Why The Internet is Divided Over The Punisher: One Last Kill VFX Controversy

Jon Bernthal’s return as the mercenary anti-hero in The Punisher: One Last Kill had hyped up fans, but one particular scene seems to have divided them. A sequence where Bernthal’s Frank Castle falls down onto a metallic container has been criticized by a section of fans for shoddy VFX, while others have defended it.

Marvel’s VFX and CGI have received criticism over the years, and One Last Kill seems to have been just a new addition. However, few fans have defended the VFX scene, citing it as the only issue in an otherwise good special. Some fans have also blamed the shot’s shoddy work on the short production window for the special.

Special Name	The Punisher: One Last Kill
Directed By	Reinaldo Marcus Green
Written By	Jon Bernthal, Reinaldo Marcus Green
Main Cast	Jon Bernthal, Deborah Ann Woll, Jason R. Moore, Judith Light
Release Date	May 12, 2026
Streaming	Disney+

Some Fans Cite Short Production Timeline For The Punisher: One Last Kill’s Bad VFX

After Jon Bernthal made his debut as the Punisher in Netflix’s Daredevil, he became the defining actor for the popular Marvel anti-hero. In fact, his performance made the character an even bigger icon than it was, furthered only by the spin-off series, The Punisher. No wonder the MCU wanted Bernthal back for Daredevil: Born Again and more.

Bernthal reportedly pitched the special, The Punisher: One Last Kill, himself, taking on screenwriting duties along with Reinaldo Marcus Green, who directed the special. The special reportedly had a short filming schedule of only 12 days, which was wrapped in August of last year. The 51-minute special has been in post-production for ten months.

While ten months seems like a lot to work on one VFX shot, fans have defended the shoddy scene for the same reason. Fans blamed the 12-day shoot and the controlled crew as a possible reason for the dip in quality of VFX, while many others criticized Marvel, speculating whether they used AI for that particular shot.

People don’t understand how low budget this special was filmed in like 12 days and probably only a handful of full of artists working on the whole thing

— Max (@maxboy1011) May 13, 2026

Never expected Marvel to have VFX this bad. It honestly feels like they did not care much about this Punisher project.

There is no excuse for visuals like this. Somehow it looks worse than the Scorpion King in The Mummy Returns.#ThePunisherOneLastKill pic.twitter.com/Cj1P1ToRVy

— Marvel Insights (@Marvel_Insights) May 13, 2026

It looked CGI. Not that I’m complaining

— Spared_Souls (@AkimboWimbo) May 13, 2026

In the crew’s defense, that particular frame has been punched in, and the actual shot itself is wider. The falling sequence only constitutes a small part of the frame and is cut immediately to the next shot. Apart from the shot, the reviews for the special have been positive.

Still, this comes behind a lot of previous criticisms of Marvel’s VFX.

Why Does Marvel Still Have A VFX Problem?

The MCU has been largely effects-driven. However, early Marvel movies seemed to have gotten the right blend of practical and digital effects to make it look realistic and believable. The Disney+ era of Marvel has received quite a bit of criticism from fans about its VFX work, with shows like She-Hulk: Attorney at Law being prime examples.

Many VFX artists have spoken about why the effects in modern movies, in general, look worse, and especially in Marvel projects. The reason, they claim, is the lack of planning and change of plans, leading to the VFX artists reworking shots without any change in schedules (via The Independent).

Chris Lee, a VFX artist, said that Marvel was famous for changing plans at the last minute without extending deadlines. He said (via Vulture),

You’re already overworked, but then Marvel’s asking for regular changes way in excess of what any other client does. And some of those changes are really major. Maybe a month or two before a movie comes out, Marvel will have us change the entire third act. It has really tight turnaround times.

Although there is no evidence for this happening on The Punisher: One Last Kill, the quality of VFX on that one shot, despite having 10 months for post-production, seems to be telling. The MCU has long held the standard for giving quality films, but it has also seen a downward trend in terms of writing and VFX. We hope it gets fixed in the future.

What did you think about The Punished: One Last Kill? Comment below.

The Punished: One Last Kill is available to stream on Disney+.