The time has come for Marvel to address its lowest-grossing movie ever and bring one of its best characters to the silver screen again. The Punisher has been notably absent from the MCU timeline, likely due to his highly violent and graphic brand of vigilante justice. However, with his pending return in the MCU's future, it's possible that Marvel could adapt the character into a movie, and in the process redeem its worst performing movie ever.

The Punisher has endured as one of the most complex comic book characters, but his box-office record hasn’t been all that impressive, as is evident from the low earnings of Marvelfilms like Punisher: War Zone. Following the footsteps of 1989’s The Punisher starring Dolph Lundgren and 2004’s Punisher reboot starring Thomas Jane, this movie found the late Ray Stevenson playing the ex-Marine-turned-vigilante Frank Castle. The Lexi Alexander-directed action thriller pitted the titular hero against Dominic West’s villain Jigsaw, a mob boss behind the death of Castle’s family and who vows revenge on Castle for disfiguring his face.

Ray Stevenson has ed away at the age of 58. A longtime character actor, Stevenson is best known for his starring roles in Punisher: War Zoneand the HBO series Rome. After playing Frank Castle/The Punisher in the 2008 film, the Irish actor went on to play a different character, Volstagg, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe's first three Thor movies. Stevenson also appears in the Star Wars series, Ahsoka.

Thomas Jane portrayed Frank Castle in Jonathan Hensleigh's The Punisher, but he would subsequently be succeeded not once but twice. The Punisher has had a curious history his live-action adaptations compared to most other Marvel characters, first being played by Dolph Lundgren in 1989's The Punisher. Jane would later assume role in 2004's The Punisher, which was a moderate success and set up Castle's continued vigilante tale in The Punisher 2.

Many consider action movies a "boys' club." Unfortunately, female directors have unfairly found it difficult getting hired for big action blockbusters and too few of them have ever been given the chance. Outside of Kathryn Bigelow, only a small handful have been able to tackle this male-dominated genre.

Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter says his script for Punisher: War Zonewas rejected because he took too many liberties with the character. Sutter is best known for creating the long-running FX series starring Charlie Hunnam, former Hellboy Ron Perlman, and his wife Katy Segal and its spinoff Mayans MC, which he was fired from after season 2. The controversial showrunner got his start writing and producing on the crooked cop show The Shield and turned that into cable TV success.

Regardless of what side of the law you’re on, everybody needs a place to blow off some steam among friends. Nowhere is that more true than for Marvel’s supervillain community. World-ending threats like Thanos, Galactus and Kang the Conqueror cast a large shadow over the planet, and equally mighty heroes have risen to dispel the darkness. Imagine the stress of being Stilt-Man, or Big Wheel, or even the Shocker when there’s a Captain Marvel or an Iron Man in every major city.

Despite the simple setup of the character, The Punisher has had a surprisingly tricky time on the big screen. There have been three attempts thus far to turn the comic into a movie franchise - first up was the 1989 version starring Dolph Lundgren, then came Thomas Jane’s The Punisher in 2004, and finally, Punisher: War Zone with Ray Stevenson in 2008.

Not every comic book superhero adaptation gets turns into gold at the box office. While the superhero boom in Hollywood has made many people rich and turned many superhero films into massive blockbusters, there are exceptions. Most of the "failures" still earn back their ludicrous budgets and possibly get rebooted a few years later.