Warning! The following contains spoilers for The Punisher Season 2. Read and watch these GIFs at your own risk!
Frank Castle may not be the worst guy in the world, but he's certainly no hero. The Punisher Season 2 offers plenty of evidence of that, as Frank puts down some bad dudes in the most brutal of ways. In no particular order, here are 10 of the most brutal moments that had us wincing and trying to remember it's only a television show. It is just a television show, right?
Frank Demolishes A Guy's Face With A Weight
The entire gym battle Frank had was insane, but it really peaked when he decided to go toe-to-toe with the biggest dude in the room. After a few punches, it seemed like The Punisher Season 2 was headed towards a jarring end. As it turns out, Frank was just eating punches from the behemoth of a man so he could turn him into a stunt double for Sloth in The Goonies.
Pilgrim Performs A Tooth Extraction
There's people who have a high pain threshold, and then there's John Pilgrim. The villain really stood as Frank's equal in terms of taking a beating, and managed to have pain inflicted in him in the craziest of ways in Season 2. Granted, those who don't want teeth in their head shouldn't headbutt. This injury would have most folks crying, but for a guy who violently whips himself, this is just a Tuesday.
Frank Does A Bit Of Bathroom Renovation
Welcome to Bar Rescue, The Punisher edition. In this episode, an unsuspecting bar got hit with demo day during work hours, as host Frank Castle barricaded himself in the women's bathroom and got down and dirty. In the end, only one sink had to be removed, and thankfully Frank knew just the guy for the job. Hopefully it will be enough to keep this bar afloat following that gun battle that happened after.
Franks Wallops A Pedo With A Shotgun
Most of the folks in The Punisher got what was coming to them, but I think it's fair to say this guy in particular got off a bit soft. Granted, it was never explicitly implied he photographed child pornography, but his willingness to let Frank come in and do whatever he wants to Amy without judgment didn't play in his favor. Frank smashed up his face, then set fire to his place.
Frank Takes A Stab At Interrogating One Of Billy's Gang
Drugs are bad, and for anyone who thinks otherwise, look at where it landed Jake. He could've been with Billy and the gang getting in on that big score, but his meth addiction ultimately landed him tied up and being interrogated by Frank. Jake tried to hold strong, but a knife through the hand has a weird way of compelling someone to talk.
Pilgrim Pulls Out Some Shotgun Pellets
Remember how Pilgrim is tough as nails? It turns out nails can still get dinged up by bullets, as evidenced by Amy stopping him with a well placed shotgun blast. The shot definitely hurt, but Pilgrim was able to stay conscious and pluck a plethora of pellets from his body. The wounds remained, but Pilgrim is a tough bastard and was back to his freaky ways in no time.
Frank Takes One Down With A Gravity Defying Knife
If anyone asks how intense Season 2 of The Punisher is, be sure to tell them about this moment. Frank catches a dude in the head with his knife, and brings the blade down so hard the rest of his body mimics the shape of a scorpion on impact. Respect to the stunt guy that pulled that off, because that one had to be painful even if the blade wasn't real.
Pilgrim Catches Curtis With An "Iron Fist"
Turns out anyone can get an "iron fist" in the Netflix Marvel universe, but only if they have a pair of brass knuckles. Curtis ate a fair few of shots from Pilgrim that made us wince, and had us wondering why he can't land on the right side of an ass-kicking. If The Punisher comes back for Season 3, let's see Curtis really annihilate someone in a fight!
Pilgrim Uses Frank Like A Yo-yo
This looks like a sexual thing, but we promise, it's not a sexual thing. Pilgrim might've actually ended things for Frank with this move, but like a yo-yo, The Punisher came back and managed to turn the tables on his assailant and live to fight another day. In truth, both guys are in such bad shape at the start of this battle it's a wonder both didn't die from stress midway through.
Frank Robs Billy Of A Final Monologue
In a scene that's brutal and remarkably cold hearted, Frank kills Billy right as he's about to go into some big monologue. It's the perfect scene in the season as the audience is reminded that all of Billy's emotional and traumatic scarring doesn't really matter to Frank. At the end of the day, Billy got his family killed, and regardless of whether or not he remembers, he must be punished.
Of course, The Punisher Season 2 isn't exclusively about brutal displays of violence and death. There's also quite a bit of commentary on mental health, and the amount of suffering folks do emotionally and on a non-physical level. Those moments are harder to capture in a GIF, so we don't have them here. With that said, if we could capture the emotion Ben Barnes put into Billy Russo into a looping gif that repeats for all eternity, we totally would.
The Punisher Season 1 and 2 are both on Netflix for subscribers to binge to their heart's desire. For a look at all the other things appearing on television in the coming weeks, visit our midseason premiere guide.
