Hollywood lost a prodigious talent in the form of Ray Stevenson. The actor died on Monday, at the tragically young age of 58. No additional information about his cause of death was revealed, but the heartfelt messages from fans and collaborators alike has been vast. Stevenson was a cult favorite, an actor who dominated action-thrillers and blockbuster comedies with equal conviction.
He was also, for many, the definitive screen version of Frank Castle aka Punisher. The actor played the Marvel character only, once, but he embodied the tough-as-nails quality that fans love and sometimes feel is lacking in other depictions. As a tribute to Stevenson’s performance, and other men who have portrayed the skull-brandishing antihero, here’s a rundown of the Punisher’s screen appearances and the varying degrees of success each of them have had.
Dolph Lundgren (1989)
Things got off to a bumpy start. The rights to the character were purchased by New World Pictures and turned into a cheap action flick starring Dolph Lungren 1989. The film, simply titled The Punisher, is about as compelling as the previous sentence would suggest.
Lungren was still riding high on the success of Rocky IV (1985), but the film made the baffling decision to stray from the source material and replace crucial elements of the Frank Castle character with generic vigilante beats. The film tanked, and rightfully so. In an era where campy 80s action is reclaimed by younger audiences, the 1989 version of The Punisher is still considered a swing and a miss.
Thomas Jane (2004)
Things improved marginally by the time we got to the 2004 version of The Punisher. Thomas Jane, a much better actor, stepped into the title role, and the supporting cast included John Travolta, Will Patton and a pre-fame Ben Foster. Not bad, right? Well, you’d be half-right.
The Punisher has some gruesome action and a fiercely committed performance by Jane, but the film lacks any genuine spark. Jane fails to capture the perverse glee that Castle gets from taking out bad guys, and the campy performance by Travolta (as the villain) is at odds with the joyless tone of other scenes.
Ray Stevenson (2008)
It wasn’t until Punisher: War Zone in 2008 that Hollywood was able to tap into what makes the character special. The film is technically a sequel to the 2004 remake (not confusing at all), but it ditches the flaws of its predecessor and goes full-on vigilante sleaze. Stevenson, donning an American accent here, is mesmerizing as a guy who isn’t worried about being a hero so long as he gets the job done.
He runs through elaborate action scenes with swagger, and he avoids the forced self-reflection of the guys who preceded. Roger Ebert considered War Zone to be one of the “best-made bad movies” he’d ever seen, and the fact that it’s reputation has only gotten better with time speaks to Stevenson’s command of the role.
Jon Bernthal (2017-)
Stevenson was disappointed that he wasn’t asked to reprise Punisher when the character appeared on the second season of Daredevil in 2017. The character rights has been repurchased by Marvel, who decided to cast Jon Bernthal to help differentiate the show’s continuity. While it would have been nice to see the actor return on the small screen, there definitely feels like shared DNA between his version of the character and Bernthal’s.
Stevenson brought a ferocity and sense of unpredictability to the role, and it’s difficult to imagine the latter excelling the way he did were it not for the cult-like success of Stevenson’s lone outing. Much in the way that Timothy Dalton was a precursor to the mature 007 that Daniel Craig made famous, Stevenson laid the groundwork for the critical praise that Bernthal received (and continues to receive) as the MCU’s Punisher.
Who was your favorite Frank Castle? Do you prefer Bernthal or do you ride for the late, great Stevenson?