'Punisher: One Last Kill' Is Really Touting Its Practical VFX (Wonder Why)

The Punisher: One Last Kill slammed on to Disney+ earlier this week where the latest Marvel Special Presentation instantly went viral. Considering Daredevil: Born Again saw its viewership get chopped in half, you’d just assume One Last Kill’s virality is a good thing. Not so much.

For days now, The Punisher special has been getting raked over the coals for a scene that looks straight out of a PS3 game. It’s bad. My dude looks like Joel from The Last of Us, and fans were convinced its yet another example of Marvel shoving out a product with unfinished CGI.

They really left an unfinished VFX shot in #Punisher LOL😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/ISMmbhFeeY

— RobatsWrld.mp3 (@RealRobat) May 13, 2026

The above scene broke containment so hard that Marvel was already doing damage control the morning after One Last Kill started streaming. Via THR:

But a source close to the production tells The Hollywood Reporter that this is a real in-camera shot. Bernthal performed the beginning of the fall, and his stuntman took over for the impact shot. There is some VFX, however, which might explain some of the wonkiness — the stuntman’s face was swapped for Bernthal’s.

I’ve been able to find at least one official photo that shows Bernthal in the rig, and that is clearly him in the air before the scene tumbles so far out of the uncanny valley that it’s drowning in a pool the next town over. (These alleged “behind the scenes photos” are floating around, but I couldn’t source them, which probably explains why at least two of them look fake as hell.) Dollars to doughnuts, I absolutely buy that Bernthal did wire work. That’s plainly evident. Was there an actual fall that his face was mapped onto? That’s where you lose me.

What I do know is that Marvel is working overtime to sell how many practical stunts went into Punisher: One Last Kill as evidenced by the featurette. To be fair, the action is on point. When Frank finally goes to work, he goes to work, which is why the scene above was so jarring. You were clearly watching a human wrecking ball until you weren’t.

What stunt is missing from the clip below though? You’ll never guess.