It took a TV show to make the Punisher work for Marvel

The Punisher’s Many Faces

Depending on who you ask, the Punisher is a very different character. The character’s own creator, Gerry Conway, has called the character “a Rorschach test.”

To those who put themselves in the line of fire, both as police officers and soldiers, the Punisher can be a symbol of justice of some sort. American Sniper subject Chris Kyle and his squad called themselves the Punishers, and even wore the character’s trademark four-fanged skull on their gear. The logo even spread to some Iraqi soldiers fighting ISIS. Earlier this year, said skull even showed up on a police car for a bit before being removed.

For military and paramilitary folks, the character seems to stand as a symbol of swift, unconditional justice. He metes out punishment harshly and gives no quarter to his enemies. That you can layer what exactly your version of “justice” is and who the “villains” are certainly doesn’t hurt this.

But when you look at his own comics, the Punisher manifests very differently. There, he is the scars of war personified. Like John Rambo in First Blood, he is one of the men who can’t just “turn it off” when he comes back from the front. Sure, he is out to take revenge for his murdered family, but almost every incarnation of the character moves through that plot point with relative speed. Even in the most recent take on the character in the second season of Daredevil, the Punisher had his revenge arc resolved by the time his part of the story ended. Simple vengeance is only part of who Castle is.

As the Punisher, Frank Castle is an embodiment of the idea that all crimes can be solved down the barrel of a gun, and that the death penalty is the only retribution for violent crimes.

When Castle shows up in the context of other heroes, the Punisher functions instead as a mirror. We see this in the second season of Daredevil, but also over and over in comic books. Heroes like Spider-Man and Daredevil are deeply opposed to killing, but Castle doesn’t give it a second thought. In fact, that these so-called “heroes” let dangerous villains live, only to have them escape again, has put these characters in the Punisher’s sights more than once. Just Castle’s simple presence can expose the moral problems posed by the existence of superheroes.

Article source: https://www.technobuffalo.com/2017/11/12/punisher-tv-show-movies-dont-work/