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Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
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Weird
Marvel fans mourned the loss of Netflix’s final two original Defenders series this weekend, but one famous comics stan is still fuming over the loss of Marvel’s The Punisher. Eminem, aka Marshall Mathers, took to twitter in all caps last night to lambast Netflix for cancelling the dark and moody Marvel series.
At first glance, it might seem like just another instance of a celebrity taking to twitter to blow off steam, but Eminem and the Punisher (and Marvel, for that matter) have a long history together. The rapper and producer actually appeared — AS HIMSELF — in a special Punisher comic. In 2009, Marvel released Eminem/Punisher #1, a single issue fantasia, if you will, that reveals that Eminem exists in the same graphic novel continuity as The Punisher and his long-time rival Barracuda.
At first, Em and Frank Castle are at odds. In fact, Eminem actually shoots The Punisher point blank, but then the story shifts to Antartica, where Barracuda has captured both the hip hop star and the vigilante. The two team up to defeat the villain and the issue ends with The Punisher leaving Eminem on an ice float with a satellite phone, along with the threat that he’s going to snitch on Em to the Parents’ Music Council.
Fun, right? But comic books might mean way more to Eminem than the average fan. In 2009, he revealed to Jonathan Ross that comic books helped him embrace sobriety, replacing pills and overeating for him. Ross pulled up the cover of the Punisher comic and Eminem said earnestly, “That’s how you know you’ve made it.”
Most recently, Eminem showed his love for Marvel comics by writing and releasing an original song for last year’s Venom. Which leads us to wonder…why can’t Eminem do the same for The Punisher? Create an original music video that combines the Eminem/Punisher storyline with the characters from the Netflix TV series. Give us the “Ballad of Billy Russo!” (It looks like actor Ben Barnes would be down with it.)
Ball’s in your court, Em.
