HUNKY star Ray Stevenson is set to win over an army of comic fans in his next movie, as the violent vigilante The Punisher. The actor — raised in Newcastle and Northumberland — has already conquered the hearts of legions of female fans with his role as Titus Pollo in the BBC/HBO series Rome. Lionsgate Films have now announced he’ll play Frank Castle in the second Punisher movie, after the original lead — Thomas Jane — left due to “creative differences”. Ray, 43, sprang to stardom when he starred in TV’s At Home With The Braithwaites, but his role in the mammoth historical series Rome — in which he shares the lead with Kevin McKidd — has turned him into a household name. He’s also starred in a handful of films including King Arthur — as the knight, Dagonet — The Theory of Flight and the forthcoming horror Outpost. But his role as the Punisher, aka Frank Castle, will be the first time he’s taken the lead in a major Hollywood film. The original Punisher film came out in 1989 and starred Dolph Lundgren in the lead role, but the film flopped and went straight to video. Marvel Comics then decided to re-start the Punisher franchise in 2004 . . . but it was no family-friendly superhero movie. It told the story of Frank, who takes it upon himself to dish out punishments when his wife and family are murdered by a gangster, played by John Travolta. It was given an 18 certificate. The film wasn’t a big box office hit but DVD sales were huge . . . prompting this sequel. In The Punisher 2, Ray’s character will head to New York and faces a new enemy — the psychopathic Jigsaw. The last three years on Rome as brutish Titus will have prepared Ray well to play the Punisher, which is just as well because he’s not a fan of gyms. He said: “I hate the gym, so the best gym in the world was actually going to work on Rome because we had to do the horse work and the fight training.” V The Punisher 2 will be out in cinemas next year. | 
