How I'd reboot the Punisher

    The Punisher has an image problem. Not the least because real life assholes have adopted his symbol to spread their hate. The thing is that these people have no right to the Punisher because plenty of other people have loved Frank Castle's adventures and hold them as the kind of people he'd go against. I grew up on Punisher War Journal and while I turned into a maladjusted lunatic, that doesn't mean other people didn't.

    It goes beyond the Punisher's fandom, though, and the writers themselves. The Punisher is an easy target if you're going to try to argue against comics being too dark or make a social point. But the writers include people who have Frank Castle join Hydra, point guns at Molly from Runaways, and lecture his cop fans. They act like Frank executes all drug dealers and falls into vicious cop stereotypes. He's dehumanized to blood and vengeance with no supporting cast. 

    In my Supervillainy Saga books, I literally have the protagonist as a guy whose origin is "The Punisher killed his brother and inspired him to believe supervillains are victims." The EXPY is a white supremacist and also statutory scumbag. Thing is my protagonist is also a murderous antihero who just so happens to be allied with the "better" heroes. Merciless represents how the Punisher should be (even if Gary would hate that comparison).

    If I was hired by Marvel, my absolute first pitch would be "The Punisher versus the Klan" followed by "Punisher versus Police Brutality." Absolutely, I would make a speech like, Frank is holding a crooked cop hostage and lecturing him as the guy thinks he's about to die.

"I don't go after criminals. I go after monsters. Killers. People the law won't punish because they're too rich, too connected, and too powerful. Because cops like you don't do your job or don't care. You think I'm like you because I kill without a judge or jury. Because I'm a monster too. Maybe. But I'm the monster who preys on monsters.

*BANG*

[misses the cop and leaves him wetting himself] 

    I don't think the Punisher's problem is his concept. He's an antihero but we have Venom and Deadpool. The problem is that the character is always shown to be punching down and the writers themselves want to make Frank Castle a monster half the time. Which is fine as you can easily write Frank as Dexter. A serial killer who hunts other serial killers.

    The Netflix show for me is the first Frank Castle project that attempts to say, "What if Frank isn't actually a psychopathic monster but that is how the public sees him? What if he's actually a guy who has made the questionable choice of going to war against the Kingpin types, evil megacorps, and the in-universe Hydra?"

    I'd do it as a series of mini-series rather than ongoings too.

• The Punisher vs. Hydra: The Punisher against white supremacy and the Far Right. Guns versus lasers. Frank gets to say to Baron Strucker, "We are not the same. You follow a one-testacle ranting madman."
• The Punisher vs. Weapon X (Or Orchis): The Punisher does the Joel thing and ends up protecting a little girl ala Wolverine against mutant hunters. We find out Frank is not afraid of mutants. Maybe a "ordinary man versus a Sentinel" issue. 
•  The Punisher vs. Roxxon: The Steven Siegal movie version of Frank Castle. The locals are being driven off their land by a greedy megacorporation and its up to Frank to stand up for their rights. Typical Western plot where he befriends the locals but has to leave in the end.
  
• The Punisher vs. The Police: More or less the Professional and that one scene from Batman: Year One where the Punisher has to protect some people under siege from an elite SWAT unit. This unit being actually on the payroll of the Kingpin to kill the people involved for, I dunno, real estate or whatever. Would Disney allow it? Maybe not. However, it would be a good rebuttal. 

    Basically, I feel the Punisher has gotten too far away from, "What if an action movie star from the late Seventies and early Eighties got stuck in the Marvel Universe?" They don't have Frank have any traits other than being a killer other killers. They remove the supporting cast and any emotions other than anger and hate.

    The Punisher should be angry. He's a dark character. He's not going to be an aspirational figure like Spider-Man. However, he shouldn't be nothing but anger and hate. There's a lot you can do with an ordinary man in the Marvel Universe who is up against the people who are untouchable. You know, what just about every action movie postulates.

    The trick is that if Frank Castle has to choose between protecting an innocent and going after some more killers then he'll (reluctantly) do the former. Because that will be the difference between him and a villain protagonist. Guns may not be the best toy for children but neither are knives and that's Wolverine's chief power.

    If Marvel has a problem with Frank Castle, maybe they should write him better is all I'm saying.