Twitter

Where to Stream:

Marvel's The Punisher

The longstanding friendly feud between Marvel and DC just turned serious. Netflix announced the release date for the upcoming Marvel’s the Punisher series, and it’s a date that no doubt sounded familiar to those in the comic book know. November 17, 2017–the same day that Warner Bros. drops the heavily hyped and long awaited Justice League feature film. Batman and Wonder Woman are now in Frank Castle’s sights.

The move is a gutsy one on Netflix’s part, as the audience for Netflix’s grim and gritty Punisher and Warner Bros.’ grim and gritty (although less so in the wake of Wonder Woman) is pretty much the same audience. Knowing that, Marvel and DC tend to steer clear of each other, taking turns when it comes to dominating the pop culture conversation. 2013’s Man of Steel opened a month after Iron Man 3, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice opened just over a month before Captain America: Civil War in 2016, Suicide Squad had fall 2016 all to itself, and Wonder Woman opened this year right in the middle of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Spider-Man: Homecoming. All of Marvel’s TV releases have stayed out of the way of DC’s movie debuts, too.

But just because this is the first time a Marvel and DC property are engaging in a release day face-off doesn’t mean this hasn’t almost happened in the past. In 2015, Ant-Man moved into a date (July 17) previously held by Batman v Superman after that DC movie was delayed to May 2016. And then… the stare-down happened.

BvS moved to May 6, 2016 in January of 2014. Then, three months later, Marvel Studios was like, “We’re dropping Captain America: Civil War on May 6, 2016. What’re you gonna do about it, WB?” What did WB do? They flinched. They bumped up BvS’ release date to March 25, 2016, getting it ahead of Civil War and out of the fray. Of course Marvel still tried to get up in DC’s business by dropping Season 2 of Daredevil a week before BvS came out.

Now Marvel and Netflix are playing chicken with DC/WB once again, announcing after months and months of build-up that Jon Bernthal’s solo Punisher series will drop just as Justice League begins its run at box office history. But really, is there any competition? Judging by advance hype, Justice League (a major motion picture) is definitely outpacing Marvel’s The Punisher (a TV series on a streaming service). Check out Google Trends:

Also, the latest Justice League trailer has been watched over 20 million times, while Netflix’s Punisher trailer has almost 8 million. These two things are in different mediums, and the pre-awareness proves that. There’s absolutely no reason for Justice League to flinch this time around, especially after the so-so response to Marvel’s The Defenders in August, but that doesn’t mean Punisher won’t dent Justice League’s box office.

People binge these Marvel shows over the weekend, partly because they want to avoid spoilers that will pop up in headlines on Monday morning. That being the case, Netflix might be taking out a 13 hour chunk from Justice League’s release date weekend, a move that could drive down the repeat viewings that comics fans are known for. Why see Justice League twice, even if it’s great, if you’re also a Punisher fan and are committed to watching Season 1 ASAP?

Either way, November 17 is a big day for comic book fans, and the first real clash of Marvel and DC’s sprawling media franchises. Who will win the battle?