Frank Castle

The Punisher is a fictional vigilante who appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. His real name is Frank Castle and he was first introduced as a generic villain in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man #129 in February, 1974. Following a string of scattered appearances in later issues, the Punisher received his own four-issue (later turned into a five-issue) limited series in January, 1986. The character became an overnight hit with fans and has gone on to star in numerous Punisher comic book titles from that point onward. The Punisher has received several live-action movie treatments, beginning with a 1989 film where he was played by actor Dolph Lundgren. A remake film was produced in 2004 with Tom Jane playing the part of Frank Castle. A sequel film, Punisher: War Zone was released in 2008. This time, the role of Frank Castle was played by Ray Stevenson, who would also make appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Volstagg in Thor and Thor: The Dark World. The Punisher has made appearances on the small-screen as well, beginning with the 1994 animated television series Spider-Man. He made three appearances in the show where he was voiced by John Beck. In 2016, Frank Castle became the central antagonist on season two of the Netflix television series Daredevil, where he was played by former The Walking Dead actor Jon Bernthal. Speaking of The Walking Dead, another star from that series, Norman Reedus was the voice of the Punisher in the 2013 direct-to-video film Iron Man: Rise of Technovore.

Frank Castle is a former soldier in the United States Marine Corps, who served three tours in the Vietnam War. After the war was over, Castle returned to the United States, content with being a family man and spending time with his wife and child. Such notions turned into tragedy as the Castle family bore witness to a gangland slaying. The mob has little tolerance for witnesses, and Castle wife and children were murdered. Driven insane by grief, Frank Castle decided to punish those who found themselves married to the criminal underworld, and so he clad himself in black fatigues with a white death's head symbol upon his chest, and began his one-man war on crime as the Punisher.