WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Marvel's The Punisher, now streaming on Netflix.


At turns surprisingly nuanced and shockingly brutal, The Punisher is in many ways Marvel's best Netflix series to date, with performances by Jon Bernthal, Daniel Webber and Deborah Ann Woll that are deserving of awards recognition. The drama learned from the mistakes of its predecessors by slowly developing a secondary antagonist, rather that abruptly introducing him at the end of the second act, and largely avoided a midseason slump; it even delivered a consequential "road trip" episode.

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However, there's one decision that could've made The Punisher even better, and in the process drastically changed the stakes for the Netflix corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and perhaps beyond: killing off protagonist Frank Castle.

Now, there are plenty of financial reasons for The Punisher to continue his bloody crusade against crime in effective perpetuity, not the least of which is Disney's planned branded streaming service, expected to launch in 2019: Reports indicate the new digital platform would be home to future Marvel series; however, those six dramas now on Netflix -- Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, The Defenders and The Punisher -- along with any spinoffs, will apparently remain there. It just wouldn't make much business sense for Netflix to remove one of those marquee properties with few options for a replacement.

Creatively, however, the death of Frank Castle would've been daring yet true to a character arc that began with his introduction in Daredevil Season 2.

Frank Castle in Daredevil Season 2

The Castle we met in 2016 was a Marine who waged a one-man war against the Kitchen Irish, the Dogs of Hell and a Mexican Cartel to avenge his wife and two children, who were murdered when they were caught in a gunfight between the rival gangs in Central Park. As the season unfolded, it was revealed the massacre was the result of a botched police sting intended to capture the mysterious drug lord the Blacksmith, who turned out to be Castle's former commanding officer Col. Ray Schoonover (Clancy Brown). Castle seemingly completed that crusade in the opening moments of The Punisher, in a montage that showed him hunting down the last remaining members of each gang before burning his skull-emblazoned flak jacket and settling into a life of anonymity, hard labor and nightmares.

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Of course, if that truly had been the end of The Punisher's war on crime, it would've been the shortest Netflix series ever. Instead, he's drawn back in by the revelation that the Massacre at Central Park wasn't a matter of he and his family being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or even a police operation gone horribly awry. No, it was part of a conspiracy orchestrated by CIA veteran William Rawlins (aka "Agent Orange," played by Paul Schulze) to disguise the intended assassination of Frank Castle as part an effort to cover up an illegal covert CIA operation in Afghanistan -- funded by the heroin trade -- in which Castle, his best friend Billy Russo (Ben Barnes) and others tracked down, interrogated and executed "high-value targets." There are plenty of other details, including an incriminating video of Castle following Rawlins' order to execute an Afghanistan National Police officer, that make for an engrossing storyline, but what's pertinent here is that the targets shift, but The Punisher's task remains the same: to kill those responsible for the deaths of his wife and children.

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Although throughout the Season 1 Castle becomes invested in the lives of the family of his newfound ally David Lieberman (aka Micro, played Ebon Moss-Bachrach), and rescues Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll) from a troubled young veteran turned domestic terrorist, he remains focused on his mission. And in Episode 12, "Home," he offers himself to Rawlins and Russo in exchange for Lieberman's wife and son, which results in his torture at the hands of Rawlins, a gleeful master of the art, back at Micro's basement headquarters.

Those scenes are among the most savage of the series, as Castle is beaten under the pretense of providing the password for Lieberman's computer system, which contains information that would expose the conspiracy. However, Rawlins also enjoys causing suffering, which Castle endures, lapsing in and out of consciousness, spitting out a tooth, and bleeding profusely. But it's all part of The Punisher's plan: He knew that Rawlins and Russo would bring him back to Micro's bunker, and that they would strap him to the desk chair -- the one with the shiv taped underneath. He was willing to endure torture and risk death for one chance to kill Rawlins, or, barring that, exposing the agent with a livestream of his own execution.

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Castle takes his shot, too, stabbing the CIA agent in the chest and biting his neck before being knocked out by Russo. But it doesn't end there, of course. The torture continues, until Russo changes sides, just long enough to loosen Castle's bonds, allowing him to beat to death the man ultimately responsible for his loss and for his crusade. If the previous 11 episodes of The Punisher weren't nearly as violent as some viewers expected, then Netflix made up for it in the last half of "Home." It's difficult to watch, but also incredibly important to Castle's story. We've long known that he's willing to risk everything to avenge his family, and in these moments he demonstrates just that, and in the process ensures another family is reunited.

Covered in blood (not all of which is his own) and near death himself, Castle gouges out Rawlins' eyes while emitting an unnerving primal scream, and then collapses beside the body of his foe. However, he still has enough life in him to taunt his former best friend, Russo: "I wish I could see your face when you realize ... that you're done. You lost everything. Everything that you give a shit about is gone." Just then U.S. Homeland Security arrives, along with Lieberman, who cries over the body of a barely alive Castle. Gurgling blood, The Punisher utters two discernible words -- "Maria," his wife, and "Home."

Thematically, that would have been a perfect end to The Punisher, with Rawlins dead, Russo ruined, the Lieberman family reunited and safe, and Castle's mission complete. Fade to black, one and done.

But of course, it wasn't the end, as there was still one more episode left in the season order. The finale was perfectly fine, as far as season endings go, with Castle saved by the physician father of Homeland Security Agent Madani (Amber Rose Revah), and able to confront Russo again, leaving him disfigured and possibly brain-damaged, but still alive. Castle is then effectively given a get-out-of-jail-free card by Homeland Security and the CIA, and permitted to return to a life of relative anonymity as Pete Castiglione. In the closing moments of the season, he admits to the members of a veterans-support group, “For the first time for as long as I can remember,” he confesses, “I don’t have a war to fight, and I guess — if I’m going to be honest — I’m scared.”

That's the problem with continuing The Punisher: Not that he's scared, but that he doesn't have a war to fight. With his wife and children finally avenged, he no longer has a real reason to continue his crusade. Sure, he's continued to fight crime in comic books for decades, but without the ghosts of Maria, Lisa and Frank Jr. driving him, Castle risks losing the sympathy of viewers and becoming just another gun-toting vigilante. Or else The Punisher descends into outright parody, with a second season that reveals another layer to the conspiracy, or else Russo recovers from his injuries and launches his own crusade of murder and mayhem, bringing a guilt-ridden Castle out of retirement once more. But can Marvel and Netflix sustain that for another 13 episodes?

No, instead The Punisher should have ended with "Home," both the episode and the word.


Available now on Netflix, The Punisher stars Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle, Ben Barnes as Billy Russo, Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Micro, Amber Rose Revah as Dinah Madani, Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page, Daniel Webber as Lewis Wilson, Shohreh Aghdashloo as Farah Madani and Paul Schulze as Rawlins, with Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as Marion James.