It’s fitting that one of the last remaining Marvel series on Netflix is The Punisher. After all, nobody survives quite like the indefatigable warrior Frank Castle. It’s been over a year since we last saw Frank in action, but the new teaser trailer promises that this season will be worth the wait.
The teaser is a stripped down, nearly black trailer that juxtaposes Frank against his former comrade turned enemy Billy Russo, who was last seen getting his face dragged along the shattered mirrors at the merry-go-round, scarring his handsome face. Comic fans will recognize this as the moment when Russo becomes Frank’s arch nemesis Jigsaw. We get glimpses of Barnes pulling off his bandages while his voice-over says, “It’s like a bomb went off inside my mind, scattering all the pieces.”
The trailer ends with Frank’s grizzled voice saying, “I’m not the one who dies, I’m the one who does the killing.” In addition to the teaser, Netflix has also dropped some Easter eggs for the upcoming season. A deleted tweet from the show’s Twitter account links to a Google doc which features a medical assessment of Billy Russo. We learn from the assessment that Russo has suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and is suffering from amnesia, in addition to his facial scarring.
A link in the Google doc takes you to an unlisted video, where you can watch Billy Russo’s therapy session with Dr. Krista Dumont, played by Supergirl‘s Floriana Lima:
In the clip, Dumont encourages Billy to decorate his plain white mask to “represent what you want to portray to the outside world.” Billy dismisses the exercise, but as we can see from the trailer, he later adapts his mask to reflect the fractured pieces of himself.
The first season of The Punisher was brutal and violent, which is to be expected considering its source material. But it also served as an incisive indictment of toxic masculinity and the effects of PTSD on veterans. The Punisher is filled with men who struggle to reconcile their soldier and civilian identities, and takes an unflinching look at the ways in which the system fails its veterans.
I’m excited to see the show do similar work with regards to Russo’s character, whose vanity and confidence has been damaged by his brutal scarring. The Punisher is at its best when it delves into the battered emotional core of its warriors, and this season promises plenty of painful introspection.
Season two of The Punisher premieres on Netflix on January 18th.
(via CBR, image: Screencap)
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