Punisher: Frank Castle

Some say the best there was, Thomas Jane was a notably avid comic book fan and later went on to found Raw Comics with Punisher MAX cover artist Tim Bradstreet. He and 2004 movie director Jonathan Henlseigh pushed for a rated-R adaptation, leading to producers axing their funding so that they couldn't go all-out with the character.

Tom brought a real classic Clint Eastwood feel to the role and turned Castle into a spectre of vengeance that was as haunting as he was haunted.

Jane and Hensleigh walked away from the sequel citing creative differences with Lionsgate Films. Jane later starred in the 2012 Adi Shankar produced bootleg short, Dirty Laundry, as a thank you and farewell!

The first actor to portray Frank Castle in 1989, the character was as popular as Batman back then, with up to three ongoing solo comic series after his debut solo in 1986.

The film was a prime example of why movie producers can't be trusted to know or to care for what fans want. No skull symbol armour, no resemblance to his character, Dolph was not the best choice, but he did have the look, the physique and the ability to match Frank Castle's appetite for destruction.

Still one of the better action b-movies of the late '80s when Chuck Norris was slowing down and all the other stars were getting bloated.

Though Lexi Alexander's Punisher: War Zone plays like a music video with all the intelligence of a Uwe Boll video game movie, Ray Stevenson did great with the character despite poor, cliched dialogue and bad costume design.

His portrayal felt a lot like the Garth Ennis MAX imprint Punisher.

Stevenson went on to better things, and people still love War Zone for its over the top violence and gore, and he did campaign to bring the character back but to no avail. Fans wanted to forget.

Voiced the character in the 1994 animated Spider-man series. Looking back, he sounds a lot like Jeff Fahey in some noirish 80s detective drama.

Superpower Beat-down: Punisher vs Red Hood. Kevin Porter, best known for portraying Bruce Wayne/Batman in the comic hero deathmatch series and Bat in the Sun, Porter brought the grit and brutality to the character that fans know and love Punisher for. This spurned Porter on to try to make more internet films as Frank.

Daredevil season 2 had a lot of fans crazy with anticipation. Jon Bernthal effectively rebirthed the Punisher from the origin upward and brought the most tense, relentless, intelligent and stone cold savage protrayal to date.

Featuring throughout the season simply as Frank Castle, Bernthal stole the show and made the likes of Kevin Feige and Joss Whedon eat their own words.

There is call for a Punisher solo and in Bernthal we trust!

Voiced Punisher in animated movie Avengers Confidential: Black Widow. The movie wasn't the most accurate but Frank got a darkly heroic turn and Bloom layered it with brooding darkness. I'd have him back any day.

Voiced Punisher in Iron Man: Rise of Technovore. More of an anime look than American, they damn near sported the same hair. Reedus's portrayal was more reminiscent of the sulky, roguish Punisher who turns up in comic titles such as Heroes for Hire, but still not a bad effort.