The Punisher: One Last Kill Embraces James Gunn’s DCU Playbook With a Ruthlessly Character-First Story

If you’ve been waiting to see Frank Castle get back to doing what he does best—namely, brutal, break-every-bone justice—you’ll want to check out The Punisher: One Last Kill on Disney+. This new short pulls zero punches (literally or figuratively), and it’s the most true-to-the-comics version of the character Jon Bernthal has ever put on screen. And here’s the weird thing: it signals that Marvel is finally picking up a page from a guy who’s not even with the company anymore—James Gunn.

Disney+ Lets Jon Bernthal Rip as the Punisher—For Real

For years, Marvel Studios stuck close to Disney’s family-friendly ways. Most of the big, MCU-brand movies and shows could feasibly be watched with your parents in the same room and not be embarrassing for anyone. It worked for the bottom line—over a billion at the box office for several—because if you slap an R-rating on Iron Man or Captain America, you lose a ton of viewers (and ticket sales).

But not every Marvel hero is built for "feel-good" TV, and if you’ve watched the Netflix-era Marvel shows (think Daredevil, Jessica Jones, The Punisher) you’ll know that they had real stakes, real consequences, and a hell of a lot more blood than anything we’ve gotten on Disney+. So when the Netflix ‘Defenders’ shows officially got folded into the MCU, a solid chunk of fans braced themselves for the PG-ification of their favorite fist-fighters. Especially after Netflix’s version of Daredevil (Charlie Cox) showed up on Disney+'s She-Hulk, minus most of the edge and a little too charming, the concern was—let’s be blunt—warranted.

Meanwhile, I couldn’t help but notice James Gunn, the ex-Marvel guy who gave us Guardians of the Galaxy, was over at DC Studios making the opposite move. Freed from the mouse’s "no bloody violence" rulebook, he rolled out The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker, both packed with gleefully over-the-top violence and characters who’d never survive a Disney+ notes meeting. Gunn was putting a spotlight on the fact that not every superhero story needs to be safe for kids.

Marvel, for a while, resisted going down this road—'Deadpool' and 'Logan' were R-rated because they were still Fox movies, not Disney productions. But then Daredevil: Born Again happened. What was supposed to be a sanitized, soft-reboot turned into a continuation of the Netflix tone (lots of broken bones, very little committee oversight). It’s almost like Marvel finally realized, "Wait, maybe the R-rating isn’t a death sentence if the material demands it."

‘One Last Kill is so violent and unfiltered, I had to remind myself Disney was actually behind this one.’

The new Punisher short goes further—even more blood, even more ripped-from-the-comics brutality. If you’d told me even two years ago that Disney+ would feature a Punisher story this graphic, I’d assume you misread a Marvel Knights DVD description from 2005. But here we are—and honestly, it works.

Gunn’s Thumbprint—and Why Not Every Superhero Needs a Body Count

Gunn deserves some credit for this—though he’s running DC’s movie universe now, his willingness to tailor story tone to character rather than just age-rating has started to rub off at Marvel. (The guy made Guardians Holiday Special and Peacemaker in the same stretch—two shows that could hardly be more different.) But let’s be clear: not every superhero needs to be swinging heads or dropping f-bombs just to feel authentic.

Gunn gets that, and so does Marvel—at least when they’re paying attention. Look at Superman (2025), Gunn’s new take: pure hopeful sunshine, no severed limbs. You wouldn’t want Spider-Man or the new Superman turning every fight into a bloodbath. The violence should fit the character, not the other way around.

• Grim, anti-hero types (like the Punisher? Give them all the grit and violence they deserve)
• Classic, all-ages heroes (like Superman and Spider-Man)? Violence is a last resort—a limit, not a feature
• Even gritty adaptations can go overboard. There’s a sweet spot: authentic, not just edgy for shock value

So when I see One Last Kill fully embrace the bloody chaos that makes the Punisher who he is, I’m more relieved than surprised. Finally, Marvel gets it—draining all the danger out of these characters just to make merch sales possible isn’t always the right call. And the door is now wide open for more R-rated content if it fits the hero or villain in question (I’m looking at you, Blade).

I am curious, though, how upcoming Spider-Man stories will juggle a character like Punisher—two wildly different moods sharing the sandbox. Could get messy, but at least there’s a template now for making both work, instead of flattening everyone into a bland, family-safe hero.

The bottom line: The Punisher: One Last Kill proves that Marvel finally admits what fans of its darker corners have been yelling for years—sometimes, you just need some brutal honesty (and a lot of on-screen broken noses).

The Cast, for Those Keeping Track

Jon Bernthal is back as Frank Castle, naturally. No word yet on if this is a one-off or Disney+ is testing the waters for a real comeback season, but with this much blood, I doubt it’ll go unnoticed.