Justice was indeed found with showrunner Steve Lightfoot’s creative team, and The Punisher instantly stood out from other MCU entries as a hyperbolic conspiracy thriller honoring Frank’s military background, if not his traditional Punisher persona.
Several factors hindered the show’s pre-release buzz, though, from an intentionally secretive marketing to real-world mass shootings, and perhaps a later release date would have boosted reactions.
Suitable reasoning aside, people should still have been singing The Punisher’s praises from day one, since it’s not like anyone but Netflix was going to make it.
Jon Bernthal’s Frank Castle was granted a standalone series after his highly celebrated debut in Daredevil Season 2, and it had the potential to finally do justice to the hyper-violent war hero/criminal.