Punisher

Cosplayer playing the character.

The Punisher (Francis "Frank" Castle, born Castiglione) is a fictional character. He appears in American comic books published by the Marvel Comics.

The character is a vigilante who uses unorthodox methods like murder, torture, and kidnapping in his crusade against crime. His family was murdered in New York City's Central Park after witnessing a mafia assassination. Frank Castle then turned into the "Punisher", a man who vowed to kill criminals, terrorists and gangsters of all kinds. Castle also wears a kevlar costume with the peculiar design of a human skull in his chest, of which, according to Castle himself, acts both as a distraction and a tool of intimidation, as it would draw the attention of criminals in that direction, and instead of aiming at his head, they would shoot his costume, which he wore with a rather solid armor beneath. In addition, his skull symbol has psychologically affected many of the criminals he faced off.

Creation

The character was created by writer Gerry Conway and artists John Romita Sr. and Ross Andru. The Punisher made his first appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #129 (cover-dated February 1974). He was first depicted as an assassin and adversary of the superhero Spider-Man.

Punisher's logo.

Portrayals

In feature movies, Dolph Lundgren portrayed the character in the 1989 movie The Punisher. Then Thomas Jane did in the 2004 movie The Punisher, and Ray Stevenson in 2008's Punisher: War Zone.

Jon Bernthal portrayed the character in the second season of Daredevil and the spin-off The Punisher, set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).