'The Punisher' sneak peek: Watch Jon Bernthal go from family man to vigilante

When last we saw Frank Castle — the gun-toting vigilante who deals out harsh punishments to those of the criminal persuasion as the Punisher — he had just helped his frenemy Daredevil take down New York’s top ninja organization, the Hand. Neither ninjas nor blind crime-fighting lawyers are anywhere to be found in the first trailer for solo series The Punisher, which joins the Netflix corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe later this year. (Speaking of the MCU, is that Avengers Tower we spy in the New York skyline?) Instead, this two-and-a-half-minute clip, premiering exclusively on Yahoo Entertainment, illustrates where Castle (played by Jon Bernthal) came from … and where the Punisher is going. (Watch the trailer above.)

Once a happy family man, the former soldier’s life was forever shattered when his wife and children were brutally murdered by masked assailants. Jump ahead in time, and he’s still on the trail of their killers, taking aim at anyone who gets in his way, whether they be cops or crooks. At the same time, he’s also trying to stay one step ahead of a covert government operation spearheaded by CIA spook Rawlins (Paul Schulze) that’s designed to take him out. His allies in this two-front war include at least one familiar face — secretary-turned-journalist Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll) — as well as newcomers like tech expert Micro (Ebon Moss-Bachrach from Girls). And while the trailer is scored to Metallica, the sound of gunfire is more indicative of what you can expect from the Punisher’s fighting style. Forget “Kiss kiss bang bang” — this is more “Bang bang bang bang.”

The Punisher premieres on Netflix this fall.