Daredevil Season 2: 10 Reasons This Is The Definitive Punisher

The comics have given us a number of great Punisher stories, but the character has worked the best when his military past is explored. It’s an important aspect of the character that has largely been ignored in the films.

The past film versions have made Frank Castle an ex-soldier but that fact is reduced to simply explaining how Castle is such an efficient killer. But the significance of his time in the war goes far beyond that. Arguably the greatest Punisher comic remains Born, a four-issue miniseries depicting Castle’s final tour in Vietnam. 

What made this story interesting was that the Punisher was always buried within Frank Castle and the murder of his family was simply what let that side of him get released. It’s an interesting new take that changed the way many people view this character.

The show takes a similar route by depicting Frank as a man who has seen and experienced a lot of horror in his life and was always capable of extreme violence, but he was able to bury that part of him away once he returned home. When his family was killed, that home was taken from him and so he goes back to war.