The Punisher (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

"I think that this world needs men that are willing to make the hard call."

- Punisher to Daredevil

The Punisher (real name: Frank Castle Sr.) is an antagonist-turned-anti-hero in the web television series Daredevil, and serves as the deuteragonist of season 2. Once a war veteran, his world was shook when his family was brutally killed during a gang war, turning the broken man into a dangerous, unstoppable and ruthless vigilante who killed criminals in highly brutal fashions with firearms, named The Punisher. Eventually Castle dedicated his life to destroying all people who murdered his family and hoped to kill the mastermind of it all, the Blacksmith. However Castle's violently cruel methods soon caught the eye of another vigilante in Hell's Kitchen, Daredevil who soon went to war with the Punisher until he was brought to justice. He later went to trial when, despite the help of Nelson and Murdock was sent to prison. However he was quickly able to escape thanks to the assistance of Wilson Fisk. After which he was able to locate the Blacksmith and kill him on the spot. Then Castle helped Daredevil in his war against the Hand and finally left Hell's Kitchen to locate a figure from his past called Micro and make the world a better place.

He is portrayed by Jon Bernthal.

Enlisting
Castle enlisted into the Marine Corps when he was eighteens just after the 9/11 attacks. He was placed under the command of Colonel Ray Schoonover and would later take part in the Battle of Fallujah and countless other historic combat operations in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Castle came into contact with Flash Thompson as his unit provided support when Thompson's team was ambushed resulting in the loss of Thompson's legs. For his heroic action he recieced a Medal of Honour.

Coming Home
Castle returned home that day from Iraq and reunited with his wife and children at school. But because of his time in the war he became weary, presumably exacerbated by Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He began neglecting his routines and family traditions, becoming distant to his family.

The Central Park Massacre
One day Castle took his family to visit a caourasal at Central Park where a three-way gang war took place. Everyone was massacred, including the entirety of Castle's family and he was shot in the head hit survived however at the hospital a Do Not Resuscitate order is placed on him. Although he flatlined for a few seconds he came back to life without any medical aid.

Revenge
Castle began hunting the three gangs who were involved in the firefight which killed his family. He began with the Kitchen Irish whom he killed during a massive shootout. Castle's bullets were so powerful that they shot through the gang members bodies. He was able to kill the enitre room, except one who escaped. Later on he killed most of the Mexican Cartel and hung their half-dead bodies on meat hooks.

Hunting Grotto
To locate any surviving member of his attack on the Kitchen Irish, Castle went to an illegal pawn show where he spoke to the manager Cline whom he paid a considerable amount of cash for police radios and the shells for his shotgun. Once he had what he needed Castle prepared to leave in silence but Clint tried to sell him a pornographic movie involving a 12-year old. After which he locked the door and proceeded to violently beat Clint with a metallic baseball bat.

After learning that the last surviving member of the Kitchen Irish, Grotto was incapacitated in the Metro-General Hospital as the wound Castle inflicted upon him soon worsened. He charged into the hospital with the full intent of finishing his dirty work. Becuase of his extensive military background he was able to make short work of the security and began shooting his way through the halls. Grotto was saved however with the help of Karen Page who rushed him out of the hospital.

While Grotto and Page were about to escape the hospital, Castle reached the roof and mounted a sniper rifle. He fired several shots bit did his best to avoid shooting Karen Page becuase he didn't wish to harm innocent civilians. With Grotto in his sights he prepared to fire the finishing shot but was ambushed by Daredevil. The two engage in a violent fistfight with Castle firing several shots at his opponent. Once when it appeared Daredevil was winning Punisher aimed a gun at the vigilante, knowing he was a vigilante as well he non-fatally shoots him in the head.

Attacking the Dogs of Hell
Castle was about to be baited by Samantha Reyes and the District Attorney by using his target, Grotto as bait. Knowing an ambush was inevitable, the Punisher was prepared to protect himself and at the same time kill Grotto. Castle attacks a base for the Dogs of Hell, another gang who was involved in his families death and kills all the gang, excluding one and uses a truck to help him and his plan.

Preparing the Ambush
Castle strapped the last surviving member of the Dogs of Hell to the driving street of the truck and forced him to drive to the point where Reyes expected him to attack Grotto. As the soldiers attacked the truck the driver is killed and the vehicle crashes with Reyes and her soldiers no idea of the Punisher's real nature. Once again Castle took a sniping position and aimed to kill Grotto but was once again interrupted by Daredevil. As the Punisher and Daredevil engaged in a fight SWAT teams began shooting at them. Eventually the two of them fell through a glass ceiling and Castle was able to take a wounded and unconscious Daredevil hostage to another rooftop for interrogation and discussion.

A Friendly Debate
When Daredevil woke up he was chained to a chimney on top of a roof where he was meeted by the Punisher. As he tried to pull himself free Castle greeted the vigilante in a mocking tone while pouring himself coffee Daredevil still aggressively tried to free himself. The two begin engaging in a heated debate, both claiming that their methods of justice were more effective with Daredevil claiming that Castle was insane and Punisher describing him as a coward. Daredevil paused and warned him that a man was coming.

Castle greeted Jerry, a tenant at the apartment he and Daredevil were at top and tried to locate the noise and he says he was smoking as to avoid his unpleasant sister who Jerry thinks is a woman named Betty. As Daredevil attempts to free himself Punisher aimed a silenced gun at his head through the door as to send a message for him to no longer make any noise. Soon the pair discovered that they both had military background and Jerry left Castle to smoke in silence

Grotto's Confession
After continuous insults Punished knocks Daredevil out and when he awoke Grotto was chained and beaten at his feet. Castle explained how he was trying to escape by stealing a car and forced him to tell the story of how he had murdered a man and a woman for the Kitchen Irish. As to goad him more Castle explained when Grotto's victim had left a husband and child once he had killed him.

The Punisher gives Daredevil an ultimatum and throws him a gun. He left him with a choice as to either kill him or Castle would kill Grotto. He began counting down from five ignoring both the pleas of Daredevil and Grotto. Not wanting to become a psychopathic killer like Castle Daredevil shoots the chains restricting him and attacks Punisher however before he could stop him Grotto is fatally shot and slowly succumbs to his demise. Castle takes a shot at the Dogs of Hell, destroying their bikes and before he could take a shot at Jimmy the Bear he is knocked out by Daredevil but before he is killed by the Dogs of Hell he awakes and escapes his death.

Hunted Down
After he returns to his base, Castle discovers that the Kitchen Irish is hunting them, he sees their leader Finn Cooley leaving his home base with men and his guard dog, Max with the full intent to kill him and recover the money he had stolen from the Kitchen Irish. He would use this to his own advantage. Knowing they were looking for their money more so than Castle himself he attaches a bomb to his van where he placed the stolen money and implanted a razor in himself should the need rise to escape.

He sat himself alone in Central Park, just before the massacre of his family. He remained in the spot simply listening to the spinning lights and music however he discovered that he was no longer alone and the Kitchen Irish have definitely found him. He prepared himself for a fight as he slowly became surrounded but was outnumbered, incapacitated by a taser gun and shot with a dart, knocking him out.

Tortured by the Kitchen Irish
When Castle woke up he was greeted by Finn Cooley who informs him that he had stolen his money and had killed his son. When Punisher refused to talk and managed to head butt his captor. After this he was tortured, a hole drilled in his foot. He still remains strong however but quickly tells Cooley the location of his stolen money when he threatened enflict the same methods of torture onto his pet dog however when Cooley's mobsters reach the van with the money it explodes, killing the men and burning the money.

Castle manages to free himself with the hidden blade he had hid in his skin and despite the injuries he had received he was able to kill all forces that charged at him. He stole a gun and shot Cooley in the back whom he interrogates to discover who had killed his family by holding a shotgun to his head however Cooley arrogantly mocked him for his revenge quest and Castle executed him on the spot. Daredevil broke him out but he refused to allow him to kill any more men.

A Talk Amongst The Graves
Daredevil carries the injured Castle to a graveyard where he discovered he could no longer walk and could not escape his arrest as more than he has. Before the police came Castle took the time to explain why he became a vigilant, telling Daredevil of the time he came home from United States Armed Forces only witness his wife and children get massacred by mobsters. Going into detail about his past he explains how his daughter begged him to read her a book but he was too tired and shaken up from the war he had seen and she was gunned down the next day and died in his arms. When the NYPD came Castle did not resist arrest and was simply taken to a stretcher as press surrounded him.

Personality
"The Punisher: Look around, Red. This city, it stinks. It's a sewer. It stinks and it smells like shit and I can't get the stink out of my nose. I think that this world, it needs men who are willing to make the hard call. I think you and me are the same! Daredevil: That's bullshit, Frank, and you know it! The Punisher: Only I do the one thing you can't. You hit'em and they get back up. I hit'em and they stay down!"

- The Punisher and Daredevil argue, and the former compares himself to the latter

Castle was a hardened and thuggish individual with a great capacity for violence and completely remorseless towards the people he killed which was all brought on by the trauma of his family being murdered by a gang war, turning him into a violent, sociopathic man who was highly determined on stopping all crime in Hell's Kitchen and avenging his family murderers. He is highly desensitised to the violence he inflicts on others, being comfortable with torture and hanging the Mexican Cartel on meat hooks, simply a testament to how he doesn't view the criminals he kills as people. Because of this many people believe he possesses sadistic attraction to what he does however when asked by Daredevil, Castle remains silent but during his trial he yells that he was begging to kill again but there was a chance this was a ruse to get him closer to Fisk in prison. Despite his cold, brutal and apathetic nature, Castle is furthermost a man who dearly misses his family even years after their deaths.

Though a mentally unhinged and ruthless man with very few ethical lines to cross, Castle surprisingly has morals. He only kills criminals and is extremely careful when it comes to harming innocent civilians and does his best to avoid collateral damage, such as while hunting Grotto in a hospital he non-lethally incapacitates the guard and assures Karen Page that she was in no danger of being killed despite being in the same car with his target. He also killed the illegal pawn dealer Clint, when Castle discovered he possessed a child pornography movie and told the Kitchen Irish about the location of the money he stole from them so his pet dog would not get tortured. He is also a man who believes in repaying debts and helped Daredevil fight the Hand in his final battle because the latter rescued him from torture at the hands of the Kitchen Irish.

Castle is a man who views the world in pure black-and-white. He doesn't expect criminals to change and has never once considered Daredevil's way of justice, he sees it as a necessity to kill criminals and instinctively finds his methods more efficient. As well he deems Daredevil a coward who can't "finish the job" because he won't kill criminals but despite this they do seem to have a mutual respect for another, Castle even helped Daredevil fight the Hand and Mattnew Murdock tried to defend him during his trial.

Despite being a pure sociopath, Castle's attitude towards violence is complex. He has no qualms about using brute force as means to his own end yet does his best to avoid any unnecessary violence. He lives by a "One Shot, One Kill" motto which he learned in the army and does best to do the job with as little casualties as possible. For example after having the Blacksmith at his mercy, inside a shed, he ponders on how to torture him but instead remembers what Schoonover taught him and killed the Blacksmith with a swift shot to the head.

Skills and Abilities

 * Master Combatant: Castle, as a former marine with years of experience, is a very dangerous, fierce, and lethal hand-to-hand combatant, holding his own against the highly skilled Daredevil, even briefly gaining the upper hand against him in their first encounter. He impressed Daredevil with his speed and ferocity, while the latter was able to get the upper hand in the fight with the use of his agility. Hence, Castle, while unarmed, survived being ambushed by multiple armed prison inmates at once, swiftly taking them all down in a brutal bloodthirsty fashion, greatly impressing Kingpin, who claimed that Castle has a "unique talent".
 * Master Marksman: Castle graduated from Marine Corps Base Quantico of class 307. A former scout sniper and marine, Castle has considerable expertise in handling many firearms. Due to his military training, Frank Castle is a deadly shot, adhering to his unit's philosophy of "One shot, One kill". With his devastating use in firearms, he made many criminals and police officials believe his attacks were the work of a group or "army". Hence, as the Punisher, Castle rarely misses his target, and easily avoids injuring innocent civilians, thus managing to swiftly take down the last four Hand ninjas without wounding Daredevil, all from an immense distance away.
 * Master Tactician: Castle is a highly skilled, effective and experienced military tactician, since notably, during the seemingly hopeless extraction of his unit, Castle assumed command, and single-handedly cleared a helicopter landing zone of enemy combatants (that prevented his unit's escape), while the rest of his men, even Ray Schoonover, hunkered down. As the Punisher, Castle later used these tactics to single-handedly track and kill entire gangs of criminals (notably the Dogs of Hell, Kitchen Irish, and Mexican Cartel) with high efficiency, to the point that Castle was initially mistaken by Daredevil and the police for an entire squad of gunmen, rather than a single man.

Weapons
He later brought another rifle to the ship that the Blacksmith used to smuggle heroin into the country. He killed the few soldiers guarding the ship, until finding a man posing as the Blacksmith. Once the man spent all his bullets trying to shoot at Castle, he used the rifle to put a bullet in the man's shoulder before discarding the rifle to finish him off with his handgun.
 * Springfield Armory XDM Compact: Castle carried this handgun in an ankle holster when he went to Metro-General Hospital to try to kill Grotto. Once Daredevil attacked Castle, he resorted to take this handgun and shoot him in the head.
 * Para G.I. Expert: Castle carried this handgun when he visited the carousel in Central Park where his family had been killed. The Kitchen Irish set an ambush there, and Castle killed some of them, until he was overwhelmed and kidnapped under Finn Cooley's orders.
 * Kimber Warrior: Castle carried this handgun when he took Karen Page to a diner. While being there, he noticed that a car had been following them, and that they were going to be attacked. As two soldiers working for the Blacksmith entered into the diner, Castle opened fire and avoided their shots. Despite he lost the handgun during the shootout, he overpowered the two men, and retrieved the handgun to kill the two injured soldiers, shooting one of them in the head, and killing the other using the gun as a club. He also took it to the ship that the Blacksmith used to smuggle heroin into New York City, almost using it to kill a man that claimed to be the Blacksmith, until being disarmed by Daredevil.
 * Smith & Wesson Model 327 Night Guard: Castle owned this small revolver, and attached it to Daredevil's hand using duct tape. Castle prompted Daredevil to shoot him, as that would be the only way of stopping him. However, Daredevil eventually used it to shot the chains that tied him up.
 * Smith & Wesson Model 327 Performance Center TRR8: Castle carried this revolver when he kidnapped Daredevil and used him to threaten him while he was chained in a rooftop. He also used to point at Jerry when he went to the rooftop, without Jerry noticing and only for Daredevil to hear it, so that he feared for the man's life. Once Castle brought Grotto to the rooftop to demonstrate Daredevil that the criminals he punished were beyond redemption, he threatened Grotto with the gun, and killed him with a shot to his chest before Daredevil could stop him.
 * Ithaca 37 Custom Short Barrel Stakeout: Castle took this shotgun to Metro-General Hospital in order to kill Grotto. Once he saw him, he began to shoot at Grotto, but being extremely careful and not hurting Karen Page, who was trying to get Grotto to safety, or any other civilian.
 * Mossberg 500 Knoxx Sidewinder Kit: Castle infiltrated a garage owned by the Dogs of Hell, in order to prepare for an ambush that the New York City Police Department was setting for him. He used this shotgun to kill all the gang members inside except for one, whom Castle tied inside a truck to use as diversion.
 * M4A1 with M203 Grenade Launcher: Castle kept one of these rifles as part of the arsenal in his apartment, and brought it to the rooftop where he had Daredevil chained. He began to prepare the weapon while Daredevil inquired him, wanting to know more about Castle and his motivations. Once Castle killed Grotto, he shot a grenade to the motorbikes of the Dogs of Hell that were on the other side of the street, used the rifle as a club to knock Daredevil down and tried to shoot the gang members again, but Daredevil disarmed him and prevented him from doing so.
 * Nemesis Arms Vanquish: Castle took this sniper rifle to a rooftop near Metro-General Hospital after he tried to kill Grotto inside of the hospital. Seeing that he would not catch Grotto up, he began to shoot the rifle hoping to kill him, until Daredevil confronted him and they began to fight.
 * Desert Tactical Arms Stealth Recon Scout: Castle climbed to a water tower to act as a sniper in his second attempt to kill Grotto. Knowing that Grotto was acting as bait for him, Castle created a diversion for the New York City Police Department and he began to shoot hoping to kill Grotto, until Daredevil attacked him a second time.
 * Knight's Armament SR-25: Castle kept one of these rifles as part of the arsenal in his apartment.
 * Barrett MRAD: Castle obtained this rifle as part of the secret arsenal kept by Ray Schoonover. Castle then followed police radio signals to the site of a massive hostage situation, arriving soon after Nobu Yoshioka had accidentally killed Elektra. As Yoshioka ordered the rest of the Hand members to kill Daredevil, Castle acted as Daredevil's backup, killing the ninjas and allowing Daredevil to finally defeat Yoshioka. Castle then respectfully said goodbye to Daredevil and left the scene with the rifle still in his hands.
 * Dillon M134 Minigun: Castle obtained a handheld version of the minigun as part of the secret arsenal kept by Ray Schoonover. He then carried when he went to torch his former house, carrying it while the house began to be engulfed by flames.

Trivia

 * Frank is quite similar to Karl Mordo. Both are the deuteragonists of their respective debuting stories (season 2 of Daredevil and Doctor Strange, respectively), both are Knight Templars who kill without hesitation and both get into arguments with the main protagonist (Daredevil and Doctor Strange), whom they consider cowards for not being able to finish the job.