The Punisher, the spin-off series of Netflix’s Daredevil series, will see the first and second seasons leave Netflix globally on March 1st, 2022, and the rights revert back to Disney.
Almost six years ago, the character of The Punisher debuted in the incredible second season of The Daredevil. Jon Bernthal’s portrayal of New York’s deadliest anti-hero was an immediate smash hit with Marvel fans. Bernthal’s portrayal was so popular in fact that it resulted in his own spin-off series, which debuted on Netflix eighteen months later in November 2017.
By the time the highly anticipated second season of The Punisher arrived on Netflix, almost fourteen months later in January 2019, the entire landscape of the Marvel Netflix series had changed.
Daredevil had just released its third season in October 2018, and its subsequent cancellation shocked Netflix subscribers around the world. Soon after the cancelations of all of the remaining Marvel Netflix shows followed, including The Punisher, which meant the second season would be it’s last. While many loyal fans still tuned in to watch the second season, any momentum the series had was abruptly halted.
With Disney announcing the launch of its own streaming service, Disney+, for late 2019, and prior to that in 2017, Netflix had lost the first window rights to stream the latest Disney movies, which the streaming service had held for years. So, Netflix’s declining relationship with Disney, the latter’s ambitions plans ultimately lead to the collapse of the Netflix Marvel shows.
It must also be noted that in 2018, Disney CEO Bob Iger, had announced that Disney would begin its plan to aggressively pull back the licensing of Marvel characters from other companies, such as their requirement of the Fantastic Four and the X-Men when Disney bought Fox for a reported $52.4 billion.
Alongside The Punisher, all of the remaining shows of The Defenders will also be leaving Netflix, such as Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, Luke Cage, and The Defenders.
When is The Punisher scheduled to leave Netflix?
At the time of publishing, both seasons of The Punisher are scheduled to leave Netflix on March 1st, 2022. The information regarding the show leaving hasn’t been made available on the title card or on mobile devices and instead has only been displayed when starting up the first episode of the series.
Netflix has confirmed to us at What’s on Netflix that The Punisher will be leaving on March 1st, 2022 and the rights to the series will be reverting back to Disney.
Netflix has now confirmed to What's on Netflix that all of The Defenders series are set to leave on March 1st and the rights are reverting back to Disney. https://t.co/3c4rPN5fJs
— What's on Netflix (@whatonnetflix) February 11, 2022
Below is the removal notice that is displayed when streaming The Punisher:
Where will The Punisher be available to stream next?
The Punisher is more mature and graphic than what subscribers will be used to seeing on Disney+ and its latest selection of shows sets within the MCU. This means there is a chance that The Punisher could be sent to Hulu where some of the older Marvel content is available to stream.
