When Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said that the Marvel Cinematic Universe would be getting more “diverse” and “inclusive”, most people took it that it was code word for fewer straight white males appearing as leads in future movies. Most fans also assumed Feige’s words meant more Left-leaning politics being shoved into the films.
On December 28th, 2018, Collider managed to publish some exclusive tidbits from their visit to the Brooklyn set where filming was taking place for the second season of Netflix’s The Punisher. There were a few key details they managed to takeaway from the visit, including the casting for the second season’s main villain, John Pilgrim, who will be played by Josh Stewart.
“Pilgrim is a person with a dark past who has since devoted himself completely to Christian Fundamentalism. ‘On the exterior, he’s a man who is a Christian Fundamentalist who had a rage, a violent side of him,” Stewart said. ‘It’s buried deep. I think where this is all headed, that sort of side of him is going to resurface a bit.’
Frank Castle, the hero of the show, eventually crosses paths with Pilgrim after encountering a teenage girl on the run, presumably from Pilgrim and his men.
This basically sets Frank up as a tool of the Left to fight the “Alt-Right”.
Anyone who has followed the mythos of The Punisher over the years knows just how ludicrous this is, given that next to Captain America, The Punisher was always the more Right-leaning character from the Marvel universe. He believed in absolute justice, was absolutely pro-Second Amendment, felt as if the judicial system had become bogged down in bureaucracy peddled by big government and corrupt lawmakers
I guess as more and more of these “woke” takes on old characaters fail in the ratings sooner or later the studios are going to remember they are actually supposed to be turning a profit and not just virtue signaling, enough is enough.
Ooooops, I guess I spoke too soon, it seems both The Punisher and Jessica Jones another attempt at being woke were cancelled.. imagine that…
So sad.