Check out these photos from The Punisher and see if you can figure out the premiere date
It’s not uncommon for Netflix to mess with Marvel fans by burying info like a premiere date in some viral bit that seems only tangentially related. The streaming platform’s playing a similar game with the release of Marvel’s The Punisher. A press release issued today includes lots of photos from the set of the Jon Bernthal-led spin-off, but has the actual premiere date redacted.
While we don’t know just when The Punisher will hit Netflix, the synopsis for the first season is as follows: “After exacting revenge on those responsible for the death of his wife and children, Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal) uncovers a conspiracy that runs far deeper than New York’s criminal underworld. Now known throughout the city as The Punisher, he must discover the truth about injustices that affect more than his family alone.” Yeah, that’s not much more than we already knew. Looks like we’ll just have to apply our sleuthing skills to the photos that were passed along.
First of all, we have the header image, which shows Frank (Bernthal) looking confused or bemused by some kind of tactical vest. Here’s an equally grim-looking Ebon Moss-Bachrach as David Lieberman a.k.a Micro[chip], a former NSA analyst who reportedly has some information that’s valuable to Frank as well as any other number of players.
There are no numbers hidden anywhere and no real clues from Micro’s jacket, so let’s move on to Deborah Ann Woll, who’s reprising her role as Karen Page. Here, she’s talking to Frank near the Brooklyn Bridge. It looks cold, but still, nothing about the “imminent” arrival of season one.
Well, here’s Westworld’s Ben Barnes as Billy Russo, a fellow Special Forces vet and Frank’s best friend, and Jason R. Moore as Curtis Hoyle, one of the few people who know Frank’s alive. Billy runs a private military corporation, which shows that neither he nor Frank got too far from their training. Comics readers will recognize Billy Russo as the alter ego of Jigsaw, which means this photo was taken well before his “accident.”
Amber Rose Revah stars as Dinah Madani, a “highly-trained and sophisticated” Homeland Security officer who clashes with Frank at some point. The character is original to the series, which means we can’t link you to a Marvel page somewhere. But it looks like she’s got four shotgun shells, so we’re just going to assume this means The Punisher will premiere on October 4, though we do reserve the right to change our minds when other, more revealing photos are made available.
Okay, so these images didn’t help us crack the code. But you can try to blow up the pennysaver ads in this photo of Jaime Ray Newman as Sarah Lieberman, Micro’s wife, to see if you can spy a date.