The Punisher: A Philosophical Exploration Of The Anti-Hero Everyone Loves To Hate

Frank Castle took audiences by storm after his appearance in Daredevil Season 2. He blew up half of Hell’s Kitchen while taking out the trash, and even battled against The Man in the Mask himself. Needless to say, The Punisher’s impact in the Marvel Cinematic Universe did not go unnoticed. In fact, Jon Bernthal’s performance was so compelling, Netflix decided to fast track a Punisher standalone series.

What made Frank Castle so interesting in Netflix’s Daredevil was his antithetical nature to The Devil of Hell’s Kitchen. While both characters had the same goal in mind – to rid Hell’s Kitchen of criminals – they had very different ways of going about it. Daredevil, while a vigilante, operates under a strict moral code and is vehemently against killing. Castle, on the other hand, is practically a walking executioner.

But Castle’s modus operandi begs the question: Do the ends justify the means? The answer in Castle’s mind is clear: absolutely. But morality isn’t so easy to define, and can be even more difficult to execute (pun absolutely intended).

The Punisher does have his own set of guidelines and only targets criminals, taking an eye for an eye so to speak. He will absolutely cut down anyone who has taken a life, but lesser acts of villainy are met with an equally balanced punishment.

But one of the primary issues with Castle’s way of doing things is that he supersedes the law entirely. He acts as judge, jury and more often than not, executioner. Most would agree breaking basic laws to accomplish a greater good is acceptable – look at Daredevil and Batman – but getting on board with straight up murder, regardless of the crime committed, is another matter entirely.

So the question resurfaces: Do the ends justify the means? If Castle knows beyond a reasonable doubt a given criminal has murdered an innocent, is it morally wrong for him to take matters into his own hands? After all, Hell’s Kitchen’s legal system fails as often as it succeeds and many of the murderers aren’t even prosecuted.

It’s a difficult question to wrestle with. If Castle didn’t exist and didn’t wipe some of these criminals off the face of the earth, they’d still be on the street taking innocent lives and committing other violent crimes. It’s clear the results are beneficial, but what kind of effects does Castle’s actions have on the fabric of society?

The very presence of a vigilante who goes to such extremes would likely influence everyday citizens to take up their own mantle and follow in Castle’s footsteps. But few have Castle’s background: a former Marine with extensive combat experience and weapons training. This means the majority of the everyday-citizens-turned-anti-heroes would be utterly ill-equipped to do what The Punisher does. They’d be putting themselves in danger, and perhaps more importantly, they would be prone to making a mistake and taking out the wrong person. In short, Castle’s followers would be doing more harm than good.

But let’s assume for a moment we agree the ends do justify the means, and that Castle’s paradigm of an eye for an eye is an acceptable one. Does it matter what his motivations are? And moreover, does it matter how he feels about taking someone’s life?

Castle is almost equally motivated by the pain of loss and serving the public, though he likely leans more towards the former. He kills because his family was murdered, but he also sees the benefit of what he’s doing. Cleaning up the streets isn’t exactly the worst way he could be spending his time. But an interesting aspect of Castle’s psyche is that he actually enjoys killing.

“I’m smack-dab in the middle of my right goddamn mind, and any scumbag, any… any lowlife, any maggot piece of shit that I put down, I did it… because I liked it! Hell, I loved it!” Castle said in Daredevil.

So how does his heart factor into our assessment of whether Castle is “good” or “evil?” It could be argued intent is irrelevant, and that only actions matter, but when we factor this bit of information into the totality of Castle’s personal character, it does make him seem more like a psychopath and less like a force for good.

Ultimately, there really is a pretty solid argument for both sides of the Castle equation, and in the end your philosophical viewpoint on whether his ends justify the means has its own merit.

Regardless of where you stand in this debate, remember this: The Punisher standalone has already begun filming and if the rumors are true, we could be seeing Castle on Netflix as soon as 2018.