Since his debut over 40 years ago, a number of actors have been faced with the task of bringing the hard-edged, gun-toting vigilante Punisher to screens both big and small. And when you also take into account the thousands of comics spread across dozens of series starring Frank Castle, there really is a lot of material out there for actors to absorb to get into the role. That just so happens to be what the most recent Punisher actor, Jon Bernthal, did in order to prepare for the character's debut on season two of Netflix's "Daredevil."

During his spotlight panel at New York Comic Con, Bernthal was asked whether or not he looked at previous live-action interpretations of the Punisher to prepare for his take. "I watch everything. I read everything. Anything you can get your hands on," said Bernthal. He then cited a source that might be a little surprising: "I love 'Dirty Laundry.' You see that one? Once you devour and eat up and much as you can, my way is to make it as personal as possible. It was a great pleasure to watch all of those.”

"Dirty Laundry" is a 10-minute-long Punisher fan film that debuted back in 2012. It's main claim to fame, however, is that it stars Thomas Jane -- the man that played the Punisher in the 2004 feature film. Jane came back to the role because of his passion for Frank Castle and -- along with producer Adi Shankar, director Phil Joanou and writer Chad St. John -- created a very successful fan film. It's now been viewed over 8.3 million times on YouTube.

Bernthal's Punisher will return in his own Netflix series, set to debut in either 2017 or 2018. The show is currently filming in New York City, though, and the show has started filling out its supporting cast.

(via Screen Geek)