The character is a vigilante who employs murder, kidnapping, threats of violence, and torture in his campaign against crime. Driven by the deaths of his wife and two children, who were killed by the mob for witnessing a killing in New York City's Central Park, the Punisher wages a one-man war on crime. Castle is a veteran U.S. Marine CorpsScout/Sniper in Force Recon. The stories initially place his military service in the Vietnam War, but this was much later updated to the Gulf War and then to the fictional Siancong War. Castle is skilled in hand-to-hand combat, guerrilla warfare, and marksmanship. He is known for the skull motif on his chest. The symbol has since become widely controversial after becoming appropriated by United States military personnel and law enforcement, as well as far-right organizations.
The Punisher's brutal nature and willingness to kill made him an anomaly in mainstream American comic books when he debuted in 1974. By the late 1980s, the Punisher was part of a wave of psychologically troubled antiheroes. At the height of his popularity, the character was featured in four monthly publications: The Punisher, The Punisher War Journal, The Punisher: War Zone, and The Punisher Armory. While his popularity declined markedly in the mid-1990s, writer Garth Ennis revived interest in the character in the early 2000s, particularly in a series under the Max imprint.
In 2017, the Punisher became the second War Machine for a brief period. An alternate version of the character dubbed the "Cosmic Ghost Rider", created by Donny Cates and Geoff Shaw, began publication in 2018 as a Thanossupporting character, becoming a breakout character and receiving his own ongoing series, often coming into opposition with his past self.
The Punisher was conceived by Gerry Conway, a writer for The Amazing Spider-Man. Conway was inspired by The Executioner, a popular book series created by author Don Pendleton, in which a Vietnam veteran, Mack Bolan, becomes a mass murderer of criminals after the Mafia-related deaths of his family.[9] Conway said in a 1987 interview that "I was fascinated by the Don Pendleton Executioner character, which was fairly popular at the time, and I wanted to do something that was inspired by that, although not to my mind a copy of it. And while I was doing the Jackal storyline, the opportunity came for a character who would be used by the Jackal to make Spider-Man's life miserable. The Punisher seemed to fit."[10]
Conway created the unique outfit for the character along with John Romita Sr. As Conway recalled in 2002, "In the '70s, when I was writing comics at DC and Marvel, I made it a practice to sketch my own ideas for the costumes of new characters—heroes and villains—which I offered to the artists as a crude suggestion representing the image I had in mind. I had done that with the Punisher at Marvel."[11] Conway had drawn a character with a small death's head skull on one breast. Marvel art director John Romita, Sr. took the basic design and blew the skull up to huge size, taking up most of the character's chest.[12]Amazing Spider-ManpencillerRoss Andru was the first artist to draw the character for publication.
Stan Lee, then Marvel's editor-in-chief, claimed in 2005 that he had suggested the character's name:
Gerry Conway was writing a script and he wanted a character that would turn out to be a hero later on, and he came up with the name the Assassin. And I mentioned that I didn't think we could ever have a comic book where the hero would be called the Assassin, because there's just too much of a negative connotation to that word. And I remembered that, some time ago, I had had a relatively unimportant character ... [who] was one of [the cosmic antagonist] Galactus' robots, and I had called him the Punisher, and it seemed to me that that was a good name for the character Gerry wanted to write—so I said, 'Why not call him the Punisher?' And, since I was the editor [sic; Lee had been named publisher in 1972], Gerry said, 'Okay.'[13]
1970s
Appearing for the first time in The Amazing Spider-Man#129 (Feb. 1974), the Punisher was initially an antagonist of the titular hero.[14] He was portrayed as a bloodthirsty vigilante who had no qualms about killing gangsters, something which most superheroes of the time refrained from doing. In this appearance, the Punisher is determined to kill Spider-Man, who he views as an undisciplined vigilante.[15] In this first appearance, the Punisher himself is unstable and lacking in emotional self-control.[16] The Punisher is shown as a formidable fighter, skilled marksman, and able strategist. All he reveals about himself is that he is a former U.S. Marine.[17] He has a fierce temper but also shows signs of considerable frustration over his self-appointed role of killer vigilante. Although he has few qualms about killing, he is outraged when his then-associate, the Jackal,[18] apparently kills an enemy by treacherous means rather than in honorable combat.
Marvel Preview #2 (1975), the fifth appearance of the character, reveals the Punisher's earlier name "Frank Castle" and the trauma of his family's murder by Mafia gangsters.[19]
The character was a hit with readers and started to appear on a regular basis, teaming up with both Spider-Man and other heroes such as Captain America and Nightcrawler throughout the 1970s.[20] Conway said the Punisher's popularity took him by surprise, as he had intended him only as a second-tier character.[21]
1980s
The Punisher appeared in Frank Miller's acclaimed run on Daredevil. Miller contrasts the Punisher's version of vigilantism to the more social liberal approach of Daredevil. In an interview, Miller argues that Punisher is "Batman without the impurities": that, like Batman, Punisher is driven by an unquenchable need to avenge the loss of his loved ones, but that he lacks the limitation of mercy that Batman places on his actions. Miller believes that Punisher is heroic, but not a role model, because readers should not wish to emulate his behavior.[22] In the pages of Daredevil, the Punisher is particularly cold-blooded; he kills a child involved in the drug trade, although the child has dropped his weapon and asked for mercy.[23]
In 1983, Punisher appeared in The Spectacular Spider-Man, written by Bill Mantlo. He was characterized as violently insane, imposing lethal consequences on any perceived offense. The later ongoing series by Grant explained this as an involuntary drug-induced psychosis.[24]
In the mid-1980s, writer Steven Grant and artist Mike Zeck pitched a Punisher miniseries to new Marvel editor Carl Potts, who accepted it, despite much objection from Marvel management.[25] The miniseries premiered with a January 1986 cover date.[26] While it was bannered on the cover as the first of four, the series had always been intended to be five issues long.[27] The story presents a retcon that explains that many of the Punisher's more extreme and irrational actions to this point were the result of being poisoned with mind-altering drugs, and that subsequently his behavior would be more controlled.[28] An ongoing series, initially by writer Mike Baron and artist Klaus Janson, also titled The Punisher, premiered the next year.[29] The success of the initial title inspired an additional ongoing series, The Punisher War Journal, beginning in 1988, and a black-and-white magazine reprinting early stories, The Punisher Magazine (1989-1990).[30]
1990s
Mike Baron wrote an long run of Punisher stories in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
The popularity of the Punisher led to new series: The Punisher War Zone (41 issues, March 1992 – July 1995) and The Punisher Armory (10 issues, 1990-1994).[31][32] The Punisher also appeared in numerous one-shots and miniseries, and made frequent guest appearances in other Marvel comics.[33] While these were usually superhero series, he also made a two-issue guest appearance in the generally realistic Vietnam War-era comic The 'Nam (January-February 1991).[34]
During this era, the Punisher was assisted by his then-partner, Microchip. Serving as a Q type figure, he would supply the Punisher with high-tech vehicles and equipment such as armored combat "battle vans" specially built and customized.[35]
Due to the Punisher's homicidal nature, few of his foes became recurring antagonists, the most notable of these being the severely-scarred enforcer Jigsaw.[37] The Punisher also acquired a nemesis in the form of the Kingpin,[38] a longtime Spider-Man and Daredevil foe, and continued his conflict with Daredevil himself, who likewise abhorred and fought against the Punisher's brutal methods.[39] Villains such as Doctor Doom and Bullseye would be used to provide more of a challenge for the character, as well as heroes such as Daredevil, Spider-Man, and Wolverine.[40] Often the stories would use the appearance of those heroes to provide commentary on the difference between the Punisher and those more colourful characters.[41]
Punisher Armory was cancelled in 1994.[30] The following year, Marvel canceled all three remaining Punisher series due to poor sales.[42] The publisher attempted a re-launch almost immediately, with a new ongoing series Punisher, under the new Marvel Edgeimprint, by writer John Ostrander, in which the Punisher willingly joined and became the boss of an organized crime family, and later confronted the X-Men and Nick Fury.[43] The series ran for 18 issues, from November 1995 to April 1997. Writer Christopher Golden's four-issue Marvel Knights miniseries The Punisher: Purgatory (November 1998 – February 1999) posited a deceased Punisher resurrected as a supernatural agent of various angels and demons. This version of the character also appeared in a four-issue mini-series co-starring Wolverine.[44]
2000s
A 12-issue miniseries by writer Garth Ennis and artist Steve Dillon, again titled The Punisher (April 2000 – March 2001), under the Marvel Knights imprint, revived the character's popularity.[45] An ongoing series titled The Punisher (37 issues, August 2001 – February 2004), primarily by Ennis and Dillon, followed.[46] The series had a tone of black comedy.[47] In 2004, Ennis began a new ongoing series under Marvel's mature-readers imprint, MAX.[48] Ennis compared his approach to the character to the films Dirty Harry, Death Wish, The Killer, and Léon: The Professional. He disavowed any serious intent to the violence of the series and argued that his only purpose was entertainment. In the course of the series, various characters attempt to emulate the Punisher's murderous approach to justice according to their own value systems, and are themselves killed by the Punisher.[49]
Continuing his run on the character, Garth Ennis used the freedom of the MAXimprint to write more realistic and hard-edged stories in the series Punisher MAX.[50][51] Ennis has stated that he would "like to see less superheroes";[52] this desire is reflected in the gritty, realistic tone and the anti-heroic portrayals of both the title character and Nick Fury, who makes guest appearances in the series.[53] Ennis introduces a prominent new recurring villain for Castle, the brutal sadistic mercenary Barracuda.[54]
Whereas the traditional Punisher stories remained within the United States and involved antagonists and settings of conventional domestic crime, stories of the MAX Punisher often focus on current events, ranging from corporate fraud to sexual slavery and the War on Terror.[55] He also fights white supremacists, such as the Hate-Monger.[56]
The miniseries Born by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson further examines Castle's roots, tracing them back to his last tour of the Vietnam War,[57] where he undergoes a psychological transformation into the Punisher to survive a massive assault on his fortification by the combined forces of the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese Army.[58] The one-shot Punisher: The Tyger, by Ennis and John Severin, went even further and showed that Castle had lived with murders, deaths and criminals from his childhood.[59] The MAX version of the Punisher ends with the character's death. After killing the Kingpin, Castle dies from his own wounds in issue #21 of PunisherMAX. He is buried in issue #22 as his death sparks a public uprising and killing of the city's criminals.
In November 2006, a new The Punisher War Journal series, written by Matt Fraction and penciled by Ariel Olivetti, was released. The first three issues of the book are set during Marvel's "Civil War" event. It involves Castle taking on supervillains rather than his traditional non-super-powered criminal antagonists. He has also made appearances in the main Civil War series (issues #5–7). Wearing both his traditional costume and his Marvel Knights/MAX attire, and a new costume designed to look like his costume and Captain America's combined, the series pitted the character against a series of super-powered foes while also being involved in crossover events such as "World War Hulk" and "Secret Invasion".
Marvel relaunched The Punisher War Journal in 2009 as simply Punisher, with a thematic link tied to the events of the "Dark Reign" storyline and, following the departure of writer Garth Ennis, retitled the Marvel MAX series (formerly Punisher MAX) as Punisher: Frank Castle MAX and, more recently, as Punisher: Frank Castle[60] or Frank Castle: The Punisher[61] (depending on the source); launching a new series called PunisherMAX by Jason Aaron and Steve Dillon.[62] As part of his work on the character, Rick Remender wrote the one-shot title Dark Reign: The List – Punisher, which, as part of the "Dark Reign" storyline, shows the character dismembered and decapitated by Daken.[63]
2010s and 2020s
The main Punisher series was renamed FrankenCastle and featured a Castle who is resurrected by Morbius and the Legion of Monsters as a patchwork, Frankenstein-like creature.[64] He joins up with the Legion of Monsters to help protect the monsters of Monster Metropolis from a group of monster-hunting samurai. At the conclusion of the series, the character was transformed back into a normal human when he acquired the mystical Bloodstone.[65] The fantastical tone of the series was controversial among fans.[66]
In 2010, a five-part Punisher series was released, titled Punisher: In the Blood; in this series, the Punisher faces Jigsaw once again.[67]
In 2011, Greg Rucka retconned Castle's military experience to the Gulf War.[68] He explained:
"Steve [Wacker, editor on the project] and I went round and round on this, but ultimately, he wanted to make Frank younger because if he fought in Vietnam, he's in his 70s, and I get more mileage out of him being in his early 40s. I don't think that takes anything away from his origin. In the Marvel Universe, the conflict matters only because he was asked to go and serve his country, and he did. When he returned, the society he was essentially defending betrayed him and murdered his wife and children in front of him. The conflict matters less than the fact that he gave his service, and this was the reward. In that broad brush vague Marvel Universe sense there's always 'the war' whatever it was. If that put him in the Middle East rather than South East Asia, I think that matters less for the purposes of the Marvel Universe."[69]
He also clarified that the retcon was only for the character in the main Marvel universe and not for the version in the MAX Comics, that retained the first origin.[69] The conflict was retconned again in 2019, in History of the Marvel Universe #2, to the fictional Siancong War.[69]
As part of the Marvel Now! event, the Punisher becomes a member of Red Hulk's Thunderbolts.[9] Their first mission is to take down the civilian-murdering dictator of an island nation.[70] He has an intimate relationship with Elektra, lasting 25 issues.[71]
As a part of All New Marvel Now, the 2014 The Punisher solo series was written by Nathan Edmondson and illustrated by Mitch Gerads.[71] The Punisher moves to Los Angeles following a drug trail, and he is targeted by a military hit squad.[72]
During the Secret Empire storyline, the Punisher briefly teamed up with an impostor for Captain America was allied with Hydra. the Punisher expresses regret for his actions in an inner monologue, calling his involvement with Hydra Supreme Rogers as probably the worst mistake of his life.[73] He is shown atoning for his involvement with Hydra by killing every Hydra agent he can find. The comic was relaunched in 2018, by writer Matthew Rosenberg and artist Riccardo Burchielli.[74] Here the Punisher operates at an international level, dealing with an ill-fated battle against Baron Zemo.[75]
A new 13 issue series began in 2022 with Jason Aaron serving as the writer and art from Jesús Saiz and Paul Azaceta.[76] It showcases Castle serving as an assassin of the ninja organization The Hand.[77] In the 2022 run featuring the character, Castle joins The Hand, and adopts a new logo inspired by the JapanesemythologicaldemonOni. This was partly an attempt to distance the character from his traditional logo, which had been appropriated by far-right organizations in the US.[78]
Following the conclusion of the previous series, a new Punisher volume began publication in November 2023, written by David Pepose, illustrated by Dave Wachter, with covers by Rod Reis. The series follows Joe Garrison, a former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who becomes the new Punisher following Frank Castle's disappearance.[79] This ongoing series was cancelled after only four issues.[80]
Characterization
Fictional character biography
Frank Castiglione was born in Queens, New York City, although his family Anglicized their name to Castle after his birth.[81] His parents, Mario Lorenzo "Renzo" Castiglione and Louisa Castiglione, were Sicilian immigrants who worked in the fishing industry (hence, he is first-generation Sicilian American).[68] He studied for the priesthood, but quit because of his inability to forgive major sins. He enlisted in the Marine Corps and served in a foreign war, where he received four Purple Hearts and distinguished himself in combat.[82] He received the nickname "Punisher" in military service. He married a woman named Maria.[83] They had two children. While on leave, Castle and his family witnessed a mob hit on an informant, in Central Park. In response, the criminals attempted to murder the entire family; while his family was lost, Castle survived.[82] While he identified the murderers, the police did not prosecute because the killers had paid for alibis. As a result, Castle took justice into his own hands and killed all of the perpetrators. He then decided that all criminals were indirectly responsible for his loss.[84]
Castle took on the identity of the Punisher, in an ongoing vigilante war against criminals of all kinds in New York City. He entered into conflict with superheroes in the city, particularly Spider-Man and Daredevil.[82] He allied with a former weapons engineer, Microchip, in order to build a state-of-the-art arsenal. However, the two partners had a falling out, and Punisher killed Microchip.[85] In a fight with the mutant Daken, Punisher was killed and cut to pieces. However, he was revived as a monster named Franken-Castle before eventually magically restoring his human life.[86] He partnered with Rachel Cole-Alves, a former marine whose husband and friends had been killed by organized crime. Thunderbolt Ross recruited Castle to join the Thunderbolts.[87] Working together with the group, he began an affair with his teammate Elektra.[71] An evil duplicate of Captain America later convinced Castle to join his attempt to take control of the US. Eventually realizing this mistake, Castle redeemed himself. Nick Fury Jr. then asked Castle to steal the armor originally worn by War Machine in order to overthrow a Central Asian dictator, General Petrov. Castle then came into conflict with the Hand, a mysterious organization of evil ninjas.[87]
Personality and motivation
The character has been described as being obsessed with vengeance;[88]Garth Ennis noted that the character of the Punisher "sees the world in very black and white terms, he solves his problems with utter finality" and that "his response to any problem: when in doubt, hit back hard."[89] The writer Steven Grant noted that:
Heidegger, who took Kierkegaard's philosophy further, comes even closer to describing the Punisher: [paraphrasing] 'Since we can never hope to understand why we're here, if there's even anything to understand, the individual should choose a goal and pursue it wholeheartedly, despite the certainty of death and the meaninglessness of action.' That's sure the Punisher as I conceived him: a man who knows he's going to die and who knows in the big picture his actions will count for nothing, but who pursues his course because this is what he has chosen to do.[90]
Punisher co-creator Gerry Conway stated that "He's a great Rorschach test. What's given him some sustainability is, you can put into him whatever you want, as opposed to Spider-Man, who truly is who he is and shouldn't be changed. The Punisher is a thin character on his own merits, but that allows for a lot of interpretations and different angles of approach."[21]
Kathleen McClancy points out an emphasis in the stories on Castle's suffering post-traumatic stress disorder, both from his wartime experiences and the loss of his family through violence.[19]
He maintains multiple safehouses and vehicles around the greater New York City area as well as multiple forged identities and bank accounts (most of the funds and equipment aiding him in his work being taken from the criminals he hunts). The Punisher has a Kevlar uniform which protects him from most gunfire, though he can still suffer concussive injury or penetration from sufficient or repeated impacts. The white skull emblem on his chest is used both to intimidate his enemies and to lure their fire to the more heavily protected area of his armor. The design was purportedly taken from a Vietcongsniper.[68] The Punisher uses a large variety of firearms in his war on crime; including fully automatic rifles, shotguns, flame throwers, or whatever he can get his hands on. Aside from his physical prowess, the Punisher demonstrates superb intensive focus and mental discipline.
Themes and motifs
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The Punisher was originally created as a Vietnam veteran; while the sliding timeline of the Marvel Universe has changed this historical positioning, his characterization is indelibly marked by perceptions of veterans of that war in US culture.[93] Kathleen McClancy argues that Punisher stories often emphasize the Vietnam War as the real source of the trauma that made Frank Castle become the Punisher, and not the murder of his family. She contends that "his war on crime is presented as a continuation of his earlier war."[94] McClancy argues that the characterization of the Punisher draws from earlier depictions of Vietnam veterans in film; initially, a stereotype of these veterans as psychopaths, first depicted in the 1965 film Motorpsycho but increasingly prevalent in American culture following the Tet Offensive of 1968 and the discovery of the My Lai massacre in 1969.[94] Subsequently, an increasing popular narrative developed that Vietnam veterans had been betrayed by their own government and domestic culture, which refused to give them the support and license necessary to win the war.[95] Later, in the Presidency of Ronald Reagan, Vietnam veterans were more likely to be portrayed as highly skilled and heroic, so-called "SuperVets" such as John Rambo and The A-Team; in this iteration, "the SuperVet's traumatic experiences have hardened him into an unstoppable force of violence." The Punisher draws on these cultural narratives and archetypes.[96]
Despite wanting to work alone, the Punisher has a few supporting characters to help fight crime. Microchip, birth name Linus Lieberman, assisted Castle by building and supplying weapons and technology and providing friendship. However, Microchip ultimately turned against the Punisher, and the Punisher killed him.[97]Lynn Michaels, a former police officer, briefly allied with the Punisher and worked as one of the first "female Punishers."[98]Daredevil is sometimes one of the Punisher's reluctant allies, as well as his antagonist due to their different philosophies in crime-fighting.[99] He also teamed up, in contingent circumstances, with Captain America, Black Widow, Wolverine, and Spider-Man. He does not usually join teams of superheroes, although at one point he was a member of Thunderbolt Ross's Thunderbolts.[9]
Enemies
Jigsaw is the one of the only recurrent villains that Punisher faces, because he kills his enemies as a matter of course. The Punisher pushed Jigsaw through plate glass, permanently scarring his face. Commentators have generally compared Jigsaw to the Joker.[100] Generally speaking, the Punisher fights organized crime, particularly paramilitary drug dealers, rather than individual villains.[101]
Alternate versions
In the Marvel Universe, there are multiple alternate realities in which different versions of prominent characters exist.
In the alternate reality of Thanos, Thanos conquered all the Universe; the Punisher was one of the last casualties during the last stand of the heroes and his soul was subsequently sent to Hell. He signed a deal with Mephisto and became the Cosmic Ghost Rider.[102] When he returned to Earth, Thanos was already gone and everything on the planet was dead. Roaming endlessly, he eventually began to lose his mind.
The Marvel 2099 universe, in a possible future, a police officer named Jake Gallows becomes a new Punisher after the murder of his mother, brother and sister-in-law.[103] While he initially follows Frank's old code of justice, he eventually goes mad and becomes Minister of Punishment in Doctor Doom's 2099 government.[104] He is joined by Polly, a lab-bred humanoid who becomes his partner.[105]
Subsequently, Marvel Knights' Punisher 2099, another take on the year 2099, features Cossandra Castle who goes by the alias of Cossandra Natchios. She is the daughter of Frank Castle and Elektra Natchios and has a son named Franklin.[106]
There were different versions of Punisher seen in the stories of What If. In one story, Venom possesses Frank Castle instead of Eddie Brock. With the Punisher as Venom, he goes on a rampage killing several villains including Tombstone and the Kingpin.[107]
Reception
The Punisher was one of the first of a wave of comic book anti-heroes. As psychologist Suzana E. Flores describes it, an antihero is "often psychologically damaged, simultaneously depicted as superior due to his superhuman abilities and inferior due to his impetuousness, irrationality, or lack of thoughtful evaluation." Subsequent to the Punisher's appearance, many more such antiheroes became popular in comic books of the 1990s, such as Wolverine, Marv, Spawn, and Deadpool.[108]
The character is controversial. Comics scholar Douglas Wolk describes the Punisher as a "gun-crazy vigilante" who functions as "a wish-fulfillment figure for bloodthirsty creeps," who is nonetheless treated as "uncomplicatedly admirable" in the many Marvel series that featured him in the 1990s.[109]
However, Empire named the Punisher one of the "greatest comic-book characters", stating, "The Punisher is now one of the most iconic characters in the entire Marvel stable. A 'Nam vet driven by his family's murder to punish all criminals by death, it's perhaps not unsurprising that the dark, disillusioned '70s was the decade that saw a brutal, uncompromising psychopath (for that's what Castle is, no debate) become a fan favourite. Although, truth be told, operating within the confines of the toothless main Marvel titles never sat well with The Punisher – in recent years, with the move to the MAX label, and Garth Ennis' soon-to-finish installation as Punisher guru, the dark heart and psychology of Frank Castle has been fully explored, giving a new insight into this grimmest and most compelling of characters."[110]
The Punisher symbol has become widely reproduced by various military and law-enforcement institutions around the world, with some controversy as a result. This initially became prevalent during the Iraq War and War in Afghanistan (2001-2021) before appearing in domestic contexts.[112]
A privately funded memorial statue to Chris Kyle in Texas features the skull on his vest, as he is credited with popularizing the symbol in the US military.
The symbol is common in the US armed forces. The Punisher's skull first became noticeably visible as a symbol during the Iraq War by US military personnel. Service members would use the skull as an unofficial service patch or paint it on equipment. This was most notably done by Navy SEALs of SEAL Team 3 during the Second Battle of Fallujah in 2004.[113]Chris Kyle popularized the usage in his autobiography, later filmed as American Sniper: "We spray-painted it on our Hummers and body armor, and our helmets and all our guns. We spray-painted it on every building or wall we could, We wanted people to know, We're here and we want to fuck with you."[114]
Australian Special Forces units operating in Iraq and Afghanistan were also known to wear Punisher iconography.[115]2nd Commando Regiment and SASR members were photographed on patrol wearing the Punisher skull. This led to a ban by Chief of the Defence Force Angus Campbell beginning in 2017.[116]
From the early 2000s, the Punisher logo also rapidly gained popularity among Iraqi soldiers. By 2015, his logo had become widely used by the Iraqi Armed Forces and Iraqi paramilitary groups. According to researcher Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi, many Iraqis thought that the logo was "cool" despite widespread anti-Americanism.[117]
Since 2015, the skull emblem became popular within police officers' Blue Lives Matter movement, with many companies producing decals, stickers, and T-shirts featuring the Punisher emblem colored with the thin blue line, or atop an American flag.[118] In 2017, the Catlettsburg Police department in Kentucky faced a public backlash after installing large decals with the Punisher's skull and "Blue Lives Matter" on the hoods of police cars, and removed the decals in response to public pressure.[119] Citizens and police interpreted its meaning differently; the police chief said, "We're getting so many calls, and they're saying that the Punisher logo (means) we're out to kill people, and that's not the meaning behind that. That didn't cross my mind."[120]
A variation of the Punisher's skull has also been used by EMS/Firefighters. The skull is similar to the police version, but the blue line is replaced with a red line.[121][122][123]
In addition to being used by the United States military and police, the Punisher's skull emblem is used by anti-government militias, such as the 3 Percenters (a group dating back to 2008), and the symbol was seen at the 2017 Unite the Right rally.[124]
Punisher co-creator Gerry Conway has decried the use of the Punisher symbol by law enforcement, saying, "To me, it's disturbing whenever I see authority figures embracing Punisher iconography because the Punisher represents a failure of the Justice system. ... The vigilante anti-hero is fundamentally a critique of the justice system, an example of social failure, so when cops put the Punisher's skulls on their cars or members of the military wear Punisher's skull patches, they're basically siding with an enemy of the system." Conway compared it to "putting a Confederate flag on a government building."[126] After members of the Detroit Police Department were seen wearing the Punisher skull during the George Floyd protests in 2020, Conway and others called on Marvel and its parent company Disney to take legal action to prevent law enforcement from using the logo.[127]
This controversy was addressed in Punisher Vol. 12 #13, written by Matthew Rosenberg, in July 2019. In the issue, Frank comes across two police officers who are fans of his. They take a selfie with him and show they have a sticker of his logo on their car before comparing their work to his. Unimpressed, the Punisher tears up the sticker and tells them, "I'll say this once, we're not the same. You took an oath to uphold the law. You help people. I gave that up a long time ago. You don't do what I do. Nobody does. You boys need a role model? His name's Captain America, and he'd be happy to have you.... If I find out you are trying to do what I do, I'll come for you next."[128] In 2020, Marvel said this was their official opinion on the use of the image.[127]
In 2020, Conway created his own line of Punisher t-shirts working with a collective called "Skulls for Justice", aligning the logo with Black Lives Matter. He points out that the character is particularly popular with people of color.[129] For example, the Nuyorican rapper Big Pun took his name from the character.[130]
The character of the Punisher has appeared in many types of media. Since his first appearance in 1974, he has appeared in television, films, and video games—each on multiple occasions—and his name, symbol, and image have appeared on products and merchandise.
The Punisher made his first film appearance in a self-titled 1989 film, wherein he is portrayed by Dolph Lundgren. The film was released theatrically internationally but straight to video in North America by Live Entertainment in 1989. This version of the character is notable for lacking the signature skull logo from the comics. Marvel hired Jonathan Hensleigh to write and direct the 2004 film, starring Thomas Jane. The film was mainly based on two Punisher comic book stories; The Punisher: Year One and Welcome Back, Frank.[131]
A direct sequel to the 2004 film was supposed to follow based on strong DVD sales, but the lack of a good script kept the project in development for over 3 years, and by the end both Jonathan Hensleigh and Thomas Jane pulled out.[132][133] In June 2007, Lexi Alexander was hired to direct and Ray Stevenson was hired in July to play the Punisher in the newly titled Punisher: War Zone, which became a reboot, and not a sequel to 2004's The Punisher.[134]
↑ Garth Ennis, "In Defense of the Punisher" and "The Vigilante War," afterwords reprinted in Marvel Knights Punisher by Garth Ennis: The Complete Collection vol. 1, Marvel, 2018.
↑ Ennis, Garth (2007). "Frankly, I'd Like to See Less Superheroes". In Klaehn, Jeffery (ed.). Inside the World of Comic Books. Montreal: Black Rose Books. pp.206–210.
Goodman, Alicia M.; McEniry, Matthew J.; Cassidy, Ryan; Weiner, Robert G., eds. (2021). Judge, Jury and Executioner: Essays on The Punisher in Print and On Screen. McFarland & Company. ISBN9781476682501.
Connor, Stephen. "Frank Castle's Other War: Meaning, Memory, and the Vietnam War". In Goodman et al. (2021), pp.136-151.
Goodman, Alicia M.; McEniry, Matthew J.; Weiner, Robert G. Introduction. In Goodman et al. (2021), pp.1-14.
Goodman, Alicia M. "The Punisher as Female: A Thought Experiment". In Goodman et al. (2021), pp.75-90.
Lemon, Mike. "Recalling Vietnam in Marvel Cinematic Universe's Punisher Storylines". In Goodman et al. (2021), pp.115-124.
Lundgren, Anders. "Black and White and Nothing in Between?: Some Thoughts on the Morality of the Punisher". In Goodman et al. (2021), pp.48-61.
McClancy, Kathleen. "Fighting a Lonely War: Frank Castle and the Domestication of Vietnam". In Goodman et al. (2021), pp.125-135.
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