A new rumor claims that Jon Bernthal’s Punisher will be on the hunt for dirty cops who wear the Punisher symbol in Marvel Studios upcoming Disney+ series Daredevil: Born Again.
Daredevil: Born Again logo
This latest rumor comes from Daniel RPK via the Cosmic Geek on X. The Cosmic Geek reports, “The Punisher will have a signifcant (sp?) role in ‘DAREDEVIL: BORN AGAIN’ He will have his own subplot in the series where he hunts dirty cops who use his symbol.”
RUMOR: The Punisher will have a signifcant role in ‘DAREDEVIL: BORN AGAIN’
He will have his own subplot in the series where he hunts dirty cops who use his symbol.
(via: @DanielRPK) pic.twitter.com/g41hddTZPY
— Cosmic Geek (@thecosmicgeek_) January 28, 2024
Back in 2019, Marvel Comics published a story by writer Matthew Rosenberg, Szymon Kudranski, and Antonoi Fabela that sees Frank Castle get pulled over by a couple of New York City policemen.
Once the officers discover that they’ve pulled over Castle, they ask to take a selfie with him and inform him how they support his actions. Castle responds by tearing the Punisher symbol off their vehicle, tearing it up, and informing them, “I’ll say this once. We’re not the same. You took an oath to uphold the law. You help people. I gave all that up a long time ago. You don’t do what I do. Nobody does. You boys need a role model? His name is Captain America, and he’d be happy to have you.”
The Punisher #13 (2019), Marvel Comics
The Punisher’s symbol being used by police has also been heavily criticized by a number of Punisher writers including co-creator Gerry Conway. Back in 2020, Conway shared on Twitter, “I’m looking for young comic book artists of color who’d like to participate in a small fundraising project for #BLM to reclaim the Punisher skull as a symbol of justice rather than lawless police oppression.”
I’m looking for young comic book artists of color who’d like to participate in a small fundraising project for #BLM to reclaim the Punisher skull as a symbol of justice rather than lawless police oppression. Respond and follow so we can DM. https://t.co/QqnHNiPvzw
— Gerry Conway Stands With Ukraine (@gerryconway) June 5, 2020
Conway had previously shared his thoughts about the logo in an interview in January 2019 with SyFy telling the outlet, “To me, it’s disturbing whenever I see authority figures embracing Punisher iconography because the Punisher represents a failure of the Justice system. He’s supposed to indict the collapse of social moral authority and the reality some people can’t depend on institutions like the police or the military to act in a just and capable way.”
He continued, “The vigilante anti-hero is fundamentally a critique of the justice sysytem, an eample (sp) of social failure, so when cops put Punisher skulls on their cars or members of the military wear Punisher skull patches, they’re basically sides with an enemy of the system. They are embracing an outlaw mentality. Whether you think the Punisher is justified or not, whether you admire his code of ethics, he is an outlaw. He is a criminal. Police should not be embracing a criminal as their symbol.”
“It goes without saying. In a way, it’s as offensive as putting a Confederate flag on a government building. My point of view is, the Punisher is an anti-hero, someone we might root for while remembering he’s also an outlaw and criminal. If an officer of the law, representing the justice system puts a criminal’s symbol on his police car, or shares challenge coins honoring a criminal he or she is making a very ill-advised statement about their understanding of the law,” he concluded.
Gerry Conway speaking with attendees at the 2019 Phoenix Fan Fusion at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Arizona. Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
READ: Vincent D’Onofrio Praises Marvel Studios For Scrapping ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ And Starting Over
Conway is not the only one to criticize law enforcement for embracing the symbol. Long-time Punisher writer and editor Carl Potts also shared his thoughts on the matter.
He told The Baron Earls Show, “I do not think the police should be using the Punisher icon. The last thing I want my police to identify with is with a violent vigilante. The police are supposed to be part of the balance of power. Enforcing, not to be judge, jury, and executioner.”
He added, “The last thing I want to see is police cars driving around with a skull emblem on it.”
As for members of the military using the symbol, he said, “Also, even though it’s probably not quite as bad of an objection, I don’t think the military should be using. That skull emblem, strictly related to the military, its biggest connection would be with the SS. And I don’t want our soldiers being associated with the SS.”
“And a big part of what helped win the peace in World War II was GIs being generous with the locals with their handing out Hershey bars, and Spam, and all that,” he elaborated. “The idea of some GI trying to be nice and hand out to kids wearing a skull it just irks me.”
The Punisher War Journal #24 (1990), Marvel Comics
Actor Jon Bernthal has also criticized individuals for sporting the logo, specifically people who wore the logo during the January 6th protests back in 2021. He wrote on Twitter at the time, “These people are misguided, lost, and afraid. They have nothing to do with what Frank stands for or is about.”
I’m with you. Beautiful work. These people are misguided, lost, and afraid. They have nothing to do with what Frank stands for or is about. Big love. J. https://t.co/Q4GpaGW3ek
— Jon Bernthal (@jonnybernthal) January 12, 2021
While Bernthal has criticized individuals for sporting the symbol, he’s also made it very clear that Marvel Studios must do a proper adaptation that honors the character.
He informed The Hollywood Reporter in December 2021, “That character, in particular, has real, real, real deep, deep meaning for me and resonance in me. He’s really in my heart, man. He’s really in my bones. I’m enormously protective of that character. I’ve said before that there’s nothing in this world more important to me than my wife and my kids, and only until you understand that kind of love and what it really means to willingly die for somebody, [do you understand] what it would be like if somebody took them from you.”
“That’s a road and a darkness and a rage that really, really scares me and brings me to places that I’ve worked the last 20 years to get away from. So I was really grateful, respectful and wary of the places where that role took me and the world in which I had to live in,” he elaborated.
Punisher War Journal #80 (1995), Marvel Comics
Bernthal continued, “That being said, that’s where that character needs to be. It needs to be a level of darkness. I think if there’s any let up on that character, you do a disservice to the character, to every iteration of the character, to every comic book that’s come before, and to all of the unbelievable fans of the character. This character means so much to people in the military.”
He concluded, “So like I said before, it’s not about whether you do the character; it’s about whether you can do it right, and I’m only interested in doing it right.”
Punisher War Journal #52 (1993), Marvel Comics
In January he told Collider, “I think there’s a reason why that character has resonated as deeply and strongly as he has. In the hearts and minds of comic book fans and first responders and people in the military and people all over the globe. I think there’s a little bit of Frank Castle in everybody.”
“He exists very strongly inside me and I care about that character deeply,” Bernthal continued. “I also know that it’s absolutely essential that if we do it, we do it right and we have real sacred integrity to the source material and to what is at the core of Frank. I’m gonna do my absolute best to make sure that, if and when we do it, we do it right.
Jon Bernthal speaking at the 2017 San Diego Comic Con International, for “Marvel’s The Punisher”, at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California. Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
More recently Bernthal shared with ScreenRant that he expects Frank Castle to be the same as he’s always been or at least the same character as depicted in the two Netflix shows.
He said, “I don’t know yet; I don’t know. It’s too early to tell. And you know how Marvel is, I really can’t say anything anyway. But I care about Frank deeply, and no matter how much Frank grows, he’s always going to be the same.”
Punisher War Journal #47 (1992), Marvel Comics
What do you make of this latest rumor about Jon Bernthal’s Punisher hunting down dirty cops?
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