Jason David Frank was embraced with tenacious love by his fans for his multiple roles in the Power Rangers franchise. His dedication to the property is renowned, and he approached his characters with an energy and fervor that transcended the screen. After nearly three decades since his debut as the Green Ranger, his work on the character still resonates, even with casual fans.
However, Frank's Power Rangers role was not his only stand-out performance. In 2018, he played Valiant Comics' Bloodshot in the movie Ninjak VS the Valiant Universe. As the first actor to portray Bloodshot in live action, Frank was able to harness the character's essence as if he's stepped right off the page and onto the screen.
Valiant Comics' Bloodshot is a Nuanced Character
Making his first full appearance in the pages of Valiant Comics' RAI #0 (by Bob Layton, Jim Shooter, and David Lapham), Bloodshot was a super-soldier created by the government agency Project Rising Spirit. Bloodshot has nanite-infused blood giving him extraordinary powers and the ability to regenerate tissue, recovering from normally fatal wounds. He is also hardly ever without an arsenal of firearms, blades, and tactical gear. Despite his gruff and often grizzled outer exterior due to the combat he sees though, Bloodshot is also often regarded as the heart of the Valiant Universe.
Despite Bloodshot's stories being arguably the most visceral and violent of the publisher's line, the character has also been at the center of some of Valiant's most harrowing and heartfelt crossover events. This includes The Valiant (by Jeff Lamire, Matt Kindt, and Paolo Rivera) where he puts his life on the line to ensure the safety of a little girl destined to protect the Earth. Bloodshot has also led multiple volumes of his own title - much of which was often seen in the hands of Jason David Frank on the set of Ninjak VS The Valiant Universe. Although he was unfamiliar with the character going into production, Frank quickly became a fan and rapidly absorbed as many of the comics as he could.
Jason David Frank Was Perfect for Bloodshot
As one of the largest shared universe in comics, Valiant has a massive library of characters, many of which were featured in Ninjak VS The Valiant Universe. The film was made by Bat In The Sun Productions and produced by Dinesh Shamdasani (CEO/CCO of Valiant Entertainment at the time), and between the two they couldn't have done a better job of casting the role of Bloodshot with Jason David Frank. Though his role was resigned to a supporting character in the film, that didn't stop Frank from committing to hours of makeup, a comic-accurate haircut, and arduous filming hours of break-neck action scenes. The payoff was a fun, hard-hitting, and inspired representation of a decades-old character that many Valiant fans thought they would never get to see on screen.
Inspired by the source material, Frank was committed to doing the character justice by being the first to put his stamp on Bloodshot in live action. He utilized his background in mixed martial arts to bring an authenticity to Bloodshot that is often missing from most Hollywood superhero fare. His fight scenes with co-star Michael Rowe as the titular Ninjak were thrilling yet painful to watch, as both embodied the characters. Ultimately, Bloodshot is a lesser-known character in the comic book world. However, what Frank did was not only bring the super-soldier to life with dedication and studied accuracy, but he also brought awareness to one of comics' hidden gems and gave Valiant fans a gift that won't soon be forgotten.
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