The Punisher Heads to Television

After three feature film versions, Frank Castle is heading to the small screen. Deadline reports that Fox has plans to develop Marvel Comics’ “The Punisher” as a television series from former “Criminal Minds” showrunner Edward Allen Bernero.

Set up through ABC Studios, “The Punisher” will take on the format of an hourlong police procedural. In this version, Castle will work by day as an NYPD detective and by night as the Punisher, righting the wrongs that he legally can’t.

“The Punisher” marks the fourth live-action Marvel Universe property planned for television, following the proposed “Hulk” series, “Cloak and Dagger” and “AKA Jessica Jones,” based on Brian Michael Bendis’ “Alias.” Though not in the same comic book universe, FX is preparing another Bendis adaptation, “Powers,” currently published by Marvel’s Icon Imprint.

In addition to “Criminal Minds,” Bernero created the police series “Third Watch.”

The Punisher, long since a mainstay of the Marvel Universe, made his first appearance in 1974’s “The Amazing Spider-Man” issue 129.