The Best Punisher Scene Of All Time Needs to Happen In This Upcoming MCU Movie

After he returned to the MCU in Daredevil: Born Again season 1, Avengers: Doomsday should deliver one of the best Punisher scenes from the comics. Although Jon Bernthal was not among those names confirmed to be starring in Avengers: Doomsday, there is still plenty of time for his name to be among an additional roster announcement in the coming months.

Bernthal’s role in Avengers: Doomsday would be minimal. His character isn’t traditionally an integral part of the story leading up to Marvel Comics’ Secret Wars. Nevertheless, Punisher still boasts one incredible scene that Marvel Studios is now primed to adapt into live-action, with Avengers: Doomsday being the perfect stage.

The Punisher Doesn’t Necessarily Fit With The Avengers: Doomsday Narrative

The Punisher looks stoic while wearing his iconic vestImage via Marvel Studios

As the Multiverse Saga’s first Avengers movie, Avengers: Doomsday will focus on a distinctly multiverse-related narrative. This is already all but confirmed by the mere presence of the cast of Fox’s X-Men, who hail from a universe distinct from the mainline MCU and who Kevin Feige has stated will be fighting Doctor Doom alongside Earth-616’s Avengers. It also stands to reason, given that it will be the first in a two-part culmination for the Multiverse Saga.

Suffice it to say that the Punisher, and other street-level heroes like him, aren’t typically associated with such cosmic foundations. Aside from the fact that the Punisher tends to concern himself with distinctly street-level villains like Kingpin and his goons, or even more obscure villains like Jigsaw, he is also rarely a team player. Although some of his most entertaining scenes feature him teaming up with the likes of Daredevil, his extreme methods mostly ostracize him from more pacifistic heroes.

This is why his dynamic with Spider-Man in the Punisher’s first big-screen appearance in Spider-Man: Brand New Day is so exciting, but Spider-Man: Brand New Day looks set to be a distinctly street-level narrative featuring street-level villains that pale in comparison to Doctor Doom. Nevertheless, while Spider-Man, who is now well-versed in facing cosmic threats, is arguably a better fit for Avengers: Doomsday, the movie can still feature the Punisher in a cameo that recreates one of the greatest scenes from the 2015 Secret Wars run of comics.

Punisher’s Villain Massacre Scene Can Be Recreated In Avengers: Doomsday

As the first of two movies to spotlight the Multiverse Saga’s arch-villain, Doctor Doom, Avengers: Doomsday will lead straight into Avengers: Secret Wars, mirroring Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. With that in mind, Avengers: Doomsday is expected to feature the final incursion seeded across several Multiverse Saga installments and to set the stage for Avengers: Secret Wars to take place entirely on Doom’s Battleworld.

This means that Avengers: Doomsday can also include a small yet effective scene starring the Punisher and several Marvel villains. The scene takes place in Secret Wars #1 and shows that Kingpin has invited several street-level villains to a penthouse, where they can share a drink and revel in their final moments knowing that their enemies will also perish, and that they have ultimately failed in their mission to protect the universe.

After getting wind of this party himself, Punisher opts to spend his final moments doing what he does best: murdering villains. To that end, Punisher barges into the room full of villains and denies them their final satisfaction by taking the opportunity to decimate them himself before the final incursion runs its course and takes them all down.

To the average superhero scrambling outside to stave off the worst effects of the incursion, such a victory against comparatively small-time villains would have been all too pyrrhic. The same cannot be said for the Punisher, however, who spends his final moments achieving his ultimate goal of ridding New York of its most nefarious residents, rounding out his arc before the final cataclysm in the most epic way possible.

How The Punisher’s Secret Wars Scene Could Play Out In Avengers: Doomsday

The Punisher prepares to kill a room of villains in Secret Wars 1Image via Marvel Comics

With the Kingpin established in the MCU thanks to Daredevil: Born Again, there is every chance that this scene from Marvel Comics could be adapted panel-for-panel in Avengers: Doomsday. It can also provide the perfect opportunity for surviving MCU villains to make one final cameo, especially considering the vast majority of villains who still live in the MCU are street-level. The following characters, for example, are perfect candidates to attend the Kingpin’s end-of-the-world party:

Bullseye

Helmut Zemo

Adrian Toomes/Vulture

Mac Gargan/Scorpion

Justin Hammer

Sidewinder

Sonny Burch

Batroc the Leaper

The Leader

This list doesn’t account for MCU villains who are presumed dead but who may have survived nonetheless, such as Mysterio. It also doesn’t account for the villains due to be introduced in the handful of MCU installments preceding Avengers: Doomsday, like Daredevil: Born Again season 2, Vision Quest, and Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Whatever the case, just a minute of screen time could give a massively entertaining send-off to both Punisher and the villains fans have come to love.

It is also possible this plays out as a post-credits scene for Spider-Man: Brand New Day, given Jon Bernthal is already confirmed for the cast. This would follow the example set by one of the Multiverse Saga’s most acclaimed installments, Thunderbolts*, which features the New Avengers, now well-established, at the moment when the Fantastic Four’s spaceship enters their universe.

The tone of this post-credits scene felt distinct from the rest of the movie thanks to the fact that it was directed by Avengers: Doomsday directors Joe and Anthony Russo on the Avengers: Doomsday set. The Punisher’s iconic scene could follow suit, with the looming final incursion of Earth-616 being the stage on which Avengers: Doomsday will play out. The inherently cosmic nature of the scene will likely contrast with Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s more grounded tone, but would award Punisher the final scene he deserves.

Jon Bernthal’s Punisher Deserves A Send-Off Worthy Of The Comics

Jon Bernthal is one of the most beloved MCU actors. His rendition of Punisher is celebrated for its comic accuracy, perfectly toeing the line between Punisher’s machismo and emotional turmoil. Part of why audiences are so excited for Spider-Man: Brand New Day is the prospect of seeing Bernthal’s Punisher adapted to the big screen for the first time, affording him an even bigger spotlight after starring in some of Marvel’s most acclaimed shows.

Sadly, with Avengers: Secret Wars preceding a soft reboot for the MCU, it might be the case that Jon Bernthal will be among the MCU actors who could be recast for future MCU installments. If that is the case, then the Secret Wars scene where he kills a room full of high-profile villains would be the perfect send-off for the actor. The character is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to small-time goons, but depicting the death of all surviving MCU villains at the hands of Punisher lends him some much-deserved prestige.

At the same time, Bernthals’ Punisher could still persist in future MCU installments. While Avengers: Doomsday might spell the end of Earth-616 as we know it, many MCU actors are expected to continue portraying their iconic characters when the universe is reconstructed by the end of Avengers: Secret Wars. Whether Jon Bernthal’s Punisher is among them remains to be seen, but Daredevil: Born Again season 2 and the Punisher Special Presentation–a feature-length one-shot akin to Werewolf by Night–should offer more insight into whether this will be the case.

Whatever the case, it is unlikely that the Punisher variant established in the current MCU timeline will survive the events of a final incursion, with the spotlight more likely to be focused on more mainstream Avengers by the time Avengers: Secret Wars rolls around. Even if it doesn’t spell the end of Jon Bernthal’s character overall, his Earth-616 variant is still deserving of this one scene, especially if the ultimate outcome renders his murder of core villains like Kingpin and Zemo obsolete as a post-Avengers: Secret Wars narrative reintroduces them or their variants.