Fans have been longing for the avenging angel that is Frank Castle aka The Punisher to join The Avengers on the big screen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Well, according to the Russo brothers themselves, he has already appeared in one of their adventures, namely Avengers: Endgame, but he was pretty hard to spot.
During the latest lockdown watch party, this time centered on the comic book epic Avengers: Endgame, a Marvel fan took to social media to ask where the bench landed that the Hulk, played by Mark Ruffalo, throws in anger after finding out about Natasha Romanoff’s death. The directing duo wasted no time in providing a satisfying answer, as well as a complimentary GIF, with the moviemaker brothers giving us the identity of the unfortunate individual who received a wooden bench to the face courtesy of Professor Hulk.
Ouch. Poor Frank. No doubt he was pretty raging after having his tranquil stroll ruined by the sudden inclusion of a weaponized bench. Though being The Punisher, he was no doubt just thinking about who to kill next anyway, so perhaps the Hulk just made that decision a little easier.
Regardless, according to the Russo’s, if you look really, really closely, maybe squinting while you do so, you might just catch a glimpse of Frank Castle sneaking his way into Avengers: Endgame just to be taken out by a bench. Of course, if you can’t see him, that is just because he is so good at hiding thanks to his extensive military training, and does not mean for one second that the Russo brothers are liars or tricksters.
Though you may already be disappointed by Frank Castle’s diminutive role in the Avengers: Endgame proceedings, you will be even more saddened to learn that there was a time when the production considered included those Marvel characters that had appeared on the various Netflix series’. Ultimately though the creative team behind the project, more specifically screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, ended up passing on the idea due to the work involved in it all.
“We would have to introduce these five characters – or whatever many. We already are assuming people have seen a lot of the movies. Are we really going to assume they have bought a subscription to Netflix and watched those shows enough so that when they see them, they’re going to go ‘yay?'”
McFeely’s reluctance to include the likes of The Punisher and Daredevil does make some sense, though equally, most Marvel movie fans will at least be aware of the Netflix shows, even if they may not have seen them. Besides, would it have really mattered had some members of the audience not recognized them?
Markus elaborated further stating that “It also screws up the timelines. You would have to assume that they all got snapped away, or otherwise they might have shown up earlier. I think the only character who has come from TV to the movies is Jarvis, James D’Arcy [from Agent Carter].”
Avengers: Endgame is now streaming on Disney+. This comes to us courtesy of The Russo Brothers’ Twitter account.
