Thomas Jane Returns as The Punisher in Mysterious ‘#DirtyLaundry’ Trailer

As a die-hard fan of 'The Punisher' comic books growing up, it was tough not to see my favorite character get a few sub-par movie adaptations. The first of which being Dolph Lundgren's lame outing as Frank Castle in the 1989 film, where the titular character didn't even wear his signature skull logo. Thomas Jane was a great fit as The Punisher, although the 2004 film he starred in left a little to be desired in terms of story. 'Punisher: War Zone' was released in 2008 with Ray Stevenson in the starring role. The film was a little too campy for my tastes and Stevenson just didn't seem right for the role.

In recent years there has been talk of a Punisher TV series, which I think would be phenomenal on a network with balls, like AMC, FX or even a pay cable net like HBO or Showtime. Now it looks like the folks over at Marvel are looking to return to the big screen with Punisher, and, hopefully, with Thomas Jane behind the skull. The studio has recently re-acquired the property rights, but apparently this new short film was a passion project for Jane, who said this about '#DIRTYLAUNDRY':

I wanted to make a fan film for a character I’ve always loved and believed in — a love letter to Frank Castle & his fans. It was an incredible experience with everyone on the project throwing in their time just for the fun of it. It’s been a blast to be a part of from start to finish — we hope the friends of Frank enjoy watching it as much as we did making it.

Let's hope that Marvel Studios notices the 700,000+ views this thing has racked up in just a couple of days. Here is the 10-minute short where Jane falls back into old habits as The Punisher. Welcome back, Frank.