Echoing the same stance as The Punisher's creators, actor Jon Bernthal wants people to stop using or co-opting Frank Castle's skull logo for all the wrong reasons.Bernthal responded on Twitter to an art piece of his Netflix character's likeness, in which the artist condemned those who fundamentally misunderstood what the Punisher represents. "I’m with you. Beautiful work," Bernthal wrote in response. "These people are misguided, lost, and afraid. They have nothing to do with what Frank stands for or is about. Big love. J."
"No matter how many nut-jobs steal his logo, I'll still be a Punisher fan," user KZ the Writer originally wrote. "They don't understand what it truly symbolizes. If they did, they wouldn't wear it. And I'm not going to let them take it from me."
Bernthal made his debut as Frank Castle/Punisher in Season 2 of Netflix's Daredevil, serving as a vigilante counterweight to Matt Murdock's Daredevil, due to his willingness to kill criminals. The actor would reprise his role as Castle in The Punisher series, which lasted for two seasons before getting canceled in 2019 alongside the rest of Marvel's Netflix television lineup.
While the Punisher has evolved from villain to anti-hero in Marvel Comics, his usage of firearms has since resulted in numerous police officers, military personnel and Blue Lives Matter supporters adopting the character's skull logo as a celebratory emblem. Both Punisher co-creator Gerry Conway and writer Garth Ennis have routinely condemned this embrace of the skull, pointing out the troubling implications of law enforcement organizations endorsing an ex-military veteran with PTSD who routinely murders people outside of the law. The Punisher himself made this critique during a 2019 comic, ripping apart a skull decal on a police cruiser and telling the cops who profess to be fans of his work that "you don't do what I do. No one does."
Punisher's skull logo recently suffered controversy again in wake of the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot, when it appeared in a photo of a rioter carrying zip-tie restraints. The skull logo could be seen over an American flag on his body armor. Eric Munchel, a 30-year-old man from Nashville, Tennessee was allegedly identified as the zip-tie rioter and has since been arrested by the FBI, currently awaiting trial for federal charges. Garth Ennis once again condemned the rioters for wearing this insignia, stating that "They've thought no harder about the Punisher symbol than the halfwits I saw [on Wednesday], the ones waving the Stars & Stripes while invading the Capitol building."
Source: Twitter