It's been only four days since armed gunman Stephen Paddock took to Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas to fire his weapon during a music festival. On Sunday night, the terrorist killed 58 people from his 32nd-floor hotel room at the Mandalay Bay and injured about 500 more people during the Route 91 Festival, CNN reported. The terrorist and culprit is now dead from what the authorities believe is a suicide, but his motives are still unknown. Because of this devastating event, Marvel and Netflix have decided to pull the panel for "The Punisher" during the upcoming New York Comic Con this weekend.
In a joint statement received by Deadline, Marvel and Netflix expressed how "stunned and saddened" they are about the terrorist attack, and that they have "decided it wouldn’t be appropriate for Marvel’s The Punisher to participate in New York Comic-Con."
NYCC 'supports' Marvel and Netflix
The Las Vegas shooting was an act of utter violence which both Netflix and Marvel have expressed their devastation over. They added that "Our thoughts continue to be with the victims and those affected by this tragedy." The New York Comic Con (NYCC) organization responded to the decision of Marvel and Netflix, also releasing a statement expressing their "wholehearted support" for their decision to remove "The Punisher" from their panel on October 7 and instead are working to ensure that the slot is filled and that they continue to "[offer] fans the best in pop culture programming."
'The Punisher' has no release date yet
Netflix and Marvel may have wanted to announce a release date for "The Punisher" during this weekend's NYCC, but have decided against participating in the event due to last weekend's tragic shooting in Las Vegas.
No further details have been made public about the series, which will be produced by Steve Lightfoot. Jon Bernthal is set to star as the titular character. It is also set to star Ben Barnes, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Amber Rose Revah, Deborah Ann Woll, Daniel Webber, Jason R. Monroe, Paul Schulze, Jaime Ray Newman, and Michael Nathanson.
Who is the Punisher?
It is yet unclear how the Netflix of "The Punisher" will be as close to the Marvel comics. However, Rolling Stone reported that the character is "a well-trained veteran whose family got gunned down during a drug deal gone bad, sending him on a bloody quest for retribution by any means necessary." The series will be executively produced by "Hannibal"'s Steve Lightfoot.
