The Punisher, a prototypical 70s comic book character, had become politically incorrect in a woke culture where criminals were supposed to be treated as victims of society. (It was exactly this attitude that led to the creation of the Punisher, vigilante movies like Death Wish and a darker turn for action heroes, creating the Schwarzenegger/Stallone era and the darker Batman.)
Marvel’s growing wokeness had already clashed with the vigilante character and, unlike Captain America, who became a woke enemy of the Tea Party and conservatives, there was something about a character who kills criminals that resisted ‘wokening’.
The popularity of the Punisher ‘skull’ symbol among law enforcement officers and conservatives hastened his demise. So Marvel tried eliminating the symbol even though it made the company a fortune in merchandising.
As the Year of BLM arrived, Marvel had authorized a limited series featuring The Punisher fighting ‘Barracuda’ , a huge gold-toothed black criminal. Even though the series was mostly drawn, Marvel quickly canceled and buried it, terrified of the George Floyd resonance at a time when people’s lives were being destroyed for much more minor offenses against critical race theory.
The leftists who had seized control of much of the culture began demanding that Marvel not only cancel Frank Castle aka The Punisher, but force him to atone for his sins, humiliate him and destroy him completely as a character. And Marvel did that too.
Marvel tried replacing the Punisher with another character and that series was canceled after four issues.
But the political terror of the BLM years passed, and Marvel is now relaunching The Punisher and republishing classic titles. “Bullets will fly, blood will flow, and the citizens and criminals of New York City alike will fear the name,” the tagline for the new series runs.
What this means for those who couldn’t care less about a comic book character is that the Left has lost another battle in the culture war. And BLM, once a superpower, has become irrelevant even in a woke company like Marvel.
