157-538: The Punisher ( Francis " Frank " Castle , born Castiglione ) is an antihero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics . The character was created by writer Gerry Conway and artists John Romita Sr. and Ross Andru . The Punisher made his first appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #129 ( cover-dated February 1974), originally depicted as an assassin and adversary of
314-526: A "flop" by Variety magazine, and has a 13% "rotten" rating at Rotten Tomatoes . Lundgren was criticized for being too wooden as a leading man, and it was dismissed as "a glossy fantasy starring monosyllabic Dolph Lundgren". In 1988, he starred in Joseph Zito 's Red Scorpion . Lundgren plays a Soviet KGB agent who is sent to an African country to assassinate the leader of an anti-communist rebel movement, but eventually switches sides. The film
471-488: A "loser", which motivated him later as he grew more ambitious to prove himself. But he also said, "I still love my father, no matter what happened. There are many things about him I still admire. As a child, I was probably too much like him, very stubborn—perhaps that's what he couldn't deal with." He has cited his troubled relationship with his father as the reason he developed a desire to participate in heavy contact sports such as boxing and karate. Lundgren has said that, as
628-596: A Castle who is resurrected by Morbius and the Legion of Monsters as a patchwork, Frankenstein -like creature. He joins up with the Legion of Monsters to help protect the monsters of Monster Metropolis from the Hunter of Monster Special Force. At the conclusion of the series, the character was transformed back into a normal human when he acquired the mystical Bloodstone, with its healing abilities restoring his humanity. Although
785-511: A January 2011 interview with GQ , he announced he was working on releasing his own range of vitamins and supplements. He wrote an autobiographical fitness book, Train Like an Action Hero: Be Fit Forever , published in Sweden (by Bonnier Fakta) on 9 August 2011, offering tips he learned over the years to work out in various situations (with a busy schedule and a lot of traveling). It also discusses
942-527: A Marvel editor there and asked Grant to write something for him. In 1979, Marvel began considering publishing miniseries, which Grant had been lobbying for some time. Grant began pushing for a Punisher miniseries, but this was met with disinterest from editorial, as the character was not thought of as one that readers would care about. The following year, Grant collaborated on Marvel Team-Up #94 with artist Mike Zeck . In 1984, Zeck illustrated Marvel's first Secret Wars miniseries, which raised his profile in
1099-672: A U.S. Army Infantry group to go behind enemy lines and exterminate the Nazis . In August 2015, he started filming Kindergarten Cop 2 in Ontario, Canada , a straight-to-video sequel to the 1990 comedy film that starred Arnold Schwarzenegger. He portrays Agent Reed, a law enforcement officer who must go undercover as a kindergarten teacher, in order to recover a missing flash drive from the Federal Witness Protection Program . Throughout that year, he starred in
1256-687: A U.S. Marshall who gets caught up in politics when he is hired to solve the assassination of a Cuban ambassador. In 1996, Lundgren starred in Russell Mulcahy 's Silent Trigger , playing a former Special Forces agent who joins a secretive government agency as an assassin. The Motion Picture Guide to the films of 1997 said, "this stylish but empty thriller gives square-jawed Dolph Lundgren another shot at straight-to-video immortality". In 1997, Lundgren starred in Frédéric Forestier 's The Peacekeeper , playing Major Frank Cross of
1413-741: A US Marine veteran turned reporter, who finds his own life in jeopardy after stumbling across a political cover-up. In Mark L. Lester 's martial arts action film Showdown in Little Tokyo , he and Brandon Lee play police officers investigating the yakuza . The film received a mainly negative reception from critics and was criticized for its violence; Vincent Canby of The New York Times described it as "violent, but spiritless." Variety wrote: "Lundgren can hold his own with other action leads as an actor and could easily be Van Damme-marketable if only he'd devote as much attention to quality control as he does to pectoral development." David J. Fox of
1570-874: A breakthrough role playing the lead villain as an imposing Soviet boxer named Ivan Drago in Sylvester Stallone 's Rocky IV . Lundgren went on to play lead roles in over 80 action-oriented films including Masters of the Universe (1987), Red Scorpion (1988), The Punisher (1989), I Come in Peace (1990), Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991), Joshua Tree (1993), Men of War (1994), Silent Trigger (1996) and Blackjack (1998). He continued playing lead villains in Universal Soldier (1992) against Jean-Claude Van Damme and Johnny Mnemonic (1995) against Keanu Reeves . Moving into
1727-453: A career in acting. Lundgren made his film debut in the 1985 James Bond film A View to a Kill , Roger Moore 's final film as 007, in the minor role of Venz, a KGB assassin. His former lover Grace Jones , who portrayed the villain May Day , personally recommended him. According to Lundgren, Moore said of him, "Dolph is larger than Denmark." Upon learning that Sylvester Stallone
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#17327720998371884-506: A child, he was insecure and suffered from allergies, describing himself as a "runt". He showed a keen interest in drumming and had aspirations to become a rock star. At age seven, he tried judo and Gōjū-ryū . He took up Kyokushin karate at the age of 10, and began lifting weights as a teenager. Lundgren stated that "My dad always told me that if I wanted to make something special with my life, I had to go to America." After graduating from high school with straight A's, he spent time in
2041-564: A cloned body). The comic was relaunched in 2018, by writer Matthew Rosenberg and artist Riccardo Burchielli . The story ditched the War Machine armor, but kept the idea of the Punisher operating at the international level, dealing with an ill-fated battle against Baron Zemo . A new 13 issue series began in 2022 with Jason Aaron serving as the writer and art from Jesús Saiz and Paul Azaceta. It showcases Castle serving as an assassin of
2198-763: A detailed account of his earlier life and troubles. He cites a better quality of life as having inspired him to maintain his physical fitness. When in Los Angeles, he trains at the Equinox Gym in Westwood and previously at home in Marbella , Spain, he trained at the Qi Sport Gym in Puerto Banús . Lundgren also spars and practices karate aside from weight lifting. He cites dead lifting and squats as
2355-584: A drug trail, and he is being targeted by a military hit squad. During the Original Sin storyline, the Punisher becomes involved in the investigation of the murder of Uatu when he is recruited by an unknown agent – later revealed to be Nick Fury – to track various deceased eldritch creatures with Doctor Strange , their combined occult and firearm knowledge allowing them to determine what killed various creatures that Fury had killed in his career as 'the Man on
2512-488: A family home there. They have two daughters: Ida Sigrid Lundgren (b. 1996) and Greta Eveline Lundgren (b. 2001), both born in Stockholm . Lundgren and Qviberg cited the reason for living outside Hollywood was to give their children as normal a childhood as possible. In early May 2009, three masked burglars reportedly broke into Lundgren's Marbella home. The burglars tied up and threatened his wife, but fled when they found
2669-708: A former racecar driver who is framed by police officer Frank Severance (Segal) for the murder of a highway patrolman. Much of the film was filmed in the Alabama Hills of the Sierra Nevada and the desert of the Joshua Tree National Park of southeast California. In 1994, Lundgren starred in Bruce Malmuth 's Pentathlon as an East German Olympic gold medalist pentathlete on the run from an abusive coach. Lundgren trained with
2826-494: A great Rorschach test . What's given him some sustainability is, you can put into him whatever you want, as opposed to Spider-Man, who truly is who he is and shouldn't be changed. The Punisher is a thin character on his own merits, but that allows for a lot of interpretations and different angles of approach." The Punisher's backstory initially introduced him as a veteran of the Vietnam War . In this capacity, he appeared in
2983-542: A guest star appearance on the TV series Chuck in the fourth-season premiere episode, " Chuck Versus the Anniversary ", as Russian spy Marco, with references to Rocky IV ' s Ivan Drago. He then played a drug-addled assassin in the ensemble action film The Expendables , in a cast which includes popular action stars such as Stallone, Jason Statham , Jet Li and Randy Couture as a group of elite mercenaries, tasked with
3140-834: A mercenary in Isaac Florentine 's Bridge of Dragons , a military pilot in Anthony Hickox 's Storm Catcher , and a cop who's a former boxer in Jill Rips , also directed by Hickox, based on a 1987 novel by Scottish writer Frederic Lindsay . In 2000, Lundgren starred in The Last Warrior as Captain Nick Preston under director Sheldon Lettich . In Damian Lee 's Agent Red (also known as Captured ), co-starring Alexander Kuznetsov and Natalie Radford and Randolph Mantooth , Lundgren plays
3297-600: A mission to overthrow a Latin American dictator. It was described by Lundgren as "an old-school, kick-ass action movie where people are fighting with knives and shooting at each other." The film received mixed reviews from critics but was very successful commercially, opening at number one at the box office in the United States, the United Kingdom China and India. Lundgren was one of three hosts for
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#17327720998373454-420: A much higher percentage of protein and split his food intake between five or six smaller meals a day. In 2023, he said in an interview that he took anabolic steroids off and on from the mid-'80s to the mid-'90s. Lundgren has professed never to have been "super strong", saying that, "I'm too tall and my arms are long. I think back then [ Rocky IV ] I was working with around 300 pounds on the bench and squat." In
3611-485: A multitude of different people and lifestyles, mostly in the arts. I hung out with Andy Warhol , Keith Haring , Iman and Steve Rubell , danced at Studio 54 , and studied acting with Andie MacDowell and Tom Hulce ." Friends told him he should be in movies. He quit studying at MIT after two weeks to pursue acting. Lundgren said after being exposed to the entertainment business, he found it more attractive and rewarding than chemical engineering, so he decided to pursue
3768-576: A new logo inspired by the Japanese mythological demon Oni . The Punisher's brutal nature and willingness to kill made him an anomaly in mainstream American comic books when he debuted in 1974. By the late 1980s, the Punisher was part of a wave of psychologically troubled antiheroes. At the height of his popularity, the character was featured in four monthly publications: The Punisher , The Punisher War Journal , The Punisher: War Zone , and The Punisher Armory . An alternate future version of
3925-830: A number of other films later that year, including Legendary , Battle of the Damned , Ambushed and Blood of Redemption . In 2014, Lundgren co-starred opposite Cung Le in the action film Puncture Wounds , and reprised his role as Gunner Jensen for the third time in The Expendables 3 . He then wrote, produced, and starred alongside Tony Jaa and Ron Perlman in Skin Trade , an action thriller about human trafficking. Principal photography started on 2 February 2014 in Thailand , and wrapped in Vancouver ; April
4082-581: A number of other straight-to-video films, including the crime thriller The Good, the Bad and the Dead and the prison film Riot . He starred in the music video of Imagine Dragons 's Believer , which was released on 7 March 2017. In August 2017, he portrayed the future version of Gil Shepard in the Syfy film Sharknado 5: Global Swarming . In 2018, Black Water , an action thriller , directed by Pasha Patriki
4239-681: A process that Northrop Frye called the fictional "center of gravity". This movement indicated a literary change in heroic ethos from feudal aristocrat to urban democrat, as was the shift from epic to ironic narratives. Huckleberry Finn (1884) has been called "the first antihero in the American nursery". Charlotte Mullen of Somerville and Ross 's The Real Charlotte (1894) has been described as an anti-heroine. The antihero became prominent in early 20th century existentialist works such as Franz Kafka 's The Metamorphosis (1915), Jean-Paul Sartre 's Nausea (1938), and Albert Camus 's The Stranger (1942). The protagonist in these works
4396-494: A relatively unimportant character ... [who] was one of [the cosmic antagonist] Galactus ' robots, and I had called him the Punisher , and it seemed to me that that was a good name for the character Gerry wanted to write—so I said, 'Why not call him the Punisher?' And, since I was the editor [sic; Lee had been named publisher in 1972], Gerry said, 'Okay.' Appearing for the first time in The Amazing Spider-Man #129 (Feb. 1974),
4553-584: A remake of a 1986 film by the same name , in an ensemble that includes Daniele Liotti , Mónica Cruz , Max von Sydow , F. Murray Abraham and Ornella Muti . Set in AD ;35 in the Roman Empire , the story follows a fictional Roman general named Titus Valerius Taurus, a veteran of campaigns in Germania , who is sent to Judea by the emperor Tiberius to investigate the possibility of the divinity of
4710-518: A retired Russian Special Forces hitman caught in the crossfire with Russian mobsters. Sky Movies remarked that The Mechanik is "hardcore death-dealing from the Nordic leviathan" and said that " The Mechanik delivers all the no-nonsense gunplay you'd want of a Friday night". In 2006, Lundgren played gladiator Brixos in the Italian-made historical/biblical drama, The Inquiry ( L'inchiesta )
4867-507: A secret Army project to be sent on missions as GR operatives. At the 1992 Cannes Film Festival , Van Damme and Lundgren were involved in a verbal altercation that almost turned physical, but it was believed to have only been a publicity stunt. Universal Soldier opened in theatres on 10 July 1992, a moderate success domestically with $ 36,299,898 in US ticket sales, but a major blockbuster worldwide, making over $ 65 million overseas, which earned
Punisher - Misplaced Pages Continue
5024-593: A serial killer of criminals after the Mafia -related deaths of his family. Conway said in a 1987 interview that "I was fascinated by the Don Pendleton Executioner character, which was fairly popular at the time, and I wanted to do something that was inspired by that, although not to my mind a copy of it. And while I was doing the Jackal storyline, the opportunity came for a character who would be used by
5181-481: A series of brawls with a local gang. According to Lundgren, it had long been a desire of his to direct a western, having long been a fan of Clint Eastwood and John Wayne , yet he did not want to spend the time and money building an old western town and hiring horses, so decided to set it in modern times with a motorbike. The film, shot on location in Waxahachie , south of Dallas , Texas, was specially screened at
5338-459: A soldier trapped on a submarine during the Cold War who must work with his wife, a virologist, to prevent a terrorist chemical attack against the United States. After the film was completed, producer Andrew Stevens thought it was too poor to be released and multiple people had to be hired to at least make the film half-competent. The film was very poorly received, given its "shoestring budget";
5495-598: A special underwater prison, while Cole-Alves resurfaces in Los Angeles, shooting a mugger while wearing the Skull insignia. As part of the Marvel Now! event, the Punisher becomes a member of Red Hulk 's Thunderbolts . Their first mission is to take down the civilian-murdering dictator of an island nation. As a part of All New Marvel Now , The Punisher solo series is written by Nathan Edmondson and illustrated by Mitch Gerads. The Punisher moves to Los Angeles following
5652-578: A tough Houston cop with an inner sensitivity, who does not let the rules of police procedure prevent him pursuing his mission to wipe out a gang of drug dealers who killed his partner. Lundgren said of his role: "What attracted me to Dark Angel is that I get to do more than just action. There's some romance, some comedy, some drama. I actually have some clever dialogue in this one. I get to act." In 1991, Lundgren starred in Manny Coto 's action film Cover Up opposite Louis Gossett Jr. Lundgren portrays
5809-426: A week, usually one-hour sessions completed in the morning, saying that "it's just one hour a day, and then you can enjoy the other 23 hours". Although he had begun lifting weights as a teenager, he cites co-star Sylvester Stallone as the man who got him into serious bodybuilding for a period in the 1980s after he arrived in the U.S. Stallone had a lasting influence on his fitness regimen and diet, ensuring that he ate
5966-456: A workout video called Maximum Potential , and he also got his first lead role as He-Man in Masters of the Universe , based on the popular children's toyline and cartoon , directed by Gary Goddard . Lundgren weighed his all-time heaviest during the filming at 248 pounds (112 kg). The film was a critical failure and viewed as far too violent for a family picture. It is referred to as
6123-560: A world-famous pop singer in the film and his own daughter, Ida, on her screen debut, who played one of the daughters of the Russian president. The story was inspired by a concert Madonna put on for Russian President Vladimir Putin , although Lundgren has also likened the pop singer to Britney Spears . The film premiered at the Ischia Global Film & Music Festival on 18 July 2009. In 2009, The Dolph Lundgren Scholarship
6280-704: Is a Swedish-American actor, filmmaker, martial artist and chemical engineer . Born in Spånga , a community in Stockholm County , Sweden , Lundgren became interested in martial arts at a young age. This would lead him to hold the rank of 4th dan black belt in Kyokushin karate and become European champion in 1980 and 1981. In 1982, while studying to get a master's degree , he became the boyfriend of singer Grace Jones . He moved to New York City with her and started taking acting classes. In 1985, Lundgren had
6437-409: Is a five-part series that is meant to take place after FrankenCastle . In this series, the Punisher faces Jigsaw once again. A violent gang war resulted in the murders of nearly 30 people at a wedding reception, including the groom, leaving the bride, U.S. Marine Sergeant Rachel Cole-Alves , a widow just hours after getting married. Frank had connections with one of the detectives on the case and used
Punisher - Misplaced Pages Continue
6594-452: Is a problem and needs to be taken care of. Wolverine, believing that lethal methods are sometimes justified, refuses to assist. Black Widow tracks Castle to South America, where they fight to a standstill before Widow gets distracted by a group of mercenaries guarding a town full of sick villagers, abandoning the fight to help them. Thor pursues Castle next, although all he wants is to talk Castle into turning himself in. Castle sneaks back into
6751-410: Is an indecisive central character who drifts through his life and is marked by boredom , angst , and alienation . The antihero entered American literature in the 1950s and up to the mid-1960s as an alienated figure, unable to communicate. The American antihero of the 1950s and 1960s was typically more proactive than his French counterpart. The British version of the antihero emerged in the works of
6908-559: Is currently working for Condor but gives Frank a folder of important intel on Condor's EMC operation, before departing. With his new mission to take down Condor before they can get EMC into the worst hands, the Punisher is followed by a D.E.A. Agent whose drug bust on Condor was disrupted by his, as well as a sadistic killer named Face who is also second-in-command of Condor. In the Kingpin Civil War II storyline, Castle goes to eliminate Fisk and his criminal empire. During
7065-643: Is not fluent in those five languages as has often been reported. He is an avid football fan. He supported Everton when he lived in Europe, but developed more of an interest in international football tournaments (such as the UEFA European Championship and the FIFA World Cup ) after moving to Los Angeles. During the 1980s, Lundgren had relationships with Jamaican singer Grace Jones and American model Paula Barbieri. While Lundgren
7222-724: Is one of the great gestures of recent cinema, a movie which doesn't deserve one nanosecond of serious analysis." The film was a financial disappointment, grossing $ 19,075,720 in the domestic American market against its $ 26m budget. The cloak worn by Lundgren in the film is now located in the lobby of the Famous Players Coliseum in Mississauga, Ontario , it was his last theatrical release film until 2010. Later in 1995, Lundgren appeared in Ted Kotcheff 's The Shooter , an action drama in which he plays Michael Dane,
7379-509: Is outraged when his then-associate, the Jackal , apparently kills an enemy by treacherous means rather than in honorable combat. Spider-Man, who is himself no stranger to such torment, concludes that the Punisher's problems made his own seem like a "birthday party". The character was a hit with readers and started to appear on a regular basis, teaming up with both Spider-Man and other heroes such as Captain America and Nightcrawler throughout
7536-438: Is subjected to assorted tortures, is the movie's primary visual focus whenever the action slows down. And since Mr. Lundgren remains stone-faced, rarely speaking except to issue commands in a surprisingly hesitant monotone, his heaving chest actually communicates more emotion than his mumbling lips." In 1989, Lundgren then starred as Marvel Comics adaptation The Punisher playing the title role. Directed by Mark Goldblatt ,
7693-469: Is that the antihero is doomed to fail before their adventure begins. The second constitutes the blame of that failure on everyone but themselves. Thirdly, they offer a critique of social morals and reality. To other scholars, an antihero is inherently a hero from a specific point of view, and a villain from another. This idea is further backed by the addition of character alignments , which are commonly displayed by role-playing games. Typically, an antihero
7850-620: Is the focal point of conflict in a story, whether as the protagonist or as the antagonistic force. This is due to the antihero's engagement in the conflict, typically of their own will, rather than a specific calling to serve the greater good. As such, the antihero focuses on their personal motives first and foremost, with everything else secondary. An early antihero is Homer 's Thersites , since he serves to voice criticism, showcasing an anti-establishment stance. The concept has also been identified in classical Greek drama , Roman satire , and Renaissance literature such as Don Quixote and
8007-452: Is wanted for the apparent murder of Norman Osborn . The Punisher is shown as a formidable fighter, skilled marksman, and able strategist. All he reveals about himself is that he is a former U.S. Marine . He has a fierce temper but also shows signs of considerable frustration over his self-appointed role of killer vigilante. He is engaged in extensive soul-searching as to what is the right thing to do: although he has few qualms about killing, he
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#17327720998378164-497: The Los Angeles Times , however, described the film as a "class act", and some retrospective critics find it to be entertaining for its genre. In 1992, Lundgren starred in the sci-fi action picture Universal Soldier directed by Roland Emmerich . Lundgren (as Sergeant Andrew Scott) and Jean-Claude Van Damme (as Luc Deveraux ) play U.S. soldiers who died during the Vietnam War , only to be later reanimated in
8321-502: The Black Knight and one was the Punisher, since those were characters he liked that as far as Grant knew, no other Marvel writer was working with at the time. Unbeknownst to Grant, the Punisher, as it turned out, was the lead in a black-and-white magazine being written by Archie Goodwin , making the character unavailable for Grant's use. A couple of years later Grant began writing for Marvel after another friend, Roger Stern , became
8478-496: The DC Extended Universe film Aquaman , from director James Wan , as the underwater king Nereus . Later in 2021, Lundgren starred and directed in the 2021 action film Castle Falls as Richard Ericson, in his first feature film as directed in nearly 12 years. In 2022, Lundgren starred in a series of Old Spice advertisements to promote a new antiperspirant line of deodorant spray. The advertisements depicted
8635-585: The English poet Lord Byron . Literary Romanticism in the 19th century helped popularize new forms of the antihero, such as the Gothic double . The antihero eventually became an established form of social criticism, a phenomenon often associated with the unnamed protagonist in Fyodor Dostoyevsky 's Notes from Underground . The antihero emerged as a foil to the traditional hero archetype ,
8792-890: The Italian Mafia , the Russian Bratva , the Japanese yakuza , the Colombian and Mexican drug cartels , the Aryan Brotherhood , the Chinese Triads , Jamaican Yardies , the Irish Mob , biker gangs , street gangs , gunrunning militias , muggers , killers , rapists , psychopaths , violent racists , sadists , pedophiles , and corrupt city officials . He also assaults criminal business enterprises such as drug trafficking , weapons smuggling , money laundering , and human trafficking . Due to
8949-548: The Jackal , Bushwacker , Doctor Doom , the Reavers and Bullseye would be used to provide more of a challenge for the character. In addition, heroes such as Spider-Man, Captain America, Daredevil, Ghost Rider , the Hulk , Wolverine , Nick Fury , and Moon Knight – and, on at least two occasions, the preadolescent team Power Pack – would appear. Often the stories would use the appearance of those heroes to provide commentary on
9106-522: The TV pilot Blackjack (directed by John Woo ) as a former US Marshal who becomes the bodyguard and detective of a young supermodel ( Kam Heskin ), who becomes the target of a psychotic assassin (Phillip MacKenzie). One review described the narrative as "laughably stupid", while the DVD and Video Guide to 2005 said, "dull, lightweight, made-for-TV action fully to a satisfying climax". In 1999, Lundfren played
9263-630: The University of Sydney . During his time in Sydney , he earned a living as a bouncer in a nightclub in the notorious King's Cross area. Lundgren was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to MIT in 1983. However, while preparing for the move to Boston , he was spotted in the nightclub where he worked in Sydney and was hired by Grace Jones as a bodyguard, and the two became lovers. He moved with Jones to New York City, where he dabbled in modeling at
9420-448: The Vietnam War and later updated alternately to the fictional Siancong War and the Iraq War ) U.S. Marine Corps Scout/Sniper in Force Recon , Castle is skilled in hand-to-hand combat, guerrilla warfare , and marksmanship. He is well known for the skull motif on his chest, envisioned by his creators as a skull-and-crossbones symbol on his right breast. In the 2022 run featuring the character, after joining The Hand , Castle adopts
9577-402: The Vietnam War -era comic The 'Nam . During this era, the Punisher was assisted by his then-partner, Microchip . Serving as a Q type figure, he would supply the Punisher with high-tech vehicles and equipment such as armored combat "battle vans" specially built and customized. Over the next decade, the Punisher would be shown fighting virtually every known criminal organization, including
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#17327720998379734-442: The War Machine armor from a black market syndicate and persuaded Punisher to don the armor and carry on in Rhodes' name, succeeding him as the second War Machine for a short while, customizing the armor with his skull motif. Following Rhodes' resurrection alongside Tony Stark for the Marvel Legacy initiative, Castle relinquished the armor and title to him and resumed as Punisher. Despite his violent actions and dark nature,
9891-524: The War on Terror . Many characters are past or current intelligence and military operatives from governmental agencies like the American CIA , the Soviet KGB , and the British SIS and SAS , as well as various militaries and militias from the Balkans and Middle East , including the IRA , all with agendas rooted in past conflicts like the Cold War or the Yugoslav Wars . The miniseries Born by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson further examines Castle's roots, tracing them back to his third tour of
10048-435: The Zoli Agency but was described as "a bit too tall and muscular for a model's size 40". He earned a living as a bouncer at the Manhattan nightclub The Limelight , which was housed in the former Episcopal Church of the Holy Communion , working with Chazz Palminteri . In the daytime, he studied drama at the Warren Robertson Theatre Workshop and has said that "my time in New York City opened up my adolescent Swedish eyes to
10205-438: The picaresque rogue. An anti-hero that fits the more contemporary notion of the term is the lower-caste warrior Karna , in The Mahabharata . Karna is the sixth brother of the Pandavas (symbolising good ), born out of wedlock, and raised by a lower caste charioteer. He is ridiculed by the Pandavas, but accepted as an excellent warrior by the antagonist Duryodhana , this becoming a loyal friend to him, eventually fighting on
10362-434: The superhero Spider-Man . The character is depicted as an Italian-American vigilante who employs murder , kidnapping , extortion , coercion , threats of violence , and torture in his campaign against crime. Driven by the deaths of his wife and two children, who were killed by the mob for witnessing a killing in New York City 's Central Park , the Punisher wages a one-man war on crime. A veteran (originally of
10519-408: The wrong side of the final just war . Karna serves as a critique of the then society, the protagonists, as well as the idea of the war being worthwhile itself – even if Krishna later justifies it properly. The term antihero was first used as early as 1714, emerging in works such as Rameau's Nephew in the 18th century, and is also used more broadly to cover Byronic heroes as well, created by
10676-569: The " angry young men " of the 1950s. The collective protests of Sixties counterculture saw the solitary antihero gradually eclipsed from fictional prominence, though not without subsequent revivals in literary and cinematic form. During the Golden Age of Television from the 2000s and into early 2020s, antiheroes such as Tony Soprano , Gru , Megamind , Jack Bauer , Gregory House , Dexter Morgan , Walter White , Don Draper , Nucky Thompson , Jax Teller , Alicia Florrick , Annalise Keating , Selina Meyer and Kendall Roy became prominent in
10833-424: The "Reno-Tahoe area". In the film, he portrays Clint Gray, a black-market dealer of exotic species responsible for releasing a dangerous shark into Lake Tahoe . Directed by Jerry Dugan, the film's budget was $ 2 million. On 23 May, straight-to-video film War Pigs premiered at the GI Film Festival . In the film, Lundgren co-starred (alongside Luke Goss ) as Captain Hans Picault, a French Legionnaire who trains
10990-418: The 1970s and early 1980s. Conway said the Punisher's popularity took him by surprise, as he had intended him only as a second-tier character. During his acclaimed run on Daredevil , writer and artist Frank Miller made use of the character, contrasting his attitudes and version of vigilante action to that of the more liberal character of Daredevil. In the early 1980s, writer and college student Steven Grant
11147-536: The 2000s, Lundgren mostly appeared in direct-to-video films . During this time, Lundgren started directing and starring in his own films; these are The Defender (2004), The Mechanik (2005), Missionary Man (2007), Command Performance (2009), Icarus (2010), Castle Falls (2021) and Wanted Man (2024). Lundgren returned to prominence in 2010 with the role of Gunner Jensen in Sylvester Stallone's The Expendables alongside an all-action star cast. He reprised his role in its sequels . He returned to
11304-472: The 2008 AFI Dallas Film Festival. In 2008, Lundgren starred in the direct-to-video action flick Direct Contact . He plays an ex-US Special forces operative on a rescue mission. This was followed by another direct to video film Command Performance (2009), a hostage action drama in which Lundgren, a proficient musician in real life, plays a rock drummer forced to face terrorists at a concert. The film co-starred Canadian pop singer Melissa Smith , playing
11461-547: The 2010 Melodifestivalen , where the Swedish contribution to the Eurovision Song Contest is selected. In the first installation on 6 February, Lundgren co-hosted the competition together with comedian Christine Meltzer and performer Måns Zelmerlöw . Lundgren's appearance was hailed by critics and audience, particularly his rendition of Elvis Presley 's " A Little Less Conversation ". Lundgren played
11618-525: The 65 year old actor as a young adult doing an "80s action movie spoof." Although Lundgren has never competed as a professional bodybuilder, he has been closely associated with bodybuilding and fitness since his role as Drago in the mid-1980s. Bodybuilding.com said, "Looking like a man in his 30s rather than his 50s, Lundgren is the poster boy of precise nutrition, supplementation and exercise application that he has practiced for over 35 years". In an interview with them, he claimed to often train up to six days
11775-453: The DVD and Film Guide of 2005 wrote, "low-budget mess stars Dolph Lundgren as a navy special operations commander trying to keep a deadly virus out of the hands of terrorists. This subpar effort sinks to the bottom of the ocean in a tidal wave of cliche." During an interview on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in May 2008, Gladiator director Ridley Scott said Lundgren had been considered for
11932-460: The Jackal to make Spider-Man 's life miserable. The Punisher seemed to fit." Conway was also involved in creating the unique outfit for the character. As Conway recalled in 2002, "In the '70s, when I was writing comics at DC and Marvel, I made it a practice to sketch my own ideas for the costumes of new characters—heroes and villains—which I offered to the artists as a crude suggestion representing
12089-497: The Marvel Universe, the conflict matters only because he was asked to go and serve his country, and he did. When he returned, the society he was essentially defending betrayed him and murdered his wife and children in front of him. The conflict matters less than the fact that he gave his service, and this was the reward. In that broad brush vague Marvel Universe sense there's always 'the war' whatever it was. If that put him in
12246-465: The Marvel offices, where editors were thinking in terms of talent "stables" that worked exclusively for each editor. A new editor, Carl Potts , was looking for projects, so Grant and Zeck pitched a Punisher miniseries to him, and Potts accepted it, over much objection from Marvel management, who told him that he bore full responsibility for it. The miniseries premiered with a January 1986 cover date. It
12403-492: The Middle East rather than South East Asia, I think that matters less for the purposes of the Marvel Universe." Antihero An antihero (sometimes spelled as anti-hero ) or anti-heroine is a main character in a narrative (in literature, film, TV, etc.) who may lack some conventional heroic qualities and attributes, such as idealism , and morality . Although antiheroes may sometimes perform actions that most of
12560-460: The Punisher being active for almost 30 years, with Punisher vol. 6, #19 (June 2005), specifying he had killed approximately 2,000 people. Whereas the traditional Punisher stories remained within the United States and involved antagonists and settings of conventional domestic crime, stories of the MAX Punisher often focus on current events, ranging from corporate fraud to sexual slavery and
12717-458: The Punisher ends with the character's death. After killing the Kingpin , Castle dies from his own wounds in issue #21 of PunisherMAX . He is buried in issue #22 as his death sparks a public uprising and killing of the city's criminals. In November 2006, a new The Punisher War Journal series, written by Matt Fraction and penciled by Ariel Olivetti , was released. The first three issues of
12874-400: The Punisher expresses regret for his actions in an inner monologue, calling his involvement with Hydra Supreme Rogers as probably the worst mistake of his life. He is shown atoning for his involvement with Hydra by killing every Hydra agent he can find. Upon the Punisher blowing up the abandoned warehouse where some Hydra agents were hiding, he is being observed by Nick Fury Jr. who speaks over
13031-466: The Punisher has enjoyed some mainstream success on television, making guest appearances on series such as Spider-Man and The Super Hero Squad Show , where the depiction of his violent behavior was toned down for family viewers. In feature films, Dolph Lundgren portrayed the character in the 1989 film The Punisher , as did Thomas Jane in the 2004 film The Punisher , and Ray Stevenson in 2008's Punisher: War Zone . Jon Bernthal portrayed
13188-516: The Punisher to 727 Varick level 19 suite A. Both Rachel Cole-Alves and the Punisher go to the location only to find it to be a trap. They later find out that Daredevil has the Omega Drive. Later Rachel Cole-Alves and the Punisher find Daredevil and Spider-Man . They then work together to destroy the drive. The Punisher and Cole-Alves later succeed in killing the heads of the Exchange, but in
13345-399: The Punisher was initially an antagonist of the titular hero . He was portrayed as a bloodthirsty vigilante who had no qualms about killing gangsters, something which most superheroes of the time refrained from doing. J. Jonah Jameson described him as "the most newsworthy thing to happen to New York since Boss Tweed ". In this appearance, the Punisher is determined to kill Spider-Man, who
13502-487: The Punisher willingly joined and became the boss of an organized crime family, and later confronted the X-Men and Nick Fury . The series ran for 18 issues, from November 1995 to April 1997. Writer Christopher Golden 's four-issue Marvel Knights miniseries The Punisher: Purgatory (November 1998 – February 1999) posited a deceased Punisher resurrected as a supernatural agent of various angels and demons . This version of
13659-438: The Punisher's homicidal nature, few of his foes became recurring antagonists, the most notable of these being the severely-scarred enforcer Jigsaw and the brutal sadistic mercenary Barracuda . The Punisher also acquired a nemesis in the form of the Kingpin , a longtime Spider-Man and Daredevil foe, and developed enmity with Daredevil himself, who likewise abhorred and fought against the Punisher's brutal methods. Villains such as
13816-546: The Swedish government. He lived in Spånga until the age of 13, when he moved to his grandparents' home in Nyland, Ångermanland . Some sources wrongly state 1959 as his year of birth, but Lundgren himself has confirmed it to be 1957. He has two sisters, Katarina and Annika and an elder brother Johan. Lundgren claims his father was physically abusive and took out his own personal frustrations on his wife and son. He has stated that, during his tirades, his father would call him
13973-570: The U.S. pentathlon team in preparation for the role, which later led to him being selected to serve as the (non-competing) Team Leader of the 1996 U.S. Olympic Modern Pentathlon team during the Atlanta Games , to promote the image of the sport and to coordinate planning and other details between the team and the United States Olympic Committee . The film was seen negatively by most critics; Film Review said it
14130-692: The US Air Force and the only man who can prevent the president being assassinated and with the ability to thwart an imminent nuclear holocaust . The film co-starred Michael Sarrazin , Montel Williams , Roy Scheider and Christopher Heyerdahl , and was shot on location in Montreal. The film was praised for its exciting action sequences. Doug Pratt described the first half of the film as "excellent" and described Lundgren's character as "tenacious", although Robert Cettl wrote "the Peacekeeper trades on
14287-460: The US to try and break Cole-Alves out of prison. The Avengers set a trap, figuring Castle would target a transport unit. Castle sees through the deception, and rescues the real Cole-Alves by disguising himself as Iron Man. Wolverine was later revealed to be the source of his information, and Logan helps Cole-Alves escape while Castle stays behind to battle the Avengers and buy time. Castle ends up in
14444-511: The US. However over the years the film developed a cult with some who think it's the best adaptation of the comic. The film was re-evaluated with a much more positive outlook who find Lundgren's performance solid as a ghostly and soul depraved vigilante. In 1990, Lundgren starred in Craig R. Baxley 's sci-fi thriller I Come in Peace (also known as Dark Angel ) opposite Brian Benben , Betsy Brantley , Matthias Hues and Jay Bilas . Lundgren plays
14601-785: The United States in the 1970s on various academic scholarships, studying chemical engineering at Washington State University 1976–1977, and Clemson University prior to serving his mandatory one year in the Swedish Coastal Artillery at the Coastal Ranger School . In the late 1970s, he enrolled at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm and graduated in the early 1980s with a degree in chemical engineering . Amidst his years of studying, Lundgren honed his karate skills by training in
14758-617: The Vietnam War, where he undergoes a psychological and possibly supernatural transformation into the Punisher to survive a massive assault on his fortification by the combined forces of the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese Army . The one-shot Punisher: The Tyger , by Ennis and John Severin , went even further and showed that Castle had lived with murders, deaths and criminals from his childhood. The MAX version of
14915-680: The Wall'. During the Secret Wars storyline, the Punisher crashes the Kingpin's viewing party of the incursion between Earth-616 and Earth-1610 . He informs the villains present that since he cannot take them with him, he is going to have to do something with all of his bullets. After massacring the supervillain gathering, the Punisher is approached by the Howling Commandos , who request his aid in completing one final mission before
15072-430: The audience considers morally correct, their reasons for doing so may not align with the audience's morality. Antihero is a literary term that can be understood as standing in opposition to the traditional hero, i.e., one with high social status, well liked by the general populace. Past the surface, scholars have additional requirements for the antihero. The " Racinian " antihero, is defined by three factors. The first
15229-416: The best exercises for muscle building. Lundgren is not a heavy drinker, but has professed on many occasions to being fond of tequila and cocktails, citing his knowledge in chemical engineering as "making really good drinks". Lundgren splits his time between Stockholm and Los Angeles . He speaks Swedish and English fluently, as well as smaller amounts of French, German, Italian, Japanese and Spanish, but
15386-442: The black-and-white comics magazine The Punisher Magazine (16 issues, November 1989 – September 1990) and The Punisher Armory (10 issues, no cover dates, starting 1990), a fictional diary detailing "His thoughts! His feelings! His weapons!" (as stated on the cover of issue #1). The Punisher also appeared in numerous one-shots and miniseries, and made frequent guest appearances in other Marvel comics, ranging from superhero series to
15543-469: The book are set during Marvel's " Civil War " event. It involves Castle taking on supervillains rather than his traditional non-super-powered criminal antagonists. He has also made appearances in the main Civil War series (issues #5–7). Wearing both his traditional costume and his Marvel Knights/MAX attire, and a new costume designed to look like his costume and Captain America's combined, the series pitted
15700-577: The character in the second season of Daredevil , the spin-off The Punisher and will reprise the role in Daredevil: Born Again , set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The Punisher was conceived by Gerry Conway , then-writer of The Amazing Spider-Man , and was inspired by The Executioner , a popular book series created by author Don Pendleton , in which a Vietnam veteran , Mack Bolan , becomes
15857-599: The character against a series of super-powered foes while also being involved in crossover events such as " World War Hulk " and " Secret Invasion ". Marvel relaunched The Punisher War Journal in 2009 as simply Punisher , with a thematic link tied to the events of the " Dark Reign " storyline and, following the departure of writer Garth Ennis , retitled the Marvel MAX series (formerly Punisher MAX ) as Punisher: Frank Castle MAX and, more recently, as Punisher: Frank Castle or Frank Castle: The Punisher (depending on
16014-568: The character also appeared in a 4-issue mini-series co-starring Wolverine. A 12-issue miniseries by writer Garth Ennis and artist Steve Dillon , again titled The Punisher (April 2000 – March 2001), under the Marvel Knights imprint, revived the character's popularity. An ongoing series titled The Punisher (37 issues, August 2001 – February 2004), primarily by Ennis and Dillon, followed, succeeded in 2004 by an ongoing Ennis series under Marvel's mature-readers imprint, MAX . Returning
16171-428: The character dubbed the " Cosmic Ghost Rider ", created by Donny Cates and Geoff Shaw, began publication in 2018 as a Thanos supporting character , becoming a breakout character and receiving his own ongoing series , often coming into opposition with his past self. In 2017, following the 2016 Civil War II storyline, where Jim "Rhodey" Rhodes met his death at the hands of Thanos , Nick Fury, Jr. obtained
16328-485: The character of the Punisher "sees the world in very black and white terms, he solves his problems with utter finality" and that "his response to any problem: when in doubt, hit back hard." The writer Steven Grant noted that: Heidegger , who took Kierkegaard 's philosophy further, comes even closer to describing the Punisher: 'Since we can never hope to understand why we're here, if there's even anything to understand,
16485-420: The character to his lone vigilante roots, those series combined crime-focused stories with black humor. The look of the Punisher was modified further removing the white gloves and pairing his traditional skull imprinted shirt with combat trousers, black combat boots and a black trench coat. Castle has used this costume on occasion in mid-2000s stories before The Punisher War Journal vol. 2. Continuing his run on
16642-456: The character's name: Gerry Conway was writing a script and he wanted a character that would turn out to be a hero later on, and he came up with the name the Assassin. And I mentioned that I didn't think we could ever have a comic book where the hero would be called the Assassin, because there's just too much of a negative connotation to that word. And I remembered that, some time ago, I had had
16799-490: The character, Garth Ennis used the freedom of the MAX imprint to write more realistic and hard-edged stories than had previously been seen. Ennis has stated that he would "like to see less superheroes"; this desire is reflected in the gritty, realistic tone and the anti-heroic portrayals of both the title character and Nick Fury , who made two guest appearances in the series. Punisher also made it explicit that Castle's timeline
16956-625: The comic book The 'Nam , about the conflict. However, this dated the character as the years passed and the war was increasingly in the past. Greg Rucka retconned it to the War on Terror , instead, in 2011. He explained that "Steve [Wacker, editor on the project] and I went round and round on this, but ultimately, he wanted to make Frank younger because if he fought in Vietnam, he's in his 70s, and I get more mileage out of him being in his early 40s. I don't think that takes anything away from his origin. In
17113-587: The comms that the Punisher is ready. Some time after the events of Secret Empire , Nick Fury Jr. gives The Punisher access to the War Machine armor in order to combat a rogue state using old S.H.I.E.L.D. resources. During the aftermath of the operation, Frank resumes his war on crime in New York with the War Machine armor, only to surrender it after James Rhodes was revived. Despite wanting to atone for his sins for unknowingly working for Hydra, combined with
17270-494: The credits roll." On the negative side, Pablo Villaça said in his review that while he praised Van Damme's performance, he criticized that of Lundgren and described the film "dull in concept and execution". Later in 2009, Lundgren directed and starred as a businessman whose shady past as a KGB special agent is discovered in the hit-man thriller Icarus (retitled in the US and the UK as The Killing Machine ). In 2010, Lundgren made
17427-461: The dead and comes back to New York City, to continue his personal war against criminal organizations and enterprises. His first target is a former mercenary outfit called Condor that is currently selling a drug called EMC to terrorists and gang members because it gives users enhanced confidence, perception, strength and pain tolerance. During Frank's first bust on a Condor drug warehouse, he runs into his former Special Ops C.O. Ray Schroder (aka Olaf) who
17584-561: The death of Natasha at the hands of a Hydra Supreme counterpart of Steve Rogers, the Punisher is still a fugitive, having gone too far in hunting the remaining Hydra remnants on his brutal crime fighting spree. After surrendering the War Machine Armor out of respect of the revived Rhodes, the Punisher surrenders to the authorities but was secretly freed by the Winter Soldier and a recently revived Natasha (the latter, now in
17741-449: The difference between the Punisher and those more colourful characters. During Don Daley's run on The Punisher title, his version of justice was described by the editor as "an eye for an eye ". In 1995, Marvel canceled all three ongoing Punisher series due to poor sales. The publisher attempted a re-launch almost immediately, with a new ongoing series Punisher , under the new Marvel Edge imprint , by writer John Ostrander , in which
17898-506: The discovery of meteors containing deadly bacteria." In 2004, Lundgren made his directorial debut with The Defender , when he replaced Sidney J. Furie , who was sick during pre-production. Lundgren also stars, playing the bodyguard of the head of the National Security Agency during a war on terror. In 2005, Lundgren starred and directed his second picture The Mechanik (a.k.a. The Russian Specialist ), playing
18055-702: The dojo for five years, and had attained a black belt in Kyokushin by the late 1970s. He captained the Swedish Kyokushin karate team, and was a challenger at the 1979 World Open Tournament (arranged by the Kyokushin Karate Organization). He won the European championships in 1980 and 1981, and a full-contact karate tournament in Australia in 1982. In 1982, Lundgren graduated with a master's degree in chemical engineering from
18212-498: The fight, Castle wounds Fisk's legs with his combat knife, and falls out of a window. During the Secret Empire storyline, after Steve Rogers – his history 'rewritten' by the sentient Cosmic Cube Kobik so that he believes that he has been a Hydra sleeper agent since childhood – arranges a mass coup of America, the Punisher eventually appears targeting the former criminal Boomerang – now acting as an information broker for
18369-676: The film a total of $ 102 million worldwide, on a $ 23 million budget. Despite being a box office hit, it was not well-received; mainstream critics dismissed the movie as a Terminator 2 rip-off. Film critic Roger Ebert said: "it must be fairly thankless to play lunks who have to fight for the entire length of a movie while exchanging monosyllabic idiocies", and included Universal Soldier in his book I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie . In 1993, Lundgren starred opposite Kristian Alfonso and George Segal in Vic Armstrong 's Joshua Tree . Lundgren plays Wellman Anthony Santee,
18526-609: The film as being "possibly one of the worst films ever". Later in 1998, Lundgren appeared alongside Bruce Payne and Claire Stansfield in Sweepers as Christian Erickson, a leading demolition expert and head of an elite team of specialists, trained to disarm mine fields in a humanitarian minesweeping operation in Angola . The Video Guide to 2002 said, "that noise you hear isn't the numerous on-screen explosions but action star Lundgren's career hitting rock bottom." He also featured in
18683-418: The film changes some details of the character's origin, and eliminates the signature skull logo. These elements troubled fans of the comic book upon its release and were dismissive. Also initial reviews found it to be a trashy comic book film. The film had a troubled release as the studios who made it were changed ownership. While the film was theatrically released internationally, the film went direct-to-video in
18840-455: The film he was billed at 261 pounds (118 kg); one publisher said of Drago, "He's a hulking 261 pounds of merciless fighting machine, the best that Soviet science & medicine can create". His character's lines "If he dies, he dies" and "I must break you" are amongst the best known of the Rocky series , and have often been cited in popular culture. Lundgren hit Stallone so hard during
18997-401: The film was shot. Lundgren said: "We trained six days a week—weights in the morning for about an hour, then boxing in the afternoon. We did a split of chest and back one day and then shoulders, legs, and arms the next. We boxed for an hour and a half, practiced the fight choreography, and did bag work and abs." He weighed 240 pounds (110 kg) – 245 pounds (111 kg) during filming, but in
19154-601: The filming of a fight scene that Stallone was in intensive care in the St. John's Hospital for nine days with a blood pressure of 290, due to swelling of the pericardial sac around his heart. Lundgren later fought in a real boxing match against former UFC fighter Oleg Taktarov , and lost via decision. Lundgren has highlighted the premiere of Rocky IV at the Mann Village Theatre , in Westwood, Los Angeles , as
19311-403: The future with the world dominated by megacorporations and with strong East Asian influences. Reeves plays the title character, a man with a cybernetic brain implant designed to store information. Lundgren plays Karl Honig, a Jesus -obsessed hitman and street preacher who wears a robe and carries a shepherd's staff. Critical response was negative overall; Roger Ebert said, "Johnny Mnemonic
19468-478: The image I had in mind. I had done that with the Punisher at Marvel." Conway had drawn a character with a small death's head skull on one breast. Marvel art director John Romita, Sr. took the basic design and blew the skull up to huge size, taking up most of the character's chest. Amazing Spider-Man penciller Ross Andru was the first artist to draw the character for publication. Stan Lee , then Marvel's editor-in-chief, recalled in 2005 that he had suggested
19625-403: The individual should choose a goal and pursue it wholeheartedly, despite the certainty of death and the meaninglessness of action.' That's sure the Punisher as I conceived him: a man who knows he's going to die and who knows in the big picture his actions will count for nothing, but who pursues his course because this is what he has chosen to do. Punisher co-creator Gerry Conway stated that "He's
19782-466: The information he gave him to kill members of the Exchange, the group responsible, before the police had a chance to question them. Later, the Punisher loses an eye while fighting a new version of the Vulture . The Punisher later confronts a recuperated Rachel Cole-Alves in a Hotel where members of the Exchange were meeting. Together they kill the members. It is later revealed to be part of a plan to lure
19939-560: The last three years on the Direct Action Unit (DAU) task force, fighting gang crime and corruption and after he leaves he is hunted down by former colleagues for betraying the brotherhood. That year, he played a role in Ed Bye 's comedy Fat Slags . His next starring role was in the science fiction picture Retrograde . In it, Lundgren plays a man who is in a group of genetically unique people who travel back in time to prevent
20096-937: The lead role in Uwe Boll 's In the Name of the King 2: Two Worlds , and had supporting roles in Jonas Åkerlund 's Small Apartments and a thriller called Stash House . Principal photography for Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning began on 9 May 2011 in Louisiana, and filming wrapped on One in the Chamber (co-starring Cuba Gooding Jr. ) around the same time. The Expendables 2 entered principal photography in late September/early October 2011, with Lundgren reprising his role as Gunner Jensen. Filming wrapped in January 2012, and it
20253-402: The moment which changed his life, remarking: "I walked in to a Westwood movie theater as Grace Jones' boyfriend and walked out ninety minutes later as the movie star Dolph Lundgren. I was shell-shocked for years from the mind-boggling and daunting experience of being a student-athlete from tiny Sweden suddenly having to live up a new action-star persona." In 1987, Lundgren released on home media
20410-537: The most popular and critically acclaimed TV shows. This rise of the modern antihero zeitgeist may explain contemporary political outcomes, such as the popularity of non-traditional populists including Donald J. Trump . In his essay published in 2020, Postheroic Heroes - A Contemporary Image (german: Postheroische Helden - Ein Zeitbild) , German sociologist Ulrich Bröckling examines the simultaneity of heroic and post-heroic role models as an opportunity to explore
20567-599: The most vividly remembered fighting in a foreign land of recent Western history. This innovation, associating the muscle image with the Vietnam experience, is carried over into other contemporary muscle films." Another said, "fine performances by an all-star Dolph Lundgren as a mercenary assigned to 'convince' a cast in this offbeat and disturbing film." In 1995, Lundgren appeared in Robert Longo 's Johnny Mnemonic , co-starring Keanu Reeves . The film portrays screenwriter William Gibson 's dystopian cyberpunk view of
20724-559: The ninja organization The Hand . Following the conclusion of the previous series, a new Punisher volume began publication in November 2023, written by David Pepose, illustrated by Dave Wachter, with covers by Rod Reis. The series follows Joe Garrison, a former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who becomes the new Punisher following Frank Castle's disappearance. This ongoing series was cancelled after only 4 issues. The character has been described as being obsessed with vengeance; Garth Ennis noted that
20881-704: The part of undefeated fighter Tigris of Gaul in 2000, but was eventually rejected because "as an actor, he just didn't fit in with what we were trying to achieve". In 2001, Lundgren starred in Hidden Agenda , directed by Marc S. Grenier. He plays Jason Price, an ex-FBI agent who protects a witness. In 2003, Lundgren featured in Sidney J. Furie 's Detention . In 2004, Lundren appeared opposite Polly Shannon in Direct Action under Sidney J. Furie , portraying Sergeant Frank Gannon, an officer who has spent
21038-502: The place of the heroic in contemporary society. In contemporary art, artists such as the French multimedia artist Thomas Liu Le Lann negotiate in his series of Soft Heroes , in which overburdened, modern and tired Anti Heroes seem to have given up on the world around them. Dolph Lundgren Hans " Dolph " Lundgren ( / ˈ l ʌ n d ɡ r ən / , Swedish: [ˈdɔlːf ˈlɵ̌nːdɡreːn] ; born 3 November 1957)
21195-564: The presence of B-movie action star Dolph Lundgren, an actor who never became as popular as his action contemporaries Jean-Claude Van Damme and Steven Seagal." In 1998, he appeared in Jean-Marc Piché's action/ supernatural horror film The Minion alongside Françoise Robertson Lundgren portrays Lukas Sadorov, a middle eastern templar and member of an order who are charged with guarding the gateway to Hell that, if opened, will unleash all evil. The DVD and Video Guide of 2005 described
21352-452: The process, Cole-Alves accidentally kills NYPD Homicide Detective Walter Bolt. On the run from the NYPD, Cole-Alves eventually tries to commit suicide by police, only to be captured and sent to prison. Castle eludes capture. Cole-Alves is sentenced to death for her crimes. Meanwhile, Spider-Man confronts Castle, but he manages to escape. Spider-Man then talks to the Avengers, stating that Castle
21509-661: The recently crucified Jesus. The film, shot on location in Tunisia and Bulgaria, premiered at the Capri, Hollywood and the Los Angeles Italia Film Festival . In 2007, Lundgren directed and starred in the Mongolia-based action adventure, Diamond Dogs . Lundgren plays a mercenary hired by a group of fortune hunters to act as their guide and bodyguard. The film, a Canadian-Chinese production,
21666-432: The result of being poisoned with mind-altering drugs. An ongoing series, also titled The Punisher , premiered the next year. Initially by writer Mike Baron and artist Klaus Janson , it eventually ran 104 issues (July 1987 – July 1995) and spun off two additional ongoing series— The Punisher War Journal (80 issues, November 1988 – July 1995) and The Punisher War Zone (41 issues, March 1992 – July 1995), as well as
21823-492: The role of Ivan Drago in Creed II (2018). He also had notable roles in the fifth season of Arrow (2017), James Wan 's Aquaman (2018), and Kyle Balda 's Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022). Hans Lundgren was born in Spånga , Stockholm County , Sweden and to Sigrid Birgitta ( née Tjerneld; 1932–1992), a language teacher, and Karl Hugo Johan Lundgren (1923–2000), an engineer (M.Sc.) and economist (MBA) for
21980-550: The same year. The film received a limited theatrical release, followed by a Blu-ray and DVD release on 25 August 2015. In February, he filmed a cameo for the Coen brothers ' 2016 comedy film Hail, Caesar! , portraying a Soviet submarine captain. On 21 January 2015, Lundgren started filming straight-to-video film Shark Lake on the Mississippi Gulf Coast . This was followed by a further six weeks of filming in
22137-399: The source); launching a new series called PunisherMAX by Jason Aaron and Steve Dillon . As part of his work on the character, Rick Remender wrote the one-shot title Dark Reign: The List – Punisher , which, as part of the "Dark Reign" storyline, shows the character dismembered and decapitated by Daken . Following this, the main Punisher series was renamed FrankenCastle and featured
22294-461: The stone allowed him to heal from serious wounds, he ultimately chose to discard it after his monster allies helped him recognize that reliance on the stone would result in its side-effects eventually affecting his judgment, causing him to lose the ability to recognize innocents and kill people because of what they might do. In 2010, a Punisher series was released titled Punisher: In the Blood . It
22451-479: The underground Maria Hill – and apparently loyal to Hydra. He then reports to Steve Rogers about his mission. The Punisher later crashes Black Widow's attempts to take down Hydra Supreme Steve Rogers. The Punisher and Black Widow continue to battle until Black Widow stabs the Punisher in the thighs. The Punisher explains Hydra Supreme Steve Rogers's overall plan to use the Cosmic Cube is to put everything back to
22608-511: The way it was. Not just the Axis victory in World War II, but bringing back all of the dead as a result of Hydra like Rick Jones, Jack Flag, and Frank Castle's family. Black Widow rejects this idea and sees Miles approaching Hydra Supreme Steve Rogers causing Black Widow to stop Hydra Supreme Steve Rogers and Miles Morales . After the real Captain America defeated his Hydra Supreme counterpart,
22765-594: The world ends. The Punisher agrees to help, and is airlifted to Tikrit , where he works on "punishing" the Black Dawn, a terrorist group that had been filming themselves executing American hostages, including a former associate of the Punisher's. The Punisher decimates the Black Dawn, and dies from gunshot wounds as the Earth is destroyed by the Incursions. After Earth-616 has been restored, Frank Castle returns from
22922-492: The world. Since its release, the film has received better than average reviews for a straight-to-DVD franchise sequel, with film critic Brian Orndorf giving the film a B, calling it "moody, pleasingly quick-draw, and knows when to quit, making the Universal Soldier brand name bizarrely vital once again." Dread Central gave it three out of five knives, saying: "there is almost nothing but solid b-level action until
23079-581: Was "appallingly acted and monotonous" and Video Movie Guide 2002 described it as a "silly Cold War thriller". Later in 1994, Lundgren appeared in Perry Lang 's Men of War (scripted by John Sayles ) alongside Charlotte Lewis and BD Wong , as Nick Gunar, a former Special Ops soldier who leads a group of mercenaries to a treasure island in the South China Sea . The film was well received by some critics. One author said " Men of War invokes
23236-530: Was at a comics convention in New York City over the Christmas break. At the time he was living with Duffy Vohland, an employee in Marvel's production department. Vohland encouraged Grant to pitch story ideas to Marvel, and arranged an interview with then-editor-in-chief Marv Wolfman , with whom Grant would become good friends. Grant sat at Vohland's typewriter for a day and wrote three ideas: One involved
23393-405: Was bannered on the cover as the first of four; although the series had always been intended to be five issues long, and the banner was an error that recurred throughout the entire run. The plot changed from Grant's initial story, though the basic concept remained the same. An important element of the story was a retcon that explains that many of the Punisher's more extreme actions to this point were
23550-501: Was completing a master's degree in chemical engineering on an exchange program with the University of Sydney in Australia, Jones spotted him at a dance club and hired him as a bodyguard. Lundgren was whisked off to the United States, where he completed his final thesis. In 1994, he married Anette Qviberg (b. 1966), a jewellery designer and fashion stylist, in Marbella . The couple decided they liked Marbella so much that they rented accommodations there for years, before eventually buying
23707-400: Was fixed, while Marvel adjusted those of its other characters, with his history never altered or moved up in time. Promotional art for the cover of Punisher vol. 6, #44 (March 2007), gave his birth date as February 16, 1950, but that was removed for the published issues. After the departure of Ennis as writer, the series was renamed Punisher: Frank Castle with issue #66. The imprint depicts
23864-550: Was instituted in his name, which is awarded to the student with the best grades at Ådalsskolan in Kramfors , the school where he himself studied. Lundgren then reunited with Jean-Claude Van Damme in Universal Soldier: Regeneration , where he plays Andrew Scott's clone. The film was released theatrically in the Middle East and Southeast Asia and directly to video in the United States and other parts of
24021-407: Was poorly received and has an 17% "rotten" rating at Rotten Tomatoes. Stephen Holden of The New York Times said: "Dolph Lundgren's pectorals are the real stars of Red Scorpion, an action-adventure movie set in the fictional African country of Mombaka. Filmed from below so that one has the sense of peering up at a massive kinetic sculpture, his glistening torso, which over the course of the film
24178-545: Was released by Lionsgate on 17 August later that year. In 2013, Lundgren starred alongside Steve Austin in The Package . Directed by Jesse Johnson , principal photography wrapped in March 2012, and the film was released on 9 February 2013. For a direct-to-DVD film, The Package was not a financial success. In its first week of release, the film debuted at no. 81; grossing $ 1,469 at the domestic box office. He starred in
24335-495: Was released. Also starred Van Damme, this was their fifth collaboration between both actors as well as the first time they appear together as on-screen allies. Lundgren reprised his role of Ivan Drago from Rocky IV in Creed II , the 2018 sequel to Creed . He played an older, impoverished Drago in the film, which also introduces the character's son, Viktor. This marked the beginning of what New York has described as Lundgren's "comeback." Also that year, Lundgren appeared in
24492-565: Was seeking an imposing fighter to play Soviet boxer Ivan Drago in Rocky IV (1985), Lundgren sent videos and pictures of himself to a distant contact of Stallone, eventually reaching him. Lundgren tried out for the role, but as he himself has stated, he was initially turned down because he was too tall. Lundgren eventually beat 5,000 other hopefuls to land his breakout role opposite Stallone, Carl Weathers and Brigitte Nielsen . To improve his physique and athletic abilities, he trained intensely in bodybuilding and boxing for five months before
24649-423: Was shot on location in Inner Mongolia . Later in 2007, Lundgren wrote, directed and starred in the modern western film, Missionary Man alongside Charles Solomon Jr. Lundgren plays a lone, Bible-preaching stranger named Ryder who comes into a small Texas town on his 1970's Harley-Davidson motorcycle to attend the funeral of his good friend J.J., a local Native American carpenter, only to later get mixed up in
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