A new blog from Punisher director Lexi Alexander says new Punisher actor – Rome star Ray Stevenson – will be receiving major military training from several Marines of the company Gunmetal.

Said Alexander, “They are especially invested in making Frank Castle as authentic as possible, since historically, Castle was a Force Recon Marine.”

This is the one thing I never brought about the first one. With the exception of the deleted opening (which can be found in animated form on the first Punisher special edition DVD), Frank Castle’s military background is only vaguely hinted at, and largely supplemented with law enforcement background.

What the Punisher does to criminals however isn’t something you’d typically come across through years of law and order. In the comic books, Castle is already suffering from war-associated mental problems in the Vietnam prequel story Born.

The second Punisher, though devoid of Thomas Jane, seems to be more faithful to the comic book plotline, already bearing the name “Welcome Back, Frank.” This was ironically supposed to be the storyline of the first movie, but was mostly mangled in the screenwriting process.

Let’s hope the dark humor of the comics mixes well with the character already well-established in the first flick. Punisher 2 is set to be released sometime in 2008