There's a lot of comments about how the skull logo in the show was inspired by the x-rays of Frank's own skull. But I'd say, why didn't he just get a skull mask then? Army of Two style, then he could drill a bullet hole in the side to make the connection. No, I think the x-ray spoke to him, but the bloodstains cemented the idea of a giant skull on his chest, a symbol of what he'd done and what he would continue to do. He doesn't define himself by his own injuries, but by the blood shed by the people around him, by his family and his enemies. The x-ray was a reminder of what he once was, and how that was lost; the skull on his chest is a symbol of what survived, and what cannot be stopped.
'Since we can never hope to understand why we're here, if there's even anything to understand, the individual should choose a goal and pursue it wholeheartedly, despite the certainty of death and the meaninglessness of action.' - philosophy of the punisher from the creators. I like your explanation for the skull since it best fits the philosophy
I always thought it's because it has been used forever to instill fear. Pirates for one. German army used them from napoleonic wars up to Nazis. Hamlet use a skull as a symbol of death. There is even evidence they used it in Jericho thousands of years ago.
I remember talking with a friend and when we saw the Skull I was like 'Cool, the Punisher logo' and he looked at me like 'WTF are you talking about' and I told him 'That's Frank Castle logo from Marvel' and he says to me 'Stop putting your stupid comics things in everything, that's the skull of a metal band'. My facepalm was so big I almost crushed my head
This Nam sniper story is based on the legendary USMC sniper Carlos Hatchcock, who was on a hunt on a VC sniper called "Cobra" and shot him right trough the scope. Carlos also mocked the enemies snipers using white feathers on his helmet.
+Daniel Dowd Punisher first appeared in 1975, Spawn came out in 1992. The story arc depicting Frank Castle in Vietnam came out in 1991. The angel story line for the Punisher came out in 1998, so that's the only thing that could plausibly be said to be a rip-off of Spawn. Since Punisher is an older character it doesn't really matter, because the angel thing (while still dumb) was built off of a character that existed before Spawn
I thought the skull inspiration for Bernthal's Punisher was when he paused to look at the tactical vest and how the front of it clearly looked like his iconic skull. The prison fight blood stain felt more like foreshadowing, seeing as he was too exhausted by the end of it to move, let alone notice an improvised blot test.
I remember that in Spider-Man: The Animated Series they came up with yet another explanation where Punisher's future emblem showed up on the destroyed kite (had holes shot in it that resembled skull) when his family was murdered. I personally find this explanation as quite nice since it is tied to Frank's main motivation - the skull then presents a constant reminder what he fights for.
+Ben Leyland Yeah, they tested it and deemed it busted, but my uncle, a very well respected vet, says he has seen it done. I don't expect you to believe me, but I just wanted to put that out there.
Treebranch yeah, given the fact that his son made that shirt, the Punisher even had his own theme song in that movie, that movie makes more sense of the situation, so I'm sticking with that when it comes to what I'm working on
You're forgetting in Daredevil Season two that Frank Castle's medical records included an x-ray scan of his skull after he survived a shot to the head. That same x-ray image was used during Frank's trial, was seen by the whole courtroom, and (_I think_) even used on the front cover of a newspaper. The media had already dubbed him "The Punisher" and that x-ray scan became synonymous with Frank Castle. So at the end of season two, when Frank finally paints the skull emblem on a bullet-proof vest for the first time, it's actually a picture of his own skull. The message, I believe, is that Frank is an unkillable and harbinger of death. The bloody face print on Frank's white prison uniform, I think was just a clever bit of foreshadowing.
+Leoxandar Magnus Spider-Man: Chapter One anyone? Masterminded by John Byrne to "steamline" Peter's early years, it was so needlessly overly complicated (Sandman and Norman Osborn are cousins just because they have similar haircuts). It even shelved Kurt Busiek's killer Untold Tales of Spider-Man series to tell its bad stories. Fortunately, Marvel realized how bad Chapter One was and made it non-canon.
In the show he was inspired by the X-Ray of his skull he saw on the newspaper. That's what made him think to spray paint it on the armor at the end of the series.
I'm writing a sociological analysis of The Punisher and needed some skull origin. I don't think I could have found anything more comprehensive. Thanks!
I'm sure this has been commended already, but in Daredevil the Punisher gets the skull symbol from an x-ray of his own skull that was printed in a newspaper.
I really liked the origin from the Tom Jane movie. It was simple, gave it a heart felt meaning and made sense that he would wear it all the time. Turn his worst memory into a nightmare for evil doers
i wonder if civilians of the middle east now fear that symbol because it represents a foreign force, would Frank want innocent people to fear a symbol he made that was meant to scare only the guilty? Soldiers using the symbol also makes it a kind of political symbol now, instead of the street level sign it was meant to be.
As I recall, skull motifs have been used by military units for hundreds of years in Europe. I believe a few American units (specops, etc.) had them on patches during the Korean and Vietnam Wars long before the Punisher was created. I assumed this was part of the skull shirt origin.
in the Punisher War Journal comic series, the first skull symbol appears as a blood splatter on the kite his family played with when gunned down in a park
+My_Names_Shea And going into more detail, the X-Ray of his skull. He has the X-Ray on the table with him when he spray paints the skull onto his bulletproof vest.
although, being fair, in the show, the skull was actually first used as a Punisher symbol by Colonel Blacksmith to frame Punisher. ... it just happened Frank took to the idea when he iced the colonel and found his secret weapons cache.
I wonder if Marvel did a story of Frank killing a guy and then later finding out the he actually did nothing wrong. How would Frank react to something like that?
+ranwolf76 comicvine.gamespot.com/articles/off-my-mind-what-if-the-punisher-shot-an-innocent/1100-143094/ .. read that and all the way through the comments .. that'll answer it
my favorite origin of the skull is the 2004 movie because it made the movie more emotional knowing that the shirt is the last thing to remember his family by
The Shot through the enemy sniper scope was taken from a real Legendary Marine CARLOS HATHCOCK. Some history about Carlos Hathcock: During the Vietnam War, Hathcock had 93 confirmed kills of North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong personnel.[4] In the Vietnam War, kills had to be confirmed by an acting third party, who had to be an officer, besides the sniper's spotter. Snipers often did not have an acting third party present, making confirmation difficult, especially if the target was behind enemy lines, as was usually the case.Hathcock himself estimated that he had killed between 300 and 400 enemy personnel during his time in Vietnam.[5]The North Vietnamese Army placed a bounty of US$30,000 on Hathcock's life for killing so many of their men. Rewards put on U.S. snipers by the NVA typically ranged from $8 to $2,000. Hathcock held the record for highest bounty and killed every Vietnamese marksman who sought him to collect it.[6] The Viet Cong and NVA called Hathcock Du kích Lông Trắng, translated as "White Feather Sniper", because of the white feather he kept in a band on his bush hat. One of Hathcock's most famous accomplishments was shooting an enemy sniper through the enemy's own rifle scope, hitting him in the eye and killing him.[11][12][13][14] Hathcock and John Roland Burke, his spotter, were stalking the enemy sniper in the jungle near Hill 55, the firebase from which Hathcock was operating, southwest of Da Nang. The sniper, known only as the "Cobra," had already killed several Marines and was believed to have been sent specifically to kill Hathcock.[10] When Hathcock saw a flash of light (light reflecting off the enemy sniper's scope) in the bushes, he fired at it, shooting through the scope and killing the sniper. Surveying the situation, Hathcock concluded that the only feasible way he could have put the bullet straight down the enemy's scope, through his eye, would have been if both snipers were zeroing in on each other at the same time and Hathcock fired first, which gave him only a few seconds to act.[10] Given the flight time of rounds at long ranges, the snipers could have simultaneously killed one another.[15] Hathcock took possession of the dead sniper's rifle, hoping to bring it home as a "trophy", but after he turned it in and tagged it, it was stolen from the armory.[16]
I know you've probably gotten this 100 times now, but in Daredevil Season 2, the skull comes from him looking at the newspaper feature on his death, that has a picture of the skull representing the x-ray of his head with the bullet in it.
Dude, I did watch that prison fight scene in DD season two 3-4 times back to back immediately and did not even notice that blood skull easter egg. Nice. But I think it was clear he was more inspired by the omnipresent x-ray of his head wound in that particular incarnation of the Punisher. I don't think that Frank Castle noticed the blood skull any more than I did. OK, let me go thumbs up everybody else that already said that. (..ugh... too... many...) And *finish watching season 2, Scott.*
It was used in Iraq, by military police, way before anybody else in 2003, there's patches confirming this and emblems on the side of trucks. However, it had a Target site over the eye. The reason why military police use this, was based off The Punisher with Thomas Jane, which was out at the time. Where he was a cop and Military. Hence military police. The idea was based off of what he said, about it being punishment. It coincided with a saying, which was written on a scroll under the movie skull,on these patches "here dies John Q law". The book Warrior police, long before American Sniper, talked about this. Other group seen this thought it was cool and adopted it. And like everything else in Iraq, credit was stolen. No one will admit this, but old vets know. In 2005, when the Marines started working with military police, out of Long Island New York, to recover stolen artifacts from the Baghdad Museum, the Marines started to adopt it. The 812 military police, set a new standard as being the most highly decorated military police unit since World War II, and for a reserve unit seen a lot of combat. They were combat support not Garrison, or" field MP". If you ever visited, Fort Totten New York or Orangeburg Reserve Center, you will see Awards, with the Thomas Jane Punisher skull, and the target eye, plaques all over the place. Except the scroll under it reads "RIP john q law"
I know, right? And these comments are always made by people who always felt too mature to read comic books, yet watch every Marvel movie and show and consider themselves to be true Batman experts because they watched three Christopher Nolan movies. I hate comic book hipsters.
Scott. I'm a big of your NerdSync program. I really respect and admire the effort you and your friends put to make these amazing videos. I really love your videos guys. They are well edited, accurate as possible if not always accurate, and most of all, they are funny. You guys give a great contribution for the comic book community. And I'm so sorry I didn't say this way before. But honestly Scott, I feel disappointed with this video. The reason is you mentioned American Sniper Kyle, who's methods of killing and the way he approach it is very infamous.Now I know you stated faqs, didn't glorify him. But Scott, you mentioned how he and his fellow put his Punisher logo on every peoples doors, scares everyone and making them live in a terrifying time, including innocent civilians who struggle daily with already a foreign army (the american army) invading them ( the Iraq people) claiming to save them from terrorists and tyranny, yet they become tyrants themselves with these acts.
The story about the Monkey was something I read as a child, found it my young uncles comics and it was just a cool story. Every time I read or see something Punisher related I remember the summer vacations at my grandma and sneaking away to read those comics.
+Jay EDJ Yeah dude who made this video was wrong on that point. That was my first time seeing the prisoner make a blood imprint on Castle's shirt; however it was the xray that inspired Frank to paint his armor. There is even a bullet hole on the skull just like you said.
I like the origin from the 2004 movie I think the idea of the skull kind of representing his family is better than just something he'd use to antagonize a criminal and because it all stems from him trying to Revenge his family so he uses the shirt or the symbol that his son gave him before he was killed.
My favorite origin is the one where the sniper reads Punisher comics then convinces his whole squad to start wearing/using the Punisher skull, then that convinces other squads to use it, and now it is a real life symbol, instead of just a symbol for a comic book character. That's like equivalent to if a bat symbol began being used as a symbol irl, and was no longer directly linked to Batman... (Like on a flag or something) Freakin' EPIC.
Brian Spurrier Yeah, that's awesome too! I do think there is something a bit more cool though when something not only is referred to, but is no longer specifically attached to the original reference. When we say something is our 'kryptonite" we are directly referencing something from Superman. When people began using the Punisher's symbol throughout other squads, they were not necessarily referencing the comics, but referencing the american sniper, and more specifically using it as a symbol. Though a skull is already a well known symbol anyways, which makes it not as clear what their intentions were.
That story of the sniper named Monkey! Is a great story. I have alot of punisher stuff but never new the story beyond the first movie Thomas Jane was in. It's really awsome to know all there is about the Punisher. He could be your Dad, uncle, and or brother! Hey who's that over there? The Punisher! Shawn
I thought the reason Frank Castle tv series choose the skull logo because it reminded him the headshot wound and the eternal emotional pain he's got from his family's massacre. the prison scene has nothing to do with it. it might only be just an easter egg
+Croz Raven That's exactly what I was thinking... They constantly showed the x ray picture in the show and I took it as a foreshadowing of his future logo.
I like the t-shirt origin in the Thomas Jane movie. I think that explanation of the Death's Head as his symbol adds a ton of emotion, meaning, and heart.
One reason I love Punisher, aside from why Kyle and his team do, is because, and I'm taking two quotes from another favorite of mine; "the world isn't nice", so "you have to learn to pull the trigger". The trick is, to know when, why, and how.
The Daredevil show actually has Frank adopt the skull from his xray which shows him shot in the head and when he was reborn without any of the thi gs that he cherished and kept him grounded. The red blood one was merely a tease for the audience.
Uh. That's actually not the origin of the Skull in the Cinematic Universe, just a little easter egg. Frank didn't even notice that he had the skullblood on him. The logo came from his X-ray of the gunshot to the head that he suffered. He saw it on the front page of the newspaper after everyone assumed he died in an explosion, when he visited his family home. Source: Literally watching now.
I like the 2004 origin the best. It didn't do it's rumored job at first but after he was the last one standing after his family's demise he found the t-shirt and later made it his icon.
I like the 'Nam origin. BTW, as a soldier I saw the Punisher Deaths-Head being used by US military way before the 2004 movie that inspired Seal Team 3. Maybe not on a unit level, but among individual soldiers it wasn't uncommon.
It's odd that the Punisher: Purgatory arc ever happened at all, considering he has been shown to be immune to suggestion and mind control, making it impossible for a demon to have convinced him to kill himself.
in daredevil season 2, i don't think he chooses the skull because of the blood on his chest in the prison. if it was that, the emblem would have been red SPOILERS AHEAD i think he chose this emblem because of the skull rentgen photo... the one they look at constantly the whole season. in the last episode he is in his house, and he reads a newspaper and on the front page it is this photo with the title "Frank Castle Dead". after that he immediately paint the skull. he basically paint the thing they did to him, turning him into the punisher - the rentgen photo was of the bullet hole in his skull from the "incident" when they killed his family.
+Suncho I think it goes deeper than that. I think that when people saw that photo, they immediately thought about the punisher. It had become recognizable due to his actions and the fact that the "trial of the century" was still going on. When he looked at that picture in the papers during the season finale he realized that people feared that image because of who it was associated with. It was his symbol before he even put it on.
Ethan Barclay yeah, exactly. that's why i mentioned "the one they look at constantly the whole season". but you put it better. that's why the picture in the newspaper was actually this photo instead of an actual picture of the man they are talking about.
Funny, I was in a infantry platoon called the Punishers back in 2002. We even had the skull painted on our wall. Military units have been using it for decades.
Marvel just answered what Punisher thinks of people using his symbol. Punisher #13, he gets approached by a couple officers who geek out and show him a skull sticker on their squad car telling them they believe in him and what he does. He peels it off and shreds it up. He tells them they aren’t the same, that they took an oath to help people and he gave that up a long time ago, that if he catches them doing what he does, they’re next on his list.
for me i like the the second movie explanation were it was a shirt his son bought for him (i also dig the streaks in that particular punisher emblem). i kinda thought in dd sesson 2 it was based a bit off Castle's skull x-ray that shows the bullet wound he sustained. i also feel that if he incorporated the bullet wound it into his skull plate body armor it would have been a nice artistic touch. however i really need to go back and watch half of season two again as i was more focused on the gunpla i was building instead of the actual show. (the gunpla was the hg gundam gusion rebake if your wondering).
I am disappointed that The Punisher's skull logo has been adapted by the United States military; one of Frank Castle's only rules is that he never, under any circumstances, harms innocent civilians. He may cause collateral damage, but it is only to property and items; he never fires on, or even *accidentally* fires on, noncombatants. If the US military (or really any military in the world) could boast the same record, I could approve of them adapting the skull. That said, the military will always be a tool of the government, and I'm not certain they can really be trusted to tell us who the "bad guys" are; so perhaps the army will always be too morally grey to represent Castle.
He's also a COMIC BOOK CHARACTER. The shit the punisher does gets written for him. It's choreographed in the movies. It's written in the comics. You ever been to a warzone? Take a stroll through helmand province circa 2008. Let me know your opinions after that you fucking snowflake.
Spec ops groups get leeway on that kind of thing (and other matters like beards) because of the elite training they have and missions they carry out; the use of the skull is part of both morale for US troops and psychological warfare against the insurgents. But I will say this of Kyle's insistence that no other unit use the skull: I'm going into the Army, and if I'm ever in a unit that has the chance to wear the skull in the same way Cadillac Platoon did, in spite of all my respect for Kyle, I don't care what he said about the skull and who can use it, as it wasn't his skull to reserve for his unit. If I'm asking anyone, I'm asking Jerry Conway and that's it.
Love the NAM story of how Frank got his SKULL on his chest. Love that more and more comic references/symbols are making it into our daily lives. Have to say I sport a small Punisher Skull on my fire helmet. Frank Castle is one of my favorite comic character, second only to Captain America.
Dude, you went WAY over the line with this "American Sniper" crap. Don't compare the sacrifices of a real American hero to the fictional exploits a soulless psychopath...a man Hell-bent on brutally murdering people in a pointless war based upon nothing but his own personal hatred toward them. You owe Frank Castle an apology.
I'm a muslim, and a Kuwaiti. My country, Kuwait, was invaded by the Iraqi Army, and they did many horrible war crimes at the time. My uncle is among the dead from that war by the Iraqi army. But unlike Kyle, the Sniper, I, as a Muslim, as a human being would not terrify people the way he and his band of barbaric did to these people, even after they did to me and my people. Because its just not right. Those who died are human beings, and I know you did not glorify him, but you did not seem disgusted by his acts as well. He claimed he was going to this war as a crusade. Kyle, is a man who if he was a Muslim, and said Jihad instead of Crusade, and painted skulls in Christians doors, would be called a villain instead of a hero. He is perfect example of double standard. Please just think of what I said and try to see it from my perspective.. Again, I really love you guys. But moments like these in any media forms that don't condemn acts like these makes feel unwelcome as a muslim.
I understand your viewpoint, but here Scott was just showing how the symbolism of the Punisher has left the comics and influenced the real world, not supporting or condemning geopolitical actions. From what I saw he was trying to be as neutral as possible.
+Crick1952 I know and I did say I know he was just stating facts. I ghuess I might overreactied. and I apologize to him and the crew. Its just I'm really frustraited how my fellow muslims are being treated and how in the media there is a double standerd. If I say for example Bin Laden is the product of the CIA, a misguided vigilante, like Magneto for example, I would be labled, negativly, even thou I'm just stating facts. But if the media say Kyle is a hero, its fine. I love american media, comics, cartoons and films, but I feel so estranged when I feel the media have double standerd.
The original and most widely referenced origin of the skull was introduced Punisher War Journal #1 by Carl Potts and Jim Lee, it was the blood stain that appeared on the kids' kite in the Castle family central park massacre. Its referenced several times throughout the various 80s and 90s Punisher runs, and is also the reason you often see a kite in drawings of his family picnic (including the art at the beginning of this video at the 0:34 mark from Punisher Year One by Eaglesham and Koblish).
I think it's use in military units is juvenile and bad. What are people that don't speak your language going to think when they see 'big foreign warriors' covered in skulls? There was a good British comedy sketch show that can pretty much be summed up as, "We're wearing a looot of skulls, are We the baddies?". I think cops using it in any capacity beyond their own home and humor is indefensible. He is a vigilante at best. In Marvel comics and defining anyone not convicted as innocent, he's probably the most 'successful' serial killer in their history.
Nice Video. Thank You very much! You are Right. Romita designed the skull Logo. We were told it was a Vietnam fetish. But Steven Grant (the most important writer of the early punisher Comics) was the first to explain the psychology behind the Symbol: "It`s the bright skull! They allways aim for the White skull! ... Where I`m protected."
Disagree. "terroristˈtɛrərɪst/nounnoun: terrorist; plural noun: terroristsa person who uses terrorism in the pursuit of political aims." Castle doesn't have any real political aims he is simply a very ruthless vigilante.
You know, hearing about this angel and demon stuff being put into Frank's origin reminds me of Spawn. No seriously think about it. Granted some details are changed but more or less the effect is there. 1.A highly trained soldier is manipulated by an evil supernatural force into doing it's biding. 2.Is killed by treachery, is revived as an otherworldly force of immense power. 3.Is guided by a being who has knowledge of what this evil is and is trying to lead the hero down a better path while all the while is trying to get something from the hero. 4.The demon brands the hero with his mark as a sign he is the evil's slave. (The lines on Spawn's suit signify an M for Malbolgia) 5.The hero has suffered a great loss that effects him dramatically.(Spawn made the deal so that he could see his wife again) 6.The hero puts his grief into fight evil but unwittingly aides the evil due to him being the instrument that feeds him new soldiers into his army. (Billy Kincaid anyone?) 7.the hero uses guns.(Spawn need to use guns because his powers were limited but while using them drained him he could do just about anything. Although he kept going back and forth between using and not using guns despite the Spawn clock [the gauge of Spawn's remaining power] no longer being seen but was assured by the creater {Todd MacFarlane} it was still in play but by that point he was better than guns anyway) 8.And the hero is so dead inside he lashes out at others. If anything it's like the writer read a good chunk of Spawn, saw the multiple problms with it, although he made problems himself, and tried to write a better tale from what MacFarlane made. It's not a bad origin actually, except because he wrote it with The Punisher it sounds stupid but give it to someone else it works fine. It actually could work for a new Ghost Rider.
+MegatonDestron That's what they were going for a the time. Punisher Purgatory came out a little while after the Spawn film debuted. Punisher was in a slump and they figured they would try this angle and see hot it turned out. Thankfully people hated it.
Gezere9 And with that the ongoing theory that comic books, like just about anything going in Hollywood, will chase after a trend not realizing that it's what people want at the moment and not all people want more of the same all the time, is true.
So interesting how a symbol used in a comic can become so much more. Not to say that I dont think comics are symbolic of much more, but its cool to see other people see that way as well.
That's an intersting idea. Who knew that something as simple as the skull on the Punisher's shirt (something that nobody really thinks about) has so many backstorys and would go on to be used in real life wars, which would then go back into the comics for another (sorta) backstory? I would have assumed that it was just a shirt that him made to scare his bad guys. I mean, it's not the bat suit, spider suit, or ironman suit. It's a shirt, which just shows you that he's not a hero, but just normal guy.
The Vietnam Origin is largely based on Colonel Hathcock who set the kill count record before Chris Kyle. His record setting shot was against the snake (or was it snake eater?) that went through the scope. So the whole chris kyle thing is really a full circle
There's a guy in my town that calls himself "The Finisher". He is a drywaller... it's emblazoned across the windshield of his company truck in the same font as The Punisher.
Hey Nerdsync team, just wanted to say thanks for all the great work you guys do and let you know I am a big fan. Just wondering if you guys would ever talk about the mask because I have always been curious to know the full limitations of his powers. Again thanks so much!
There's a lot of comments about how the skull logo in the show was inspired by the x-rays of Frank's own skull. But I'd say, why didn't he just get a skull mask then? Army of Two style, then he could drill a bullet hole in the side to make the connection. No, I think the x-ray spoke to him, but the bloodstains cemented the idea of a giant skull on his chest, a symbol of what he'd done and what he would continue to do. He doesn't define himself by his own injuries, but by the blood shed by the people around him, by his family and his enemies. The x-ray was a reminder of what he once was, and how that was lost; the skull on his chest is a symbol of what survived, and what cannot be stopped.
'Since we can never hope to understand why we're here, if there's even anything to understand, the individual should choose a goal and pursue it wholeheartedly, despite the certainty of death and the meaninglessness of action.' - philosophy of the punisher from the creators. I like your explanation for the skull since it best fits the philosophy
His son has the mask
Or shoot the hole in the mask, would be better
I always thought it's because it has been used forever to instill fear. Pirates for one. German army used them from napoleonic wars up to Nazis. Hamlet use a skull as a symbol of death. There is even evidence they used it in Jericho thousands of years ago.
He does wear a mask but barley wears it
I remember talking with a friend and when we saw the Skull I was like 'Cool, the Punisher logo' and he looked at me like 'WTF are you talking about' and I told him 'That's Frank Castle logo from Marvel' and he says to me 'Stop putting your stupid comics things in everything, that's the skull of a metal band'. My facepalm was so big I almost crushed my head
I hope your friend was cultured after that 😂
@@Jakob_The_Stoic_Norseman Best way to culture someone is you immediately grab a Punisher comic and through it in their face.
@@gfilmer7150 Exactly 😂
@@Jakob_The_Stoic_Norseman Works every time.
If only people understood
This Nam sniper story is based on the legendary USMC sniper Carlos Hatchcock, who was on a hunt on a VC sniper called "Cobra" and shot him right trough the scope. Carlos also mocked the enemies snipers using white feathers on his helmet.
Mocked them with a feather of all things if I remember correctly
I was just about to make the same comment. Chirs Klye also said Carlos was the Goat.
Oops I just wrote a comment saying the same thing before scrolling and seeing this, my bad dude
murderers aren't people to idolize.
"legendary" is such a gross thing to call him.
@@treyhill7584 and psychopath murderer chris kyle is someone we should..... listen to? respect? nah
The Vietnam story was relly cool but that angel thing was stupid.
agreed
yeah
Yeah it's just kinda weird
+Zendous Except that the whole thing sounds like a Spawn rip-off. Otherwise, it could be moderately cool.
+Daniel Dowd Punisher first appeared in 1975, Spawn came out in 1992. The story arc depicting Frank Castle in Vietnam came out in 1991. The angel story line for the Punisher came out in 1998, so that's the only thing that could plausibly be said to be a rip-off of Spawn. Since Punisher is an older character it doesn't really matter, because the angel thing (while still dumb) was built off of a character that existed before Spawn
I thought the skull inspiration for Bernthal's Punisher was when he paused to look at the tactical vest and how the front of it clearly looked like his iconic skull. The prison fight blood stain felt more like foreshadowing, seeing as he was too exhausted by the end of it to move, let alone notice an improvised blot test.
+AzzaKTM Yeah, Scott is off base on that one. I'm wondering if he had watched season 2 to the end when this was filmed.
@@admiralhowdy I think various element played into it. The stain, the vest, and the ex ray all inspired the symbol.
Frank be like: Oh boy, kids dressing up as me for Halloween again
I remember that in Spider-Man: The Animated Series they came up with yet another explanation where Punisher's future emblem showed up on the destroyed kite (had holes shot in it that resembled skull) when his family was murdered. I personally find this explanation as quite nice since it is tied to Frank's main motivation - the skull then presents a constant reminder what he fights for.
at 3:00 -- Frank didn't murder the inmates. That was self-defense.
+John-Paul Mitchell He was not trapped in a facility full of inmates, they were trapped in there with him.
would be best cross-over ever done
Yeah but he killed them it doesn't change the act
Lord Snuffle. Good.
@@casthedemon k
There was a real life sniper in Vietnam who actually had an enemy sniper through his scope I'm sure it inspired the comic
I believe you are referring to Marine sniper Carlos Hathcock a true legend.
Thanks, I didnt know his name. He was who I was referring to. Both Frank and Carlos are marines
+Kai Williams i'm pretty sure it was proven in mythbusters one episode that scopes are bulletproof. not sure though.
They retested it using a Vietnam-era scope and it worked. This is exactly what I was going to comment on.
+Ben Leyland Yeah, they tested it and deemed it busted, but my uncle, a very well respected vet, says he has seen it done. I don't expect you to believe me, but I just wanted to put that out there.
I like the origin story from the movie with Thomas Jane. Makes sense that he'd start a path of revenge carrying a reminder of his family with him.
Treebranch yeah, given the fact that his son made that shirt, the Punisher even had his own theme song in that movie, that movie makes more sense of the situation, so I'm sticking with that when it comes to what I'm working on
This video is severely lacking good puns. Give me your best PUNisher quip!
+NerdSync You should be Punished........
+NerdSync The annotations do not work.
+NerdSync GUNna see where my PUNishing act would lead us to. So, to be Frank, I'd rather build a home for people to live in than a Castle. The End.
You could say BvS talk an PUNching at box office.
Let's be frank here, kinda of a numb-skull move, losing your castle as the king of puns
Damn what is that eyepatch wearing- big boss punisher from? Cause wow.
Franken-Castle
+Natakupl its not from franken-castle
Punisher War Zone 2013
+Natakupl RIGHT? I SWEAR I THOUGHT OF SNAKE
+Ahmed Abdalla Doesn't help me when the first time i saw this new look for Pun. he was sort of taking out the avengers in a non lethal way lol
Hearing about the American Sniper thing was really cool.
Is it just me or did Frank's angel look a lot like Lucifer from DC?
What?! Punisher revelance to DC, say it ain't so.
You're forgetting in Daredevil Season two that Frank Castle's medical records included an x-ray scan of his skull after he survived a shot to the head. That same x-ray image was used during Frank's trial, was seen by the whole courtroom, and (_I think_) even used on the front cover of a newspaper. The media had already dubbed him "The Punisher" and that x-ray scan became synonymous with Frank Castle. So at the end of season two, when Frank finally paints the skull emblem on a bullet-proof vest for the first time, it's actually a picture of his own skull.
The message, I believe, is that Frank is an unkillable and harbinger of death. The bloody face print on Frank's white prison uniform, I think was just a clever bit of foreshadowing.
Just watched that episode, I thought it looked familiar
@@ssssSTopmotion It was a good show.
Short-lived, but probably the best "Punisher" adaptation made so far.
Well, Marvel certainly knows how to ruin a good origin.
+Leoxandar Magnus Yep
+Leoxandar Magnus Spider-Man: Chapter One anyone? Masterminded by John Byrne to "steamline" Peter's early years, it was so needlessly overly complicated (Sandman and Norman Osborn are cousins just because they have similar haircuts). It even shelved Kurt Busiek's killer Untold Tales of Spider-Man series to tell its bad stories. Fortunately, Marvel realized how bad Chapter One was and made it non-canon.
In the show he was inspired by the X-Ray of his skull he saw on the newspaper. That's what made him think to spray paint it on the armor at the end of the series.
+ThePsychoticBee yeah weird he didn't mention that scene. The prison scene did not feature any skull that way I see it and did not inspired shit.
Yup,Punisher has been my favorite since I could remember
I'm writing a sociological analysis of The Punisher and needed some skull origin. I don't think I could have found anything more comprehensive. Thanks!
Liked the 'Nam story for the origin of the skull.
Darcy Kahler cinematically, the Tom Jane origin was best, but the Nam storyline is awesome
I'm sure this has been commended already, but in Daredevil the Punisher gets the skull symbol from an x-ray of his own skull that was printed in a newspaper.
+Marcelle Cooper Not the first but you're right.
+Marcelle Cooper Yea, that's how I see it. However, both could be true.
I really liked the origin from the Tom Jane movie. It was simple, gave it a heart felt meaning and made sense that he would wear it all the time. Turn his worst memory into a nightmare for evil doers
i wonder if civilians of the middle east now fear that symbol because it represents a foreign force, would Frank want innocent people to fear a symbol he made that was meant to scare only the guilty? Soldiers using the symbol also makes it a kind of political symbol now, instead of the street level sign it was meant to be.
+Alec Plumley Doesn't cause fear in those that were protected from the ones they took out.
Almost nothing begins at street level anymore
As I recall, skull motifs have been used by military units for hundreds of years in Europe. I believe a few American units (specops, etc.) had them on patches during the Korean and Vietnam Wars long before the Punisher was created. I assumed this was part of the skull shirt origin.
I personally love the movie version how his son gave him a T-shirt with the skull on it
I thought the Netflix version drew it from the x-ray of his skull after he was hit in the head in the shooting.
8:09 looks like solid snake
+Tides of Strider Totally agree.
More like big boss
zjackshot true
I can never unsee that
in the Punisher War Journal comic series, the first skull symbol appears as a blood splatter on the kite his family played with when gunned down in a park
Prepare for a flame war about American Sniper.
In daredevil season 2 he is inspired by being shot in the SKULL so he spray paints the skull on his Top
+My_Names_Shea And going into more detail, the X-Ray of his skull. He has the X-Ray on the table with him when he spray paints the skull onto his bulletproof vest.
+My_Names_Shea But to be fair he does see the blood skull on his shirt as well
although, being fair, in the show, the skull was actually first used as a Punisher symbol by Colonel Blacksmith to frame Punisher.
... it just happened Frank took to the idea when he iced the colonel and found his secret weapons cache.
yeah that's what I thought it came from
I wonder if Marvel did a story of Frank killing a guy and then later finding out the he actually did nothing wrong. How would Frank react to something like that?
+ranwolf76 Damn, that sounds really interesting actually. I would definitely read it.
+ranwolf76 well in the movie punisher war zone, he kill a guy that turned out be an undercover cop
+ranwolf76 comicvine.gamespot.com/articles/off-my-mind-what-if-the-punisher-shot-an-innocent/1100-143094/ .. read that and all the way through the comments .. that'll answer it
Phil Verhey the article talks about accidentally killing an innocent, I'm talking about a deliberate kill
my favorite origin of the skull is the 2004 movie because it made the movie more emotional knowing that the shirt is the last thing to remember his family by
The Shot through the enemy sniper scope was taken from a real Legendary Marine CARLOS HATHCOCK.
Some history about Carlos Hathcock: During the Vietnam War, Hathcock had 93 confirmed kills of North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong personnel.[4] In the Vietnam War, kills had to be confirmed by an acting third party, who had to be an officer, besides the sniper's spotter. Snipers often did not have an acting third party present, making confirmation difficult, especially if the target was behind enemy lines, as was usually the case.Hathcock himself estimated that he had killed between 300 and 400 enemy personnel during his time in Vietnam.[5]The North Vietnamese Army placed a bounty of US$30,000 on Hathcock's life for killing so many of their men. Rewards put on U.S. snipers by the NVA typically ranged from $8 to $2,000. Hathcock held the record for highest bounty and killed every Vietnamese marksman who sought him to collect it.[6] The Viet Cong and NVA called Hathcock Du kích Lông Trắng, translated as "White Feather Sniper", because of the white feather he kept in a band on his bush hat.
One of Hathcock's most famous accomplishments was shooting an enemy sniper through the enemy's own rifle scope, hitting him in the eye and killing him.[11][12][13][14] Hathcock and John Roland Burke, his spotter, were stalking the enemy sniper in the jungle near Hill 55, the firebase from which Hathcock was operating, southwest of Da Nang. The sniper, known only as the "Cobra," had already killed several Marines and was believed to have been sent specifically to kill Hathcock.[10] When Hathcock saw a flash of light (light reflecting off the enemy sniper's scope) in the bushes, he fired at it, shooting through the scope and killing the sniper. Surveying the situation, Hathcock concluded that the only feasible way he could have put the bullet straight down the enemy's scope, through his eye, would have been if both snipers were zeroing in on each other at the same time and Hathcock fired first, which gave him only a few seconds to act.[10] Given the flight time of rounds at long ranges, the snipers could have simultaneously killed one another.[15] Hathcock took possession of the dead sniper's rifle, hoping to bring it home as a "trophy", but after he turned it in and tagged it, it was stolen from the armory.[16]
So that's why my coach almost always wear a shirt with Punisher's skull on it! :O
I know you've probably gotten this 100 times now, but in Daredevil Season 2, the skull comes from him looking at the newspaper feature on his death, that has a picture of the skull representing the x-ray of his head with the bullet in it.
In daredevil season 2, the vest that he found in the weapons bunker had the shape of the skull in the pads, he just spray painted it later
Dude, I did watch that prison fight scene in DD season two 3-4 times back to back immediately and did not even notice that blood skull easter egg. Nice. But I think it was clear he was more inspired by the omnipresent x-ray of his head wound in that particular incarnation of the Punisher. I don't think that Frank Castle noticed the blood skull any more than I did.
OK, let me go thumbs up everybody else that already said that. (..ugh... too... many...) And *finish watching season 2, Scott.*
It was used in Iraq, by military police, way before anybody else in 2003, there's patches confirming this and emblems on the side of trucks. However, it had a Target site over the eye. The reason why military police use this, was based off The Punisher with Thomas Jane, which was out at the time. Where he was a cop and Military. Hence military police. The idea was based off of what he said, about it being punishment. It coincided with a saying, which was written on a scroll under the movie skull,on these patches "here dies John Q law". The book Warrior police, long before American Sniper, talked about this. Other group seen this thought it was cool and adopted it. And like everything else in Iraq, credit was stolen. No one will admit this, but old vets know. In 2005, when the Marines started working with military police, out of Long Island New York, to recover stolen artifacts from the Baghdad Museum, the Marines started to adopt it. The 812 military police, set a new standard as being the most highly decorated military police unit since World War II, and for a reserve unit seen a lot of combat. They were combat support not Garrison, or" field MP". If you ever visited, Fort Totten New York or Orangeburg Reserve Center, you will see Awards, with the Thomas Jane Punisher skull, and the target eye, plaques all over the place. Except the scroll under it reads "RIP john q law"
Yeah, seen those military adaptations of the Punisher skull.
I enjoy the kid giving him the t shirt kinda like he's constantly remaining himself why he's doing what he does
Completely missed the idea of the skull symbol being inspired by the red on Castle's shirt when I saw Daredevil.
I agree...he used the skull from the X-ray as a reminder of the day he lost his family
90% comments under this video: "Frank was inspired by the x-ray of his skull in DD s2".
I know, right?
And these comments are always made by people who always felt too mature to read comic books, yet watch every Marvel movie and show and consider themselves to be true Batman experts because they watched three Christopher Nolan movies.
I hate comic book hipsters.
@@remc0s Yep...So many people act like they know comic book characters but don't read comics.
yes sir
Scott. I'm a big of your NerdSync program. I really respect and admire the effort you and your friends put to make these amazing videos. I really love your videos guys. They are well edited, accurate as possible if not always accurate, and most of all, they are funny. You guys give a great contribution for the comic book community. And I'm so sorry I didn't say this way before.
But honestly Scott, I feel disappointed with this video. The reason is you mentioned American Sniper Kyle, who's methods of killing and the way he approach it is very infamous.Now I know you stated faqs, didn't glorify him.
But Scott, you mentioned how he and his fellow put his Punisher logo on every peoples doors, scares everyone and making them live in a terrifying time, including innocent civilians who struggle daily with already a foreign army (the american army) invading them ( the Iraq people) claiming to save them from terrorists and tyranny, yet they become tyrants themselves with these acts.
The story about the Monkey was something I read as a child, found it my young uncles comics and it was just a cool story. Every time I read or see something Punisher related I remember the summer vacations at my grandma and sneaking away to read those comics.
In Daredevil S2, I really wanted the Punisher's reasoning for the skull to be the X-Ray of the skull with a bullet in it.
That is the reason.
Oh cool, guess I wasn't paying attention.
+Jay EDJ Yeah dude who made this video was wrong on that point. That was my first time seeing the prisoner make a blood imprint on Castle's shirt; however it was the xray that inspired Frank to paint his armor. There is even a bullet hole on the skull just like you said.
Hello Scott, I just want to say I love the work you put in these videos
Much love
a Fan
Haha Punisher with daemon stuff, reminds me of Painkiller :D
I like the origin from the 2004 movie I think the idea of the skull kind of representing his family is better than just something he'd use to antagonize a criminal and because it all stems from him trying to Revenge his family so he uses the shirt or the symbol that his son gave him before he was killed.
My favorite origin is the one where the sniper reads Punisher comics then convinces his whole squad to start wearing/using the Punisher skull, then that convinces other squads to use it, and now it is a real life symbol, instead of just a symbol for a comic book character. That's like equivalent to if a bat symbol began being used as a symbol irl, and was no longer directly linked to Batman... (Like on a flag or something) Freakin' EPIC.
Also, the term "Kryptonite" is used in everyday language. While typing this, I literally just typed in "Ky" and my phone suggested it
Brian Spurrier Yeah, that's awesome too!
I do think there is something a bit more cool though when something not only is referred to, but is no longer specifically attached to the original reference. When we say something is our 'kryptonite" we are directly referencing something from Superman. When people began using the Punisher's symbol throughout other squads, they were not necessarily referencing the comics, but referencing the american sniper, and more specifically using it as a symbol. Though a skull is already a well known symbol anyways, which makes it not as clear what their intentions were.
That story of the sniper named Monkey! Is a great story. I have alot of punisher stuff but never new the story beyond the first movie Thomas Jane was in. It's really awsome to know all there is about the Punisher. He could be your Dad, uncle, and or brother! Hey who's that over there? The Punisher! Shawn
I thought the reason Frank Castle tv series choose the skull logo because it reminded him the headshot wound and the eternal emotional pain he's got from his family's massacre. the prison scene has nothing to do with it. it might only be just an easter egg
+Croz Raven That's exactly what I was thinking... They constantly showed the x ray picture in the show and I took it as a foreshadowing of his future logo.
I like the t-shirt origin in the Thomas Jane movie. I think that explanation of the Death's Head as his symbol adds a ton of emotion, meaning, and heart.
sooo.... he's kind of like the Boba Fett of Marvel, you know someone who was intended one time character who the fans loved and wanted to see more of.
One reason I love Punisher, aside from why Kyle and his team do, is because, and I'm taking two quotes from another favorite of mine; "the world isn't nice", so "you have to learn to pull the trigger". The trick is, to know when, why, and how.
3:10
Huh, did not notice the skull.
The Daredevil show actually has Frank adopt the skull from his xray which shows him shot in the head and when he was reborn without any of the thi gs that he cherished and kept him grounded. The red blood one was merely a tease for the audience.
The Punisher's skull symbol is the Most Feared symbol than the Batman's symbol.
4:02, I guess Frank has never heard of "scope eye".
Uh. That's actually not the origin of the Skull in the Cinematic Universe, just a little easter egg.
Frank didn't even notice that he had the skullblood on him.
The logo came from his X-ray of the gunshot to the head that he suffered.
He saw it on the front page of the newspaper after everyone assumed he died in an explosion, when he visited his family home.
Source: Literally watching now.
I like the 2004 origin the best. It didn't do it's rumored job at first but after he was the last one standing after his family's demise he found the t-shirt and later made it his icon.
He wasn't inspired by the blood, he was inspired by his X Ray
Zach Ward both
wrong
In the TV show
The military uses the Punishers skull.
I can rest easy now cause that's the most badass thing I've ever heard
8:09 Solid Snake anyone?
yeeaaaah
Solid Snake never lost an eye. More like Big Boss. :)
2:55. I thought Netflix version came from that X-ray of when he was shot
Punisher purgatory sounds like marvel tried to do Constantine
Nah they tried to do spawn.
Nope, Spawn.
I like the 'Nam origin. BTW, as a soldier I saw the Punisher Deaths-Head being used by US military way before the 2004 movie that inspired Seal Team 3. Maybe not on a unit level, but among individual soldiers it wasn't uncommon.
Yeah, I like the Vietnam one.
It's odd that the Punisher: Purgatory arc ever happened at all, considering he has been shown to be immune to suggestion and mind control, making it impossible for a demon to have convinced him to kill himself.
in daredevil season 2, i don't think he chooses the skull because of the blood on his chest in the prison. if it was that, the emblem would have been red
SPOILERS AHEAD
i think he chose this emblem because of the skull rentgen photo... the one they look at constantly the whole season. in the last episode he is in his house, and he reads a newspaper and on the front page it is this photo with the title "Frank Castle Dead". after that he immediately paint the skull.
he basically paint the thing they did to him, turning him into the punisher - the rentgen photo was of the bullet hole in his skull from the "incident" when they killed his family.
+Suncho I think it goes deeper than that. I think that when people saw that photo, they immediately thought about the punisher. It had become recognizable due to his actions and the fact that the "trial of the century" was still going on. When he looked at that picture in the papers during the season finale he realized that people feared that image because of who it was associated with. It was his symbol before he even put it on.
Ethan Barclay yeah, exactly. that's why i mentioned "the one they look at constantly the whole season".
but you put it better.
that's why the picture in the newspaper was actually this photo instead of an actual picture of the man they are talking about.
Funny, I was in a infantry platoon called the Punishers back in 2002. We even had the skull painted on our wall. Military units have been using it for decades.
Marvel just answered what Punisher thinks of people using his symbol. Punisher #13, he gets approached by a couple officers who geek out and show him a skull sticker on their squad car telling them they believe in him and what he does. He peels it off and shreds it up. He tells them they aren’t the same, that they took an oath to help people and he gave that up a long time ago, that if he catches them doing what he does, they’re next on his list.
for me i like the the second movie explanation were it was a shirt his son bought for him (i also dig the streaks in that particular punisher emblem). i kinda thought in dd sesson 2 it was based a bit off Castle's skull x-ray that shows the bullet wound he sustained. i also feel that if he incorporated the bullet wound it into his skull plate body armor it would have been a nice artistic touch. however i really need to go back and watch half of season two again as i was more focused on the gunpla i was building instead of the actual show. (the gunpla was the hg gundam gusion rebake if your wondering).
I am disappointed that The Punisher's skull logo has been adapted by the United States military; one of Frank Castle's only rules is that he never, under any circumstances, harms innocent civilians. He may cause collateral damage, but it is only to property and items; he never fires on, or even *accidentally* fires on, noncombatants. If the US military (or really any military in the world) could boast the same record, I could approve of them adapting the skull.
That said, the military will always be a tool of the government, and I'm not certain they can really be trusted to tell us who the "bad guys" are; so perhaps the army will always be too morally grey to represent Castle.
Jaywalking and downloading mp3 is a crime soo nobody is innocent except babies and kids
+ShatteredPsyche No one is without sin.
Take a look at college boy, over here!
even less morality than a sociopat with no remorse problems
He's also a COMIC BOOK CHARACTER. The shit the punisher does gets written for him. It's choreographed in the movies. It's written in the comics. You ever been to a warzone? Take a stroll through helmand province circa 2008. Let me know your opinions after that you fucking snowflake.
Nerdsync is my absolute favorite superhero RUclips! Binge watching keeps me entertained
Im surprised Chris Kyle didn't get in deep shit for defacing military property
Spec ops groups get leeway on that kind of thing (and other matters like beards) because of the elite training they have and missions they carry out; the use of the skull is part of both morale for US troops and psychological warfare against the insurgents.
But I will say this of Kyle's insistence that no other unit use the skull: I'm going into the Army, and if I'm ever in a unit that has the chance to wear the skull in the same way Cadillac Platoon did, in spite of all my respect for Kyle, I don't care what he said about the skull and who can use it, as it wasn't his skull to reserve for his unit. If I'm asking anyone, I'm asking Jerry Conway and that's it.
Love the NAM story of how Frank got his SKULL on his chest. Love that more and more comic references/symbols are making it into our daily lives. Have to say I sport a small Punisher Skull on my fire helmet. Frank Castle is one of my favorite comic character, second only to Captain America.
Dude, you went WAY over the line with this "American Sniper" crap. Don't compare the sacrifices of a real American hero to the fictional exploits a soulless psychopath...a man Hell-bent on brutally murdering people in a pointless war based upon nothing but his own personal hatred toward them. You owe Frank Castle an apology.
chris kyle was a murderous psychopath dude lol read his book
chris kyle was a murderous psychopath dude lol read his book
rick grimes Yaaaa....
+rick grimes Do you understand sarcasm?
+Richard Rowe you should watch the video again (maybe for the first time)
It's amazing how the skull has become such a powerful symbol.
I'm a muslim, and a Kuwaiti. My country, Kuwait, was invaded by the Iraqi Army, and they did many horrible war crimes at the time. My uncle is among the dead from that war by the Iraqi army. But unlike Kyle, the Sniper, I, as a Muslim, as a human being would not terrify people the way he and his band of barbaric did to these people, even after they did to me and my people. Because its just not right.
Those who died are human beings, and I know you did not glorify him, but you did not seem disgusted by his acts as well. He claimed he was going to this war as a crusade. Kyle, is a man who if he was a Muslim, and said Jihad instead of Crusade, and painted skulls in Christians doors, would be called a villain instead of a hero. He is perfect example of double standard. Please just think of what I said and try to see it from my perspective..
Again, I really love you guys. But moments like these in any media forms that don't condemn acts like these makes feel unwelcome as a muslim.
I understand your viewpoint, but here Scott was just showing how the symbolism of the Punisher has left the comics and influenced the real world, not supporting or condemning geopolitical actions. From what I saw he was trying to be as neutral as possible.
+Crick1952 I know and I did say I know he was just stating facts.
I ghuess I might overreactied. and I apologize to him and the crew. Its just I'm really frustraited how my fellow muslims are being treated and how in the media there is a double standerd. If I say for example Bin Laden is the product of the CIA, a misguided vigilante, like Magneto for example,
I would be labled, negativly, even thou I'm just stating facts. But if the media say Kyle is a hero, its fine. I love american media, comics, cartoons and films, but I feel so estranged when I feel the media have double standerd.
redvail
I definitely understand. It is incredibly unfair that the worst 0.06% of Muslims are used to set the standard view in the western world.
redvail thank you for putting yourself out there and sharing this.
One Word. Taqiyya.
The American Sniper connection really blew my mind, having seen the movie only days before watching this video.
i am vietnamese and i wear the punisher emblem. i like him because he kills street thugs. we don't need them.
The original and most widely referenced origin of the skull was introduced Punisher War Journal #1 by Carl Potts and Jim Lee, it was the blood stain that appeared on the kids' kite in the Castle family central park massacre. Its referenced several times throughout the various 80s and 90s Punisher runs, and is also the reason you often see a kite in drawings of his family picnic (including the art at the beginning of this video at the 0:34 mark from Punisher Year One by Eaglesham and Koblish).
I think it's use in military units is juvenile and bad. What are people that don't speak your language going to think when they see 'big foreign warriors' covered in skulls? There was a good British comedy sketch show that can pretty much be summed up as, "We're wearing a looot of skulls, are We the baddies?".
I think cops using it in any capacity beyond their own home and humor is indefensible. He is a vigilante at best. In Marvel comics and defining anyone not convicted as innocent, he's probably the most 'successful' serial killer in their history.
Nice Video. Thank You very much!
You are Right. Romita designed the skull Logo. We were told it was a Vietnam fetish. But Steven Grant (the most important writer of the early punisher Comics) was the first to explain the psychology behind the Symbol:
"It`s the bright skull! They allways aim for the White skull! ... Where I`m protected."
Winning the hearts and minds by adopting the tactics of a marvel terrorist. Yay.
he's not a terrorist but okay
+oathblade A Marvel terrorist? What are you talking about?
+Paladin Maybe not a "terrorist," but a man originally intended as a villain. So, what does that make US?
Disagree.
"terroristˈtɛrərɪst/nounnoun: terrorist; plural noun: terroristsa person who uses terrorism in the pursuit of political aims."
Castle doesn't have any real political aims he is simply a very ruthless vigilante.
Richard Rowe That means nothing.
Honestly that Punisher Purgatory seems pretty awesome. Kinda wanna give it a read. I wonder why it got so much hate. Sounds cool.
The netflix version has also a possibility of how the xray of his own skull with the bullet in it looking exactly like the punisher skull
I'm with you the Nam is the best reason and the fact that it made its way outside of comics is completely amazing
I personally like the one where his skull is a memento mori; a constant reminder of his own mortality.
I didn't realize that Rocket can be The Punisher.
I'm talking about Bradley Cooper as Chris Kyle from American Sniper.
If the military is inheriting his symbol Frank Castle will be honored
You know, I was just thinking about that today after watching season 2 of Daredevil. Thanks man.
You know, hearing about this angel and demon stuff being put into Frank's origin reminds me of Spawn. No seriously think about it. Granted some details are changed but more or less the effect is there.
1.A highly trained soldier is manipulated by an evil supernatural force into doing it's biding.
2.Is killed by treachery, is revived as an otherworldly force of immense power.
3.Is guided by a being who has knowledge of what this evil is and is trying to lead the hero down a better path while all the while is trying to get something from the hero.
4.The demon brands the hero with his mark as a sign he is the evil's slave. (The lines on Spawn's suit signify an M for Malbolgia)
5.The hero has suffered a great loss that effects him dramatically.(Spawn made the deal so that he could see his wife again)
6.The hero puts his grief into fight evil but unwittingly aides the evil due to him being the instrument that feeds him new soldiers into his army. (Billy Kincaid anyone?)
7.the hero uses guns.(Spawn need to use guns because his powers were limited but while using them drained him he could do just about anything. Although he kept going back and forth between using and not using guns despite the Spawn clock [the gauge of Spawn's remaining power] no longer being seen but was assured by the creater {Todd MacFarlane} it was still in play but by that point he was better than guns anyway)
8.And the hero is so dead inside he lashes out at others.
If anything it's like the writer read a good chunk of Spawn, saw the multiple problms with it, although he made problems himself, and tried to write a better tale from what MacFarlane made.
It's not a bad origin actually, except because he wrote it with The Punisher it sounds stupid but give it to someone else it works fine. It actually could work for a new Ghost Rider.
+MegatonDestron That's what they were going for a the time. Punisher Purgatory came out a little while after the Spawn film debuted. Punisher was in a slump and they figured they would try this angle and see hot it turned out. Thankfully people hated it.
Gezere9 And with that the ongoing theory that comic books, like just about anything going in Hollywood, will chase after a trend not realizing that it's what people want at the moment and not all people want more of the same all the time, is true.
Hooooooooly moly batman. I'd never realised the red skull in Daredevil Season 2, THATS INCREDIBLE!
So interesting how a symbol used in a comic can become so much more. Not to say that I dont think comics are symbolic of much more, but its cool to see other people see that way as well.
so does this mean we have real life punishers? awesome
Yup, Chris Kyle was the punisher. Or at least closest to it. Now i think the mantle is passed to Nick Irving
That's an intersting idea. Who knew that something as simple as the skull on the Punisher's shirt (something that nobody really thinks about) has so many backstorys and would go on to be used in real life wars, which would then go back into the comics for another (sorta) backstory? I would have assumed that it was just a shirt that him made to scare his bad guys. I mean, it's not the bat suit, spider suit, or ironman suit. It's a shirt, which just shows you that he's not a hero, but just normal guy.
The Vietnam Origin is largely based on Colonel Hathcock who set the kill count record before Chris Kyle. His record setting shot was against the snake (or was it snake eater?) that went through the scope. So the whole chris kyle thing is really a full circle
There's a guy in my town that calls himself "The Finisher". He is a drywaller... it's emblazoned across the windshield of his company truck in the same font as The Punisher.
Hey Nerdsync team, just wanted to say thanks for all the great work you guys do and let you know I am a big fan. Just wondering if you guys would ever talk about the mask because I have always been curious to know the full limitations of his powers. Again thanks so much!