Marvel's Hawkeye

 

The Disney Plus shows have been a mixed bag. There have been strong moments with Wandavision possibly being the best, though I do like those character more than the others that have graced the small screen. The Netflix material had its moments the first season of Jessican Jones, the Punisher and Daredevil being the strongest and the rest boring to unwatchable. Hawkeye is better than Falcon and Winter Solider. It flows more seamlessly out of the movies and does what only Spider-Man No Way Home has done which is attempted to reconcile those Netflix shows with the movies, by bringing Kingpin in. Matt Murdock was in No Way Home only for 30 seconds at most, and Kingpin's character in Hawkeye is closer to the comics. Renner shows how comfortable he is in the role. Hailee Steinfield works really well as Kate Bishop and is a likeable character, so it happens in a very organic way than Marvel shoving a female superhero down our throats.  

Not to say the shove does not occur and predictably fail with the introduction of Echo. The character has no personality. Which was never really developed much in the comic books, there was talk hyping her up for her own series which is hopefully something Marvel rethinks as that would be watching paint dry as she can work well supporting say Daredevil, but the show does not flesh her out, nor should it since we already have other characters like the Swordsman, who is more charming and interesting. We also get Yelena, the other Balck Widow, who was introduced in the Black Widow solo movie. She has also grown into her role. The show was a bland of action and story that felt very natural along with the staple humor the movies have been known for.

I am far more interested in Moon Knight and She-Hulk as characters, so it makes me hopeful to see those if Marvel can make me root for a character, I am lukewarm on, though I have been reading comics for over forty years so even then forty years with any character and you gain more affinity for than not. It is wise to streamline these down to 6 episodes as it takes out a great deal of filler so it never drags. They did alot right here so hopefully they learned from this going forward.    

The Truth About the Punisher

It is time to clear up some misconceptions about the Punisher. The children of today who are prone to cry about everything raised their tiny fists in the air to take offense at police and supporters of police using the Punisher’s logo as their own coat of arms. While generation outrage is correct in pointing out that the Punisher is not a fan of police, the joke is still on them. If they do not like Police then they really are not going to like Frank Castle and need to wake up to why he doesn’t like them. Frank Castle is not against police brutality. He thinks police are not brutal enough. That is why he kills criminals because he thinks the system is just going to spit them back out on the streets. He sees criminals as a problem that needs to be ended. 

 When Frank Castle first graced the pages of Spider-man in 1974 he was the villain. Over the years that followed he continued to come up against actual superheroes like Daredevil, Iron-Man, Wolverine and Ghost Rider. He was not created with the intention of being a hero, but Marvel has a long tradition of turning villains you acquire enough popularity into “anti-heroes” because why not cash in. It paid off as the Punisher has had longer stretches of carrying his own book than both Captain Marvel and Black Panther combined. He has appeared in three movies and carried multiple tv shows. It is unlikely he is going anywhere since he has made Marvel a ton of money.

 Marvel’s only Punisher problem is finding the balls to point out. this is who the character is and not all products are for all people. A person who does not want to watch a Punisher show or read a Punisher comic has other options to choose from. Just like it is not realistic to like everyone in the world, the Marvel Universe should be no different. You are not going to like every character, but that does not mean they need to change. You are opposed to police brutality, well then, the Punisher is going to be harder to handle as he wants to skip all due process and be judge, jury executioner. Funny enough, in the current cancel culture due process is not really a thing, but I guess that is just a matter of convenience. Most superheroes are vigilantes. They do not go to the lengths Frank Castle does, perhaps even having to hold back because they have superpowers making them more capable of killing than Frank who is just a normal man. I think his dedication and intensity is what makes Frank an interesting character and one of the few sonic book character who does not have powers that I like, typically because the stories are so dark. He has worked as a character for almost 50 years and there are many more stories worth telling with him, if you do not like him or what he stands for then just do not read or watch them,