Marvel Studios
Marvel Studio’s much-maligned VFX department is once again back in the discourse, and not for good reasons. A viral shot from the new Punisher special on Disney+ has been going viral for looking like a “video game cut scene.”
The studio’s new The Punisher: One Last Kill Special Presentation dropped this week, and while the Jon Bernthal-led project has generally been well-received by fans, one particular shot has gone massively viral for its seemingly botched special effects.
A clip of a video game cut scene-esque VFX shot The Punisher: One Last Kill is being widely mocked by fans on social media
A slow-motion sequence in which Frank Castle lands on a metal structure features a face swap on a stunt performer that looks, according to fans, like it’s from an early 2000s video game. Marvel Studios has also been dealing with criticism of its VFX for a few years now, which likely accelerated the mocking of the moment.
I can’t believe this is a real scene from The Punisher: One Last Killpic.twitter.com/pITBDCWRTk
— Ahmed/The Ears/IG: BigBizTheGod 🇸🇴 (@big_business_) May 13, 2026
They really left an unfinished VFX shot in #Punisher LOL😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/ISMmbhFeeY
— RobatsWrld.mp3 (@RealRobat) May 13, 2026
The moment it switched from a cut scene to gameplay https://t.co/zjJTjtOqIc pic.twitter.com/0OQPv41W1v
— comicodigy (@kickingcomics) May 13, 2026
“I know this is probably a lot harder to spot when it’s not slowed down, but if you told me this was a game cut-scene, I would believe it,” read one tweet about the clip.
“You lying. This is a Dreamcast cut scene,” a second joked.
“I started to hold ‘X’ to skip the cut scene,” a third cracked.
“It genuinely looks like a GTA cutscene,” another added.
“It looks like a test version of some Joel cutscene for PlayStation’s The Last of Us.”
“Marvel ‘accidentally’ dropping unfinished VFX in 2026 is crazy — Jon Bernthal is out here doing God-tier Punisher rage but they hit him with PS3 ragdoll physics.”
The clip was so widely proliferated on social media that the Mouse House made a statement about it in a reply to a fan on X/Twitter.
“Hello! Thank you for reaching out and letting us know you’re experiencing no audio while watching The Punisher: One Last Kill. The good news is that our team knows about this particular issue and is working on a solution as we speak. If there’s anything else we can do for you as we continue to work on a solution, please let us know!” Disney responded to the backlash on social media.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, however, the viral moment was mostly a practically filmed “in-camera shot,” and the only VFX used was to swap out the stuntman’s face for Bernthal’s.
“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.” [via THR]
The Punisher: One Last Kill, which is now streaming on Disney+, has an 85% critics score and 90% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, suggesting that the VFX blunder is just a small glitch in an otherwise received entry into the MCU.