

During a promotional stop in support of the recent Blu-ray release of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, directors Joe and Anthony Russo made an observation that has a lot of fans buzzing about the possibility that the film secretly introduced The Punisher into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

During an interview with ComingSoon.net, the filmmakers revealed that during Captain America: The Winter Soldier, there are two separate instances when the heroes are saved or villains get their comeuppance as a result of a yellow Penske truck. Apparently, in-story, those were both the same truck and driver.

Here's how ComingSoon reported it (leaving in their commentary as well): "The man who drives that truck," Joe deadpans, joking that the driver is a candidate for a future Marvel One-Shot, "Is very highly trained. He thinks on his own terms. He's got a plan and a very specific skill set."

That sounds to a lot of fans, including some commenters on the original story, as though it could be The Punisher, a Vietnam veteran whose familiy was killed by the mob and who responded by dedicating himself to killing as many criminals as he can.

There have been three previous Punisher films, never at Marvel Studios and each starring a different lead actor and taking a different approach to the material. Like Ghost Rider, it's rumored that the poor performance of Punisher: War Zone led to Marvel getting the rights back a little earlier than they otherwise might have because distributor Lionsgate didn't see any potential upside to hanging onto the franchise.