Season 2 of Marvel Studios "The Punisher" is new on Netflix, but many superhero comic book fans already are wondering whether the antihero can survive 2019. Three of the five Marvel-Netflix shows were cancelled by the streaming video giant in 2018, including the highly praised "Daredevil" on November 29.
"Jessica Jones" and "The Punisher" are the two remaining series, but there has been speculation they soon will be axed as well. Jon Bernthal, who plays the gruesome vigilante recently told the press that he is at peace with the fate of his show and emphasized that whatever happens, it is out of his control.
"When I'm playing the character and I'm doing the job and it's right there in front of me, I do whatever I can to make it as good as I can. But in this business there's so much we can't control," Bernthal told Variety. "Whatever is happening with these shows, these decisions are being made in rooms I'm not invited into and I'm OK with that."
"The Punisher" has received mixed reviews and currently has a 60 percent on Rotten Tomatoes' Tomatometer. "Daredevil" by comparison has a 91 percent Tomatometer score and its final season was ironically considered "the win that Marvel TV needed" by Rolling Stone.
Jeremy Conrad, a Twitter influencer and Editor-in-Chief of MCU Cosmic is not getting his hopes up for "The Punisher," believing that the remaining Marvel-Netflix characters will eventually meet their demise and be cancelled like "Daredevil" "Luke Cage" and "Iron Fist."
"I think the big pro in not canceling 'Punisher' right now is to combat some of the bad press and fan reaction the past two cancellations have caused. ... Even if the announcement is delayed a bit to avoid negative fan reaction."
The second season of "The Punisher" wrapped up production before the recent cancellations.
"Daredevil" was canceled roughly a month after its third season debuted on Netflix and after "Iron Fist" and "Luke Cage" already had been axed. A petition created by fans to bring "Daredevil" back for a fourth season has more than 200,000 signatures.
"Daredevil" actor Charlie Cox responded to the petition last month in an interview with Comicbook.com, expressing not only his disappointment but his anger with the decisions made by Netflix. "I'm feeling the disappointment, I'm feeling the sadness, I'm feeling the anger about it, and I'm trying not to. ... I don't wanna get my hopes up, because obviously, I know that an online petition doesn't necessarily mean anything's gonna happen," Cox said.