Marvel Fans Are Calling Out The Punisher: One Last Kill's Worst CGI Scene

Warning: This article contains spoilers (and very alarming CGI) for "The Punisher: One Last Kill."

Imagine being Jon Bernthal. You're impossibly rugged and talented. You just starred in (and co-wrote) a gritty and uber-violent passion project for the biggest superhero franchise on the planet. And then you wake up the next morning just to find all of social media windmill dunking on a four-second clip where you turn into a PS3 character. Tough crowd.

Never let anyone say that Marvel fans aren't some of the most ruthlessly observant folks around. "The Punisher: One Last Kill" seems to have delivered on what most viewers wanted from a special centered around Frank Castle (although some of us had reservations about such stylish, but empty spectacle), but that's not what a vocal group of fans are currently focusing their energies on. For an episode that revels so much in its grounded, street-level perspective, anything that happened to break immersion even slightly was bound to receive more than its fair share of scrutiny. Well, unfortunately, that's exactly what's happened with a brief moment that's now gone viral online.

They really left an unfinished VFX shot in #Punisher LOL😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/ISMmbhFeeY

— RobatsWrld.mp3 (@RealRobat) May 13, 2026

It starts when, while grieving his dead family and his own lack of direction now that all their murderers have been dealt with, Frank must contend with a bounty placed on his head that brings down an entire neighborhood of killers on his apartment complex. (Think "John Wick" by way of "The Raid.") The gory fight that ensues takes him to the rooftop, where he inevitably plunges off the side to evade being overwhelmed by his attackers. This is also where the sequence in question takes a turn into the uncanny, as you can see from the above clip showing what certainly looks like unfinished visual effects work. Brutal stuff.

Someone cue up Jon Bernthal's Frank Castle screaming "NO, NO, NO, NO, NO" on an endless loop. "The Punisher: One Last Kill" was meant to reintroduce casual audiences to Frank Castle, walk them through the basics of his tragic backstory, and (presumably) tee up his next appearance to come in "Spider-Man: Brand New Day." Instead, Marvel fans are having a field day calling out the otherwise immaculately-produced special for its one awfully glaring moment of unconvincing CGI. And it's drawn rather unfavorable comparisons to one of the most celebrated video games in recent memory.

Yeah, you can probably see where this is going. It didn't take very long for social media users to point out the obvious – CGI Frank Castle bears a much more striking resemblance to "The Last of Us" protagonist Joel Miller than to Bernthal himself. Several fans cheekily responded with gifs taken from "The Last of Us" and other wry observations likening what should've been the most realistic installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe to PlayStation graphics. Just look at the incredulous responses underneath this post on X (formerly Twitter), the most brutal of which alludes to the infamous "ragdoll" animation from the "GTA" games. Let me repeat: tough crowd.

But wait! There's more to this little sordid internet drama. A new report claims that this isn't an example of unfinished CGI at all, as Bernthal and a stuntman apparently performed this jump in tandem. In fact, the only VFX used was to swap the stuntman's face with the actor's ... if you believe it, that is.

This is very serious business, folks. Sometimes we find ourselves covering the intersection between politics and entertainment, and other days we're embroiled in the funniest (but largely meaningless) internet dramas anyone could possibly dream up. Today, it should go without saying, happens to be the latter.

Still, that doesn't make it any less fun. This latest plot twist comes courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter, which cites an anonymous source close to the production of "The Punisher: One Last Kill" to tell another side of the story. Apparently, we shouldn't believe what our lying eyes are seeing. According to the report, the use of VFX is limited to simple face replacement. Otherwise, Joe Bernthal performed this stunt as he tumbles over the edge of the roof, and a stuntman completed the actual fall. As THR puts it:

But a source close to the production tells The Hollywood Reporter that this is a real in-camera shot. Bernthal performed the beginning of the fall, and his stuntman took over for the impact shot. There is some VFX, however, which might explain some of the wonkiness — the stuntman's face was swapped for Bernthal's.

Yeah ... I don't quite buy that, and neither should you. It's likely only a matter of time before Marvel does some subtle touch-ups and replaces this shot on Disney+ in the days or weeks ahead — something streamers have done whenever innocuous mistakes blow up into full-fledged internet storms. It's a shame, if so, since moments like these are fun and harmless reminders of the joys that come from human artists doing their best to work under incredible pressure. I speak for all of us when I say: Let the PS3 scene stay, Marvel!