Marvel’s The Punisher: Season 2 Main Villain

WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for Marvel’s The Punisher, now streaming on Netflix.

Marvel's The Punisher tells the story of Frank Castle, an ex-Marine who targets any and every criminal he can get his hands on. The first season saw Frank go up against a whole host of characters, but the primary antagonists ended up being William Rawlins and Billy Russo. Of course, his aggressive nature means he can make an enemy out of a good percentage of Marvel's Netflix universe, so the opportunities presented for the primary antagonist in Season 2 of the show are endless.

In Marvel Comics, The Punisher is less of a hero and more of an anti-hero, though he was introduced as a villain in The Amazing Spider-Man #129. As a result of his 'tweeter' nature and tendency to kill his opponents, the character doesn't have a rogues gallery, unlike other comic book characters such as Batman and Spidey. However, that doesn't mean he's going to spend a season learning macrame; follow along as we look at the likely candidates to be a villain in The Punisher's second season.

Jigsaw

When Ben Barnes was cast as Billy Russo, it was an easy prediction that he would assume a villainous role at some point during the showsnd we weren't disappointed. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Billy and Frank served together in the US Marines and grew quite close, considering each other as brothers. Their friendship soon turns sour when Frank finds out Billy had a hand in the military conspiracy he finds himself entangled in, and they have a big climatic battle in the thirteenth and final episode. Putting a spin on Billy's disfigured face in the comics, Frank gets the upper hand during the fight and pushes the criminal's face across a broken mirror - horrifically lacerating his visage.

It was shown that Billy did survive this brutal attack, and it's likely that he will want to get his revenge on his old friend once he's back on his feet. This is perhaps the most obvious choice for Season 2's main bad guy, though Jigsaw isn't the only candidate.

Barracuda

Introduced in Marvel's MAX imprint in 2006, Barracuda is a former Marine -- just like Frank Castle -- who later turned to a gangster lifestyle. Barracuda is somewhat of a cracked-mirror version of The Punisher, having also adopted brutal and lethal methods to take on anybody who opposes him. In the comics, Barracuda is hired to assassinate The Punisher, which fans will know is easier said than done. Managing to win a fight against Frank, Barracuda loses an eye and the fingers on his right hand.

The character is extreme in everything he does; notably, he once sniffed cocaine off of a severed head in the comics. Even if he was toned down for Netflix (but really, why do that?), it would be interesting to see Barracuda crash into Frank's world, and all the chaos that would surely ensue.

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Kingpin

We saw The Punisher face off against Kingpin when the pair were imprisoned together in Daredevil Season 2, and their fight sequence was incredible. Seeing Wilson Fisk's intimidating frame and brutish fighting style in contrast to Frank's trained, brutal methods of fighting instantly proved the pair as worthy foes, and fans loved seeing them together onscreen.

It would be great to see Vincent D'onofrio's Kingpin show up in Season 2 of The Punisher. Kingpin typically controls a large portion of New York's City criminal underworld, Frank could perhaps target the villain and his countless number of henchmen, using his heavy arsenal of weapons to reduce the amount of crime taking place in the city.

Bullseye

A villain fans have been champing at the bit to see in Netflix's Daredevil series, it would be fun to see Marvel Television actually introduce Bullseye in Season 2 of The Punisher. Bullseye has gone up against many of the heroes of the Marvel Universe at one point or another, and he's also had numerous attempts at taking Frank Castle down. While Frank's obviously survived them all, there's no denying the pair are as evenly matched as anyone in the Marvel Universe.

Bullseye's impressive collection of bladed weaponry rivals Frank's arsenal of guns, meaning the twosome are a balanced match with similar expertise. As he's typically a hired gun, it makes sense for Bullseye to be a secondary antagonist in The Punisher (perhaps operating at the behest of Kingpin), though it would be fun to see the Man Without Fear cross over to help Frank out.

Hammerhead

The Punisher doesn't have superpowers, so it's only a fair fight when he's fighting other ordinary humans. Hammerhead began as a somewhat typical mobster, until he was beaten within an inch of his life in an alley way and left for dead. Rescued by a surgeon, Hammerhead's skull has been replaced with steel, thus inspiring his alias.

Could Hammerhead's skull withstand a punch from Frank? Most definitely. How about a bullet? Now it's sounding interesting. This character was created as a villain for Spider-Man, but it wouldn't take much to put him in the crosshairs of The Punisher -- he is a criminal, after all.

Ma Gnucci

Perhaps the most outrageous candidate for a dark, gritty universe is Ma Gnucci, one of the rare recurring villains for The Punisher in the comics. While the other choices make sense in terms of skillset or why Frank would target them, Gnucci's comic book backstory could provide inspirational fodder for the series to do something drastically unexpected.

Ma Gnucci is the main villain in Welcome Back, Frank -- she's an Italian mafia matriarch. While battling with The Punisher, in a zoo of all places, her limbs are literally torn off by a polar bear when Frank riles it up by punching it in the face (seriously). Somehow, she survives, so Frank kicks her into fire. That should be the end of Ma Gnucci, but she somehow managed to come back once more in the Resurrection of Ma Gnucci storyline.

Available to stream 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 Walcott, Shohreh Aghdashloo as Farah Madani and Paul Schulze as Rawlins, with Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as Marion James.