Marvel may be plotting a much larger comeback for Punisher. A new report suggests his next chapter could skip the one-off format entirely. After all, a follow-up to the Disney+ special starring Jon Bernthal is reportedly on the table at the studio, and insiders say they haven’t yet settled on its final shape.
The Punisher rumor suggests One Last Kill sequel won’t be another special
Scooper The MysticCut posted on X that Marvel is deciding whether to make the sequel to The Punisher: One Last Kill a series or a movie. If accurate, that would be a significant scale-up from the character’s most recent outing, which ran under an hour as a standalone special.
The original special found Frank Castle searching for meaning beyond revenge when an unexpected force pulled him back into the fight, after his friend and fellow veteran Curtis Hoyle was revealed to have died in the years since Bernthal’s Netflix run ended. The trailer teased a young girl named Charli, whose kidnapping appeared to drag Frank back into violence he had tried to leave behind.
That format, a Marvel Television Special Presentation, was designed as a shorter, standalone entry, following in the footsteps of earlier one-shots. But the new report suggests Marvel now sees more potential in Castle’s story than a single special can hold. A full series would give the character room to build out a supporting cast and ongoing storylines, closer to the structure of his earlier Netflix show. A feature film, on the other hand, would elevate Frank Castle’s presence within the mainline MCU timeline.
Either path would represent a notable shift for a character Marvel has so far kept in a self-contained corner of its universe. Bernthal’s Frank Castle has been steadily climbing back into MCU prominence, having played a pivotal role in the ending of Daredevil seasons and appeared in Spider-Man: Brand New Day as both rival and ally to the wall-crawler.
Marvel has not confirmed the report, and no timeline, cast additions, or creative team have been announced for the follow-up. Bernthal, who also co-wrote and executive produced the special alongside director Reinaldo Marcus Green, has not publicly commented on the rumor.
