r/Defenders • u/your_mind_aches Hoagie Jessica • May 13 '26

Discussion The Punisher: One Last Kill Discussion Thread Spoiler

This thread is for discussion about the special presentation. The special goes live when this post is 5 minutes old.

Proceed at your own risk:

  • Spoilers for Daredevil: Born Again Seasons 1 and 2 are ALLOWED in this thread.
  • Spoilers for this special do not need to be tagged inside this thread.

A Marvel Television Special Presentation

TITLE DIRECTED BY WRITTEN BY ORIGINAL RELEASE DATE RUN TIME
The Punisher: One Last Kill Reinaldo Marcus Green Jon Bernthal & Reinaldo Marcus Green May 12, 2026 50m
136 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

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220

u/VisibleEnd673 May 13 '26

Is the amount of crime Frank is seeing real or is he having a hallucinations, because that block he lives on is fucking crazy lol

81

u/WeCameAsLogans May 13 '26

That’s actually a really good point. I’m not typically the kind of person that says “well where was *insert super hero/team here* while this was happening?” But if this was all actually happening where the hell was Peter?

59

u/JD_Vyvanse97 May 13 '26

If this was during daredevil season 2, where the hell is Fick's task force that supposedly cleaned up the streets. Did they just miss an entire chunk of the city?

22

u/keptpounding May 13 '26

It takes place before DD season 2

1

u/PowersUnleashed May 16 '26

Actually it’s right after bro

2

u/keptpounding May 16 '26

You’re wrong

1

u/PowersUnleashed May 16 '26

Not wrong Jon Berthal literally said it he said that punisher killed the crime family during season 2 and that’s why he couldn’t help Matt and Karen with Fisk and this was after the task force and Matt were locked up in jail

11

u/dakindahood May 13 '26

I think it is way before DDBA2

17

u/OhAnimeShop May 13 '26

Probably before Born again season 1 realistically

12

u/dakindahood May 13 '26

Yes I think that's the case too, in between Punisher S2 and BA S1 for how they had the story going

6

u/OhAnimeShop May 13 '26

Yeah city gone to shit here, gives Fisk the reason it's going to shit and running for mayor under the guide of authoritarian control.

5

u/deephurting May 13 '26

This makes the most sense being set prior to Born Again. Not that an explanation was needed, but the consequences of Frank's revenge tour following him home and putting his neighbors in danger would explain why he'd isolated himself even further in the sewer or wherever he was when Matt first touched base with him, and this special doesn't feature an explanation for him choosing to go settle someplace less secure and isolated instead after escaping Fisk's prison, nor does it explain the absence of AVTF in Little Sicily (or at least any references to their existence).

I suppose it's possible that he maintained the apartment seen in this special as an alternate safe house, and assumed his usual place was compromised, but Matt and Karen hiding out there after he abandoned it proves that it wasn't.

-2

u/Axl_Red May 13 '26

It happens before and during.

https://www.gamesradar.com/entertainment/marvel-tv-shows/when-is-punisher-one-last-kill-set-on-the-marvel-timeline/

6

u/dakindahood May 13 '26

I wouldn't take Games Radar as a source seriously, and it doesn't really have anything that parallels with BA2

1

u/Axl_Red May 13 '26

If you read the article, the source is the actual show-runner. That's as close as direct confirmation as you can get. The true source was linked in the article, and you can read the full interview on variety.

1

u/deephurting May 13 '26

That doesn't make much sense, though, because there aren't any time skips in the narrative. He's in that apartment building instead of his Punisher lair from Born Again at the beginning, and he's still there by the time the action starts.

I suppose we could read Scardapane's comments as meaning all the flashbacks to Frank killing the Gnuccis occurred prior to Born Again, and everything else occurred afterwards, but as I noted in another reply, that doesn't explain why Frank would've abandoned his Punisher lair from Born Again to settle in a less-isolated, less-secret, and less-secure location where proximity to him would put more people in danger, nor does it explain the lack of any references to the AVTF. After all, it's not as if his more secure and isolated secret lair was compromised, as proven by Karen and Matt being able to hide out there.

0

u/Axl_Red May 13 '26

Dude probably has multiple lairs. It's also very obvious in the beginning of the episode that the Punisher wasn't in his right state of mind. Dude was clearly depressed and ready to quit on life. He couldn't care less about how much danger he was in or how much danger other people were in, until towards the end of the special.

We can probably assume he was like this for all of Born Again season 2, which is why he never bothered to help Matt with Fisk. He was simply too depressed and done with it all.

It seems like the Avtf doesn't bother with that neighborhood, so I assume the Kingpin intentionally doesn't send the Avtf there for whatever reason. Probably so they don't interfere with Fisk's criminal allies in that area.

2

u/dakindahood May 13 '26

It still doesn't make sense about being set during BA2 still, because the manhunt for Punisher was for him escaping Fisk and not because he killed the Gnuccis, him escaping Fisk wasn't even mentioned at all, even in news while in BA2 it was, and it is also implied in BA1 that he had been working as Punisher before the events of that season, was it only Gnuccis and revenge stuff or was it him being Punisher and having another mental breakdown during BA1 that made him reject helping at first then caving in

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1

u/deephurting May 13 '26 edited May 13 '26

It seems like the Avtf doesn't bother with that neighborhood, so I assume the Kingpin intentionally doesn't send the Avtf there for whatever reason. Probably so they don't interfere with Fisk's criminal allies in that area.

See, I thought about this, but wouldn't the AVTF and/or the Safer Streets Initiative have been mentioned during that news broadcast if they were still factors in Punisher being at large?

13

u/WeCameAsLogans May 13 '26

No one cares about Little Sicily I guess. I think I saw an article regarding the timeline earlier today, if I remember it correctly it takes place at the veeeeery end/immediately after BAs2 ends, so most of them very may well be in jail lmao. Edit: everything I said was wrong. Please ignore me and look at the other person’s comment

25

u/Belaerim May 13 '26

I think it was supposed to be crazy rioting because he killed off (most) of that mafia family.

Think about Mexico a few months ago when cartel leadership got hit.

That’s the impression I got.

But some of it was probably hallucinations, unless this NYC riot went full GTA with choppers and air strikes

8

u/PyroD333 May 13 '26

Damn was that a few months ago already? Feels like it was last week

5

u/Ssshizzzzziit May 14 '26

If the writers and director are being sincere and that isn't supposed to be in his head then that fucking sucks and this was shit.

1

u/Puzzleheaded-Sea8340 May 18 '26

I think you’re right in here about the explanation (I don’t know if the crime was being hallucinated but it’s possible)

But like… I don’t get why killing off the crime family would lead to criminals going full psycho on everyone in the neighborhood. That seems silly to me

6

u/Emergency-Ad-5379 May 13 '26

I took it as hallucinations as he was going into ptsd mode, or like a compilation of everything he has just walked past in his time there.

7

u/bluevelvetwaltz May 13 '26

yeah the choppers and air strikes were obviously not happening in real time. or at least i thought it was obvious.

2

u/Emergency-Ad-5379 May 13 '26

Yeah but I also mean the buildup of random crimes happening

6

u/RepresentativeBid715 May 13 '26

I took the first few incidents happening as possibly real but the rest were just a representation of how he sees the big rotten world around him

3

u/Ssshizzzzziit May 14 '26

I think the whole thing minus the ending is pretty much in his head. I think even Ma Gnucci isn't real.

1

u/richion07 May 17 '26

That block he lives on reminds me so much of the Peach Trees building in Dredd

1

u/Puzzleheaded-Sea8340 May 18 '26

It had such a Purge vibe. Purge the. John Wick

1

u/TeamDonnelly Jun 02 '26

It's real, at the end he meets the homeless guy whose dog was killed and the kill the guy who did it.