Sutradara Reinaldo Marcus Green mengungkapkan ambisinya bersama aktor Jon Bernthal untuk membawa karakter Frank Castle ke layar lebar secara global setelah penayangan perdana tayangan spesial Disney Plus bertajuk The Punisher: One Last Kill pada Selasa, 12 Mei 2026.
Proyek One Last Kill menjadi panggung utama kembalinya Frank Castle ke dalam Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) usai pembatalan serial Netflix pada 2019, sekaligus menjadi jembatan bagi kemunculan sang anti-hero dalam film Spider-Man: Brand New Day yang dijadwalkan rilis musim panas ini.
Dilansir dari The Direct, Reinaldo Marcus Green menyatakan bahwa meskipun keputusan masa depan karakter tersebut sepenuhnya berada di tangan Marvel Studios, ia dan Bernthal sangat berharap dapat menggarap sebuah film yang bisa disaksikan di bioskop seluruh dunia.
"To be honest, I can't speak to that. I don't know what the plans are for the future of the Punisher. The only thing that we hope that we were able to accomplish is the demand for more if we were able to accomplish that. Hopefully Jon [Bernthal] and Marvel will come together to make something worthy of what the audience would want to see out of that character. Moving forward. I think, speaking for myself, I know Jon, and I would love to make a movie, something that could go worldwide and be on screens everywhere. But obviously, that’ll be Marvel’s decision." ujar Reinaldo Marcus Green, Sutradara dan Penulis One Last Kill.
Green menegaskan bahwa sejak awal pengembangan naskah, Jon Bernthal bersikeras untuk mempertahankan kegelapan karakter Punisher tanpa mengurangi intensitas kekerasan meski ditayangkan di platform Disney Plus yang dikenal ramah keluarga.
"I think Jon [Bernthal] wasn't going to have it any other way. I think he spoke about it publicly, that it was go hard or go home, so to speak. And you know, he wasn't going to do a special that was going to kind of hold punches. And so when he approached me, there was already a lot of that darkness in the character, in the journey of the character. He had already been thinking about this draft and the structure of the early drafts. So, it came to me, and it was already kind of loosely pre-approved in that sense." kata Reinaldo Marcus Green, Sutradara dan Penulis One Last Kill.
Sutradara tersebut juga merasa bahwa penayangan di Disney Plus merupakan langkah berani karena menyajikan konten yang sangat kontras dengan ekspektasi penonton terhadap platform tersebut selama ini.
"And so, I knew that at least as far as I was concerned, Disney was on board, which I thought was bold, and daring, and fun. And I think that's what makes it really cool, that it is a Disney+ special, because it's not what you expect to see on that platform, and to see Frank Castle kind of come back in this way I think was exciting, because it's a whole new audience for us." tutur Reinaldo Marcus Green, Sutradara dan Penulis One Last Kill.
Mengenai keterkaitan dengan film Spider-Man mendatang yang disutradarai Destin Cretton, Green menyebut One Last Kill sangat krusial untuk membangun kondisi psikologis Frank Castle sebelum bertemu dengan Peter Parker versi Tom Holland.
"I feel like we're coming in the right time. Just as a fan of The Punisher and a fan of Jon [Bernthal], I want to see him more on screen. That trailer looks amazing. Destin Cretton’s an incredible filmmaker. So, just to know that I got Frank first, which is cool to get there before everybody else did, which, selfishly, is really great [to be able to] set him up, like you said, and we know his psychological state before he goes into into Spider-Man… I couldn't have asked for better timing for us. So, I think it's a lot of fun. I think people that are fans and people that are non-fans can still appreciate the special. Someone like my mother has never seen 'The Punisher'. I think she can appreciate where Frank is in his headspace, and then maybe she'll become a fan and then go watch Spider-Man. So, I'm hoping that we can get some new audience members.” jelas Reinaldo Marcus Green, Sutradara dan Penulis One Last Kill.
Berdasarkan laporan Screen Rant, One Last Kill yang berdurasi 60 menit ini menyajikan berbagai rujukan penting dari semesta Netflix, termasuk kembalinya Jason R. Moore sebagai Curtis Hoyle dan Kelli Barrett sebagai mendiang istri Frank, Maria Castle.
Karakter Frank Castle dikisahkan telah pindah ke lingkungan Little Sicily untuk menghabisi sisa-sisa anggota keluarga kriminal Gnucci, yang sekaligus menandai berakhirnya misi balas dendam pribadinya atas kematian keluarganya di masa lalu.
