Marvel has been getting generally good returns from both critical and viewer ratings for their online corner of the Cinematic Universe, in the form of web television miniseries running on streaming service heavyweight, Netflix. Following the “Defenders” team series of their previous solo street-level heroes that released just this August, next on their schedule is “The Punisher” starring Jon Bernthal as the ex-Marine armed vigilante, who first appear in-show on “Daredevil” season 2. Marvel and Netflix were all set to do a major promotion of the new series at the New York Comic Con, with Bernthal and other members of the cast.
But in the wake of the recent Las Vegas mass shooting incident, this plan has been scrapped.
NYCC no-show
The 2017 New York Comic Con is all set to start at the Javits Center this Thursday, October 5 and go all the way to the weekend until Sunday, October 8. One major portion of the convention most certainly goes to Marvel, which has a lot of movies and TV shows to hype as they premiere or return for either this year or the next, like “Agents of SHIELD” season 5 on ABC and of course, “The Punisher” on Netflix. But when news of the Las Vegas incident broke out over this week, the collaborating companies thought ill about promoting an ultra-violent gun-toting comic book character for the NYCC.
“We are stunned and saddened by this week’s senseless act in Las Vegas,” declared Marvel and Netflix in a joint statement.
They have thusly decided to pull their Comic-Con panel for “The Punisher” and with it, any appearance by John Bernthal and his cast-mates in an official capacity. The statement concludes with the two companies sending out their thoughts to the victims and everybody else who were affected by the Las Vegas tragedy.
Possible premiere date reshuffle
Jon Bernthal, an alumnus of AMC’s zombie apocalypse cash cow “The Walking Dead” reprises his role in “The Punisher” as the singularly determined Frank Castle, a crusading widower killing criminals and super-villains after such people murdered his family in his backstory. The show’s panel at the New York Comic Con would have included him, Marvel TV chief Jeff Loeb and other members of the cast and production, set for the late afternoon of Saturday, October 7.
The Las Vegas shootout was perpetrated by retired accountant Stephen Paddock, 64, who shot multiple firearms from his hotel room at the Mandalay Bay hotel, targeting attendees of the nearby Route 91 Harvest music fest. In addition to canceling their NYCC panel in light of the incident, Marvel also appears to be recalibrating the Netflix streaming premiere of “The Punisher,” which remains without a precise date other than before the year ends.
