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EDITOR'S OPINION

Today on the Marvel Universe VC section we have one of the most infamous personifications of the concept known as a "Anti-Hero" namely... THE PUNISHER! While the Punisher has been around since the 70's, the Punisher made his VA debut in a few episodes of the '94 Spider Man series (in which Punisher made his debut in Spider Man's comics about a couple of decades beforehand) voiced by John Beck. First of all yes there have been horror stories about how heavily censored the series is but to be fair the show does openly acknowledge how violent the Punisher can be and openly tried to show his love of lethal force (even if he is frequently told not to and doesn't get to actually kill anyone). Anyways with that said while I do notice that John Beck's voice for the Punisher is the lightest one here (at least compared to the others) but I actually don't think its that bad really as it still does work for the role pretty well. John's performance as the Punisher did work as well as it did reflect the Punisher's personality as a guy who on one hand is a little too willing to be an executioner but on the other hand values saving the innocent from evil more than his own well-being. John Beck's performance as the Punisher wasn't one of the best performances in the Spider Man '94 series but it was a good example of the voice work in the show nevertheless.

Punisher made his VA debut in Video Games much like his VA debut in general by being in the Spider Man (2000) game voiced by Darran Norris (who voiced several other characters in that game). Daran's voice for the role had a low and gruff tone which did work for the role pretty well as for Daran's performance well the Punisher was depicted as having a calmer personality than usual but Daran does a decent job in trying to get that to work. Basically while Daran's work as the Punisher is not one of his best performances but it is a good example of his work and one of his better performances in that game.

Now for the following 2 VA's here are the folks whom played Punisher from the 2 Hollywood Live Action Punisher movies released in the 2000's in which we shall start this off with THQ's Punisher game in which Thomas Jane reprises his role. Thomas' voice for the role was genuinely fitting as it had a deep rough edge which worked for the role well and Thomas' performance had a good mixture of being menacing yet somber as well. Basically to make a long story short Thomas Jane's performance in the Punisher game was easily one of the better performances in that game.

Last but not least is oddly enough when Punisher had a cameo role in a episode of the Super Hero Squad Show in which Ray Stevenson reprises the role of Punisher. Unlike his 2004 counterpart, Punisher's appearance in the show was a comical satire of his usual persona (in which in this case was the only way how the idea of getting Punisher in this show at all could actually work). Basically as you can hear in this clip that the show tried to spoof the Punisher's tendency to go into monologues about how crime-infested the city is and on how its up to him to get rid of crime. Ray had a fairly deep menacing voice that works for the role and I must say I liked on how despite that this is a light and silly spoof of the Punisher, Ray's performance still gives a great sense of menacing intensity yet still works with the show's comedic nature and could really admire Ray's acting skills for that. Overall I am not sure who to go with here as all of these guys did well in their own ways.

(Update: Norman Reedus' work as Punisher is not bad by its own merits but his voice for the role is kind of iffy as it doesn't feel so natural for the role here. Norman's performance does lack the ferocity of those such as Thomas Jane but it does have a suitable Anti-Hero feel though which is of course essential for the role here. But while Norman's work is not one of the best takes of the role but it is certainly not a bad one though.)


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