‘The Punisher: One Last Kill’ Is Being Roasted Online Despite Earning Strong Reviews From Critics
Jon Bernthal’s long-awaited return as Frank Castle has finally arrived on Disney+, and the Marvel faithful have been hungry for it. ‘The Punisher: One Last Kill‘ serves as a standalone special bridging the gap between Bernthal’s appearances in ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ and his upcoming big-screen debut in ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day,’ giving the character a focused, brutal showcase that many fans had been demanding for years.
The special was co-written by Bernthal alongside director Reinaldo Marcus Green, with the two collaborators channeling a clear, shared understanding of who Frank Castle is at his core. Running at just under 50 minutes, the presentation packs in relentless action and emotional weight, with critics largely responding in kind. The special currently holds an 86 percent Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes alongside a 66 on Metacritic, reflecting a divided but overall positive critical response.
The praise for Bernthal himself has been particularly effusive. Writing for Variety, Jordan Moreau called the performance a landmark moment, writing that Bernthal “finally letting loose” makes ‘One Last Kill’ cement his Punisher as one of Marvel’s most singular portrayals. That kind of reception would normally mark a clean win for Marvel Studios, but the launch has been anything but smooth.
Following the special’s release, social platforms and forums quickly filled with complaints from viewers about two glaring technical problems that threatened to derail the viewing experience entirely. The first involves the audio mix, with dialogue sounding muffled and distant for many viewers, while surround sound users reported that the center channel audio was being routed to the rear speakers rather than where it belongs. One frustrated viewer on X declared with confidence that Disney+ had accidentally uploaded an incomplete sound mix, pointing to whisper-quiet dialogue, music drowning out everything else, and minor sound effects that were inexplicably louder than both.
Disney+ support publicly acknowledged the problem, responding to fans on X to confirm their team was aware of the issue and actively working on a solution. The audio stumble alone would have been enough to generate headlines, but a second controversy hit simultaneously and with considerably more mockery attached. A scene depicting Frank Castle being pushed from a building and falling onto a metal crate went viral after fans compared its visual quality to PlayStation 3 graphics, with social media exploding with jokes about GTA cutscenes and PS3 ragdoll physics being unworthy of a 2026 Marvel production.
A source close to the production told The Hollywood Reporter that the shot is more practical than it looks, with Bernthal performing the beginning of the fall himself before his stuntman took over for the impact, and VFX being used specifically to swap the stuntman’s face with Bernthal’s. Marvel has a documented history of returning to fix problematic visual effects on Disney+, most notably updating the CGI on Axl in ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ after that scene drew significant criticism during its theatrical run.
Despite the technical noise surrounding its launch, ‘One Last Kill’ earned a 91 percent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, and Bernthal is already confirmed to carry the Punisher forward into ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day,’ suggesting Marvel has no intention of letting a rocky rollout define what is clearly a character with serious long-term plans. Whether the fixes arrive quickly enough to restore goodwill among affected viewers remains to be seen, but the performance at the center of it all appears bulletproof.
If you watched ‘The Punisher: One Last Kill,’ did the audio and VFX issues genuinely pull you out of the experience, or did Bernthal’s Frank Castle carry you through regardless?
