Punisher

The Punisher (Francis "Frank" Castle, born Castiglione) is an antihero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. 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), originally depicted as an assassin and adversary of the superhero Spider-Man.

The character is depicted as an Italian-American vigilante who employs murder, kidnapping, extortion, coercion, threats of violence, and torture in his campaign against crime. Driven by the deaths of his wife and two children, who were killed by the mob for witnessing a killing in New York City's Central Park, the Punisher wages a one-man war on crime. A veteran (originally of the Vietnam War and later updated alternately to the fictional Siancong War and the Iraq War) U.S. Marine Corps Scout/Sniper in Force Recon, Castle is skilled in hand-to-hand combat, guerrilla warfare, and marksmanship. He is well known for the skull motif on his chest, originally envisioned by his creators as a skull-and-crossbones symbol on his right breast. Following the widespread appropriation of this logo by far-right movements, it was officially retired from active use by Marvel Entertainment in 2022, replaced by a new horned-skull motif inspired by the Japanese mythological demon Oni.

The Punisher's brutal nature and willingness to kill made him an anomaly in mainstream American comic books when he debuted in 1974. By the late 1980s, the Punisher was part of a wave of psychologically troubled antiheroes. At the height of his popularity, the character was featured in four monthly publications: The Punisher, The Punisher War Journal, The Punisher: War Zone, and The Punisher Armory. An alternate future version of the character dubbed the "Cosmic Ghost Rider", created by Donny Cates and Geoff Shaw, began publication in 2018 as a Thanos supporting character, becoming a breakout character and receiving his own ongoing series, often coming into opposition with his past self. In 2017, following the 2016 Civil War II storyline, where Jim "Rhodey" Rhodes met his death at the hands of Thanos, Nick Fury, Jr. obtained the War Machine armor from a black market syndicate and persuaded Punisher to don the armor and carry on in Rhodes' name, succeeding him as the second War Machine for a short while, customizing the armor with his skull motif. Following Rhodes' resurrection alongside Tony Stark for the Marvel Legacy initiative, Castle relinquished the armor and title to him and resumed as Punisher.

Despite his violent actions and dark nature, the Punisher has enjoyed some mainstream success on television, making guest appearances on series such as Spider-Man and The Super Hero Squad Show, where the depiction of his violent behavior was toned down for family viewers.

In feature films, Dolph Lundgren portrayed the character in the 1989 film The Punisher, as did Thomas Jane in the 2004 film 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).

Iago PUC

 * Punisher is a main character in Marvel's Astonishing Thunderbolts, voiced by Steve Blum.

Moon Silvight's ideas

 * He appears as one of the following Playable Fighters in Marvel Super Heroes: Atom of Infinite Champions, Disney vs. SNK, Disney vs. Mega Man, Avengers vs. Street Fighter and Disney vs. Capcom: Warriors of Weirdmageddon, altogether at once as one of the Games' Playable Fighters, with Takayuki Sakazume and Brian Bloom voicing him in Japanese and English once again, although one of his very own Alter-Egos for one of his Fighting Game appearances has Thomas Jane voicing him in English, once again as well.
 * Sakazume and Bloom would also voice the Punisher himself in one of his other animated and video game appearances as well, such as the likes of Disney vs. Mega Man.

Notes/Trivia

 * For one of Emman's very own OCs, it's been confirmed by him that Jonatha Johnston from his Goof Troop works is based on him with bits of Jonathan Joestar, except with a Gender Swapped twist along with her being an Anthropomorphic Black Wolf.