The Punisher:Ain't It Cool News' Moriarity reports that "Marvel's head cheese", Avi Arad, and their "second in command" let slip to him who it was that they had official cast as Frank Castle in the upcoming film version of the hit comic The Punisher. Who is it? None other than Thomas Jane (Boogie Nights, Dreamcatcher, Deep Blue Sea).

"Kevin Feige, Avi's second-in-command, had joined us, and the two of them went over a few quick points. One of the things they said is that they just closed the deal on THE PUNISHER, meaning it's now official. We've got a Frank Castle, and it turns out AICN called it first, way back on January 12th. Marvel must love BOOGIE NIGHTS, because they put Molina in SPIDER-MAN, and they're putting Thomas Jane in the Punisher's suit. We joked with Avi that all he needed to do now was find a great bad guy role for Burt Reynolds."

More casting news will sure enough be on the way soon.

Stay tuned....

The Punisher was released April 16th, 2004 and stars A. Russell Andrews, Omar Avila, James Carpinello, Mark Collie, Russell Durham Comegys, Antoni Corone, Rick Elmhurst, Ben Foster. The film is directed by Jonathan Hensleigh.