Jon Bernthal has a grip on streaming as his R-Rated action thriller has returned as a global hit not long after its sequel had a successful run on Prime Video. Bernthal is on a roll in 2026. A lot of that comes down to how the actor has had a major part to play in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s slate of releases this year. First, he led The Punisher: One Last Kill on Disney+, topping the streamer’s global charts. Then, he returned as the Punisher in Tom Holland’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which is now the 3rd highest-grossing movie ever.
That said, Bernthal’s excellent 2026 is not made up only by his action-packed appearances as the Punisher in the MCU. The actor was also in another of the biggest movies of the year, Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, where he also shared the screen with Spider-Man’s Tom Holland, playing King Menelaus of Sparta. On the small screen, he led the crime thriller series His & Hers alongside Tessa Thompson, which ranked as the 10th most-watched Netflix show of all time until I Will Find You surpassed it recently. Now, Bernthal’s 2016 action movie, The Accountant, is rising on Apple TV’s global charts.
Bernthal’s The Accountant Franchise Refuses To Die On Streaming
Jon Bernthal as Braxton, bloodied up in The Accountant 2.
At the time of writing, The Accountant is the 10th most-watched movie on Apple TV worldwide, according to FlixPatrol. The R-rated action thriller saw Bernthal play Braxton Wolff, a security company head and the estranged brother of Ben Affleck’s Christian Wolff, an accountant and hitman. The Accountant finds itself in the company of movies like Holland’s Cherry, Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes, Ryan Reynolds’ The Proposal and Mayday, Brad Pitt’s F1, and more on Apple TV’s global Top 10 Movies chart. The Accountant is streaming on YouTube TV and TBS in the United States, not Apple TV, though it can be rented or bought there.
The Accountant‘s newfound global streaming success on Apple TV, with Bernthal’s R-rated action thriller currently trending in 33 countries, confirms a streak that shows how the franchise is refusing to die on streaming. After The Accountant was released in theaters in 2016, its sequel, The Accountant 2, arrived on April 25, 2025, grossing $103 million worldwide. After that, The Accountant 2 was released on Prime Video on June 5, 2025. The action thriller ended up becoming Prime Video’s 2nd most-watched movie of all time (via Deadline) with over 80 million viewers worldwide in its first 28 days on the streamer, breaking records.
This Bodes Well For The Third Movie’s Arrival
High Octane · No Brakes How Well Do You Know Action Movies? “Yippee-ki-yay… let’s see what you’ve got.”
💥ExplosionsWalk away, don’t look back
🏎Car ChasesFloor it
🥊Fist FightsNo mercy
🚁StuntsGet to the chopper
🔥MayhemBurn it all down
01
In the 1988 classic Die Hard, NYPD cop John McClane spends Christmas Eve picking off Hans Gruber’s heavily armed crew one by one inside a single Los Angeles high-rise. What is the name of that skyscraper?
✓ Direct hit! Nakatomi Plaza — the headquarters of the fictional Nakatomi Corporation where McClane (Bruce Willis) is trapped. It was filmed in the real Fox Plaza in Century City, which was still under construction at the time. McClane’s barefoot dash across broken glass remains one of the genre’s defining moments.
✗ Missed! The answer is Nakatomi Plaza. The film was shot in the real Fox Plaza in Century City (then Fox’s own HQ), which is likely why “Fox Tower” sounds plausible — but on screen it’s the fictional Nakatomi Plaza where Hans Gruber’s crew holds the Christmas party hostage.
02
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) introduced the shape-shifting T-1000, a groundbreaking villain that could melt, reform, and morph into anyone. What futuristic material is the T-1000 made of?
✓ Direct hit! The T-1000 is made of “mimetic poly-alloy” — essentially liquid metal — letting it flow through bars, sprout blades, and impersonate its victims. Robert Patrick’s eerily calm performance and the era-defining morphing CGI made it cinema’s scariest robot. The T-800 (Arnold), by contrast, is metal under living tissue.
✗ Missed! The answer is liquid metal (“mimetic poly-alloy”). That’s what lets the T-1000 pour through prison bars, reform from a shattered frozen state, and mimic anyone it touches. The older T-800 played by Arnold is the one with a hard metal endoskeleton under flesh — the T-1000 is a whole new threat.
03
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) was a near-non-stop desert car chase praised for its practical stunts, winning six Oscars. Which director returned to the franchise he created decades earlier to make it?
✓ Direct hit! George Miller created Mad Max with Mel Gibson back in 1979 and returned 36 years later to direct Fury Road, with Tom Hardy as Max and Charlize Theron as Furiosa. The film leaned on real vehicles and stunts in the Namibian desert. Snyder, Villeneuve, and Bigelow are all acclaimed — but the Wasteland belongs to Miller.
✗ Missed! The answer is George Miller — the Australian filmmaker (and former doctor) who launched the series in 1979 and came back to direct Fury Road. Zack Snyder, Denis Villeneuve, and Kathryn Bigelow are all major action/sci-fi directors, but none made Mad Max.
04
In John Wick (2014), Keanu Reeves plays a retired hitman pulled back into a brutal underworld war after Russian gangsters break into his home. What act ignites his legendary rampage of revenge?
✓ Direct hit! They kill his dog — a beagle puppy named Daisy, a final gift from his late wife — and steal his vintage Mustang. That cruelty unleashes “Baba Yaga,” the boogeyman hitman, on the entire criminal underworld. The deceptively simple revenge hook launched one of modern action’s biggest franchises.
✗ Missed! The answer is they kill his dog. The puppy, Daisy, was the last gift from John’s dying wife — so when Iosef’s crew beats John and kills the dog (also stealing his car), it triggers the full “Baba Yaga” rampage. It’s the purest revenge setup in modern action cinema.
05
The Mission: Impossible franchise is famous for its star performing his own death-defying stunts — scaling the Burj Khalifa, clinging to a plane at takeoff, and a HALO jump. Who plays super-spy Ethan Hunt?
✓ Direct hit! Tom Cruise has played Ethan Hunt since 1996, famously insisting on doing his own stunts — hanging off the Burj Khalifa, strapped to an Airbus A400M, and performing a real HALO skydive. Matt Damon is Jason Bourne, Keanu is John Wick, and Statham headlines the Transporter and Expendables films.
✗ Missed! The answer is Tom Cruise. Matt Damon plays a different super-spy (Jason Bourne), Keanu Reeves is John Wick, and Jason Statham has his own action stable. Cruise’s real, no-CGI stunt work — the plane, the building, the skydive — is the M:I series’ signature.
06
In The Matrix (1999), Morpheus offers Neo a choice between two pills: one returns him to blissful ignorance, the other reveals the harsh truth of reality. Which pill does Neo swallow to wake up?
✓ Direct hit! Neo takes the red pill to learn the truth — that humanity is enslaved in a simulation by machines. The blue pill would have let him wake up in bed believing “whatever you want to believe.” “Taking the red pill” has since become a permanent piece of pop-culture shorthand.
✗ Missed! The answer is the red pill. Morpheus’ line is the key: the blue pill ends the story safely in bed, but the red pill shows “how deep the rabbit hole goes.” Neo chooses red, unplugs from the Matrix, and the phrase has outlived the film as a cultural metaphor.
07
Ridley Scott’s Gladiator (2000) won Best Picture and gave us the roaring line “Are you not entertained?!” Which actor took home the Best Actor Oscar for playing the betrayed general-turned-gladiator Maximus?
✓ Direct hit! Russell Crowe won the 2001 Best Actor Oscar as Maximus Decimus Meridius, the Roman general enslaved and forced to fight for his freedom — and his revenge on the emperor Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix). Gerard Butler later anchored 300, but the sands of the Colosseum belong to Crowe.
✗ Missed! The answer is Russell Crowe, who won Best Actor for Maximus. Gerard Butler led the similar-spirited 300, Mel Gibson made Braveheart, and Brad Pitt fought at Troy — all sword-and-sandal adjacent, but Gladiator’s Maximus is Crowe.
08
The Fast & Furious saga grew from a street-racing crime film into a globe-trotting blockbuster series obsessed with “family.” Vin Diesel anchors it as the gravel-voiced crew leader — what is the character’s name?
✓ Direct hit! Vin Diesel plays Dominic “Dom” Toretto, the loyalty-obsessed leader whose mantra is family. Brian O’Conner was the late Paul Walker’s undercover-cop-turned-ally, Luke Hobbs is Dwayne Johnson’s lawman, and Han Lue (Sung Kang) is the snack-loving fan favorite. But the wheel belongs to Dom.
✗ Missed! The answer is Dominic Toretto. Brian O’Conner is Paul Walker’s character, Luke Hobbs is Dwayne Johnson’s, and Han Lue is Sung Kang’s. Vin Diesel’s Dom — and his relentless “family” speeches — has been the heart of the franchise since 2001.
Mission Complete · Stand Down Your Action Hero Rank
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One-man army — or first to get caught in the crossfire?
Amazon MGM Studios has yet to formally announce The Accountant 3. However, during an interview with ScreenRant‘s Grant Hermanns to talk about the release of his new crime-thriller series M.I.A. on Peacock in May, The Accountant franchise writer Bill Dubuque teased that another sequel was on the way. According to Dubuque, those waiting for the return of Bernthal’s R-rated thriller franchise should not be surprised when they see it playing at the local theater. The writer also pointed out that he did not want to reveal too much. The Accountant‘s streaming resurgence on Apple TV should now boost interest in the third movie.
