia (wha???) and that in this bizarre universe, The Punisher actually keeps his day job of being a detective and goes out at night to fight crime, i.e., he’s every other comic book hero. Now, is the fact that the general premise is the same in and of itself what makes this “new” concept for television so bad? Nope, the problem is that Frank Castle (a.k.a., The Punisher) does not work as a cop for numerous reasons, especially an active-duty cop.
...and More of This.
Frank Castle is a metaphor for the everyman. He was originally an enlisted, highly decorated and patriotic soldier who happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time when his family was gunned down after witnessing a mob hit. He was never in a position of authority or power, and that’s why the character has had the appeal it has had for the last 37 years. He’s one of us. He’s the husband and father that was able to strike back against the criminals of the world and get the kind of retribution and justice that we would all seek if we had the ability and gestational fortitude. To put it simply, he’s NOT ‘The Man’ and a cop is ‘The Man.’
The truth is that people want their police officers to be police officers and their vigilantes to be their vigilantes. That’s true with comic book readers, television audiences and just people in general. Is it any coincidence that Bernhard Goetz still has supporters to this day? Is it any coincidence that a show like Person of Interest continues to find success on CBS or how even twenty years ago The Equalizer found similar success.
The First Appearance of 'The Punisher.' The Amazing Spider-Man #129, February 1974
That being said, we may appreciate our citizen-vigilantes, but there has always been something very unsettling with the idea of a police officer taking the law into his own hands, even fictionally. American audiences don’t like corrupt cops, even if they are doing it for a greater good because we are brutally aware that any one of us on any given day could be at the other end of the actions of a corrupt police officers. We’ve recently gotten hooked on AMC’s Breaking Bad and in the third season, Walter White’s (Bryan Cranston) brother-in-law Hank Schrader (Dean Norris), a DEA agent, viciously assaults Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) and there isn’t a person who’s seen that scene that doesn’t cringe with the notion of a police officer abusing their power in such a manner and even Hank himself takes full responsibility for what he has done and says, “We have to be better than that.”
So, the point is that there isn’t anyone that wants to see a cop as a vigilante on television, nevertheless the brutally vicious Frank Castle. Below, is what the The Punisher is all about and that ain’t gonna work with the title “rising-star detective.”
WARNING: NSFW!!! BRUTALLY GRAPHIC!
The SuperGeeks Super Blog 