Judith Light spent nearly a decade as Tony Danza’s boss but nothing in her impressive filmography would suggest that the Tony and Emmy Award-winning actress would make a menacing mob boss. However, in The Punisher: One Last Kill, Light brings one of Frank Castle’s most menacing and determined foes to life with convincing verisimilitude.
Light plays Isabella “Ma” Gnucci, the head of the Gnucci Crime Family who tried to take Castle out in Volume 5 of The Punisher, written by Garth Ennis. The 12-issue arc, known as “Welcome Back, Frank”, launched Ennis’ 49-issue run with the character and has long been hailed as a classic Punisher tale. Harboiled and gruesome, “Welcome Back, Frank” took the character back to his roots and allowed him to do what he does best: kill bad guys with extreme prejudice…and a flamethrower.
In terms of MCU Punisher continuity, Ma Gnucci makes quite a bit of sense as an antagonist for the project, given that Frank wiped out several members of the Gnucci Crime Family in Episode 1.01 of The Punisher, “3 AM” and, subsequently killed her husband and sons as part of his vendetta against those who were responsible for the death of his family. In One Last Kill, it’s revealed that Ma Gnucci has been patiently planning the Punisher’s demise and puts a bounty on his head while revealing exactly where he can be found.
Unfortunately for Gnucci, her plan to put down Castle fails, not only leaving him alive but providing a glimpse of purpose that ultimately leads to him becoming The Punisher once more.
Somewhat surprisingly, Gnucci’s role–and that of her intriguing bodyguard Barry–is rather minimal, foreshadowing a future showdown between her and Castle. While Castle’s next appearance is in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, it seems clear that Bernthal already has the next gruesome steps in the character’s MCU journey outlined and it looks like the boss will be back as well.
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