Daredevil: Born Again‘s two-episode premiere explained why Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) has abandoned his vigilante persona to focus exclusively on his legal career. His principles are quickly put to the test when he takes on the defense of Hector Ayala (Kamar de los Reyes), who stands accused of murdering a police officer. The circumstances are far from straightforward: Hector intervened when he witnessed a man being beaten, unaware that the assailants were undercover police officers. During the ensuing struggle, one officer tragically fell onto the subway tracks and was killed. Despite this being an accident, Hector is branded a cop killer.
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The surviving officer, Powell (Hamish Allan-Headley), fabricates a story claiming Hector attacked them unprovoked and denies the presence of anyone else at the scene — erasing Nicky Torres (Nick Jordan), the man Hector was protecting, from the narrative. By the end of Episode 2, Matt is forced to confront Powell and two other corrupt officers who attempt to eliminate Nicky, the only witness who could corroborate Hector’s account. The scene reveals a disturbing detail: Officer Powell sports a skull tattoo on his wrist, signaling his allegiance to the Punisher’s (Jon Bernthal) brutal brand of justice.
WARNING: Spoilers below for Daredevil: Born Again Season 1, Episodes 3
Episode 3 of Daredevil: Born Again further explores the Punisher’s unsettling influence within the NYPD. As Hector’s trial unfolds, the camera shows numerous officers in attendance bearing the same skull tattoo as Powell, revealing the existence of a wider faction within the police force that has embraced the Punisher’s ethos. These officers operate with impunity, dismissing due process in favor of their own version of justice. Their reach and intimidation tactics become painfully evident when they make another attempt on Nicky’s life before he can testify. Cherry (Clark Johnson), a retired police officer now working as Matt’s investigator, creates a diversion by pretending to escort the real witness, drawing away the corrupt officers while Nicky is safely brought to court. However, the strategy only partially succeeds.
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Despite making it to court physically unharmed, Nicky faces a courtroom filled with uniformed officers, many displaying the skull emblem of the Punisher-inspired death squad. Overwhelmed by fear, he recants his story on the stand, falsely testifying that he wasn’t present at the subway station during the incident. This devastating lie demolishes Matt’s primary defense strategy and demonstrates the terrifying influence these vigilante-inspired officers wield within the justice system. Their presence alone is enough to coerce a witness into perjury, highlighting how deeply the Punisher’s philosophy has corrupted these supposed guardians of the law.
To win the case and ensure Hector’s freedom, Matt takes the drastic measure of revealing to the jury that Hector is the White Tiger. By leveraging White Tiger’s long list of accomplishments as a vigilante, Matt proves Hector’s character and the jury finds him not guilty. The victory doesn’t last long though. The following night, when Hector puts on the White Tiger costume and goes out on the street to protect the people of New York, he’s shot point-blank in the head by a mysterious figure wearing a bulletproof vest with the Punisher’s logo painted on it.
The Punisher Is Not a Role Model for Police Officers
The irony of it all ofcourse is that Frank Castle despises crooked cops and would likely be disgusted by these officers who use his symbol while perverting justice. The Punisher’s methods, while compelling from a storytelling perspective, represent a fundamental breakdown of societal order that should never be glorified or emulated. Frank Castle is not a hero but a deeply damaged mass murderer who operates completely outside the boundaries of legal and moral constraint. Throughout his comic history, Castle himself has repeatedly acknowledged this truth about his nature and purpose.
In Punisher #13, writer Matthew Rosenberg and artist Szymon Kudranski directly addressed the real-world phenomenon of law enforcement adopting the Punisher’s skull symbol. In a powerful scene, Frank encounters police officers who express admiration for his methods, with one even showing off a Punisher skull sticker on his patrol car. Castle’s response is immediate and unequivocal:
“I’ll say this once. We’re not the same. You took an oath to uphold the law. You help people. I gave all that up a long time ago. You don’t do what I do. Nobody does.”
He then violently tears the skull emblem from the car, telling the officers, “You boys need a role model? His name is Captain America, and he’d be happy to have you.”
This moment reflects Frank’s understanding that his existence represents a failure of the justice system, not an aspiration. In numerous storylines — from Garth Ennis’s defining Punisher MAX run to more recent interpretations — Castle has explicitly rejected heroism. “I’m not a good man,” he states in Punisher: War Zone. In PunisherMAX #21, he admits, “There’s no end to the killing. There’s just the mission. The war.” These are not the words of someone who should inspire those tasked with protecting and serving communities.
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Gerry Conway, the character’s creator, has been equally vocal about the misappropriation of the Punisher symbol (via Uproxx): “To me, it’s disturbing whenever I see authority figures embracing Punisher iconography because the Punisher represents a failure of the Justice system. He’s supposed to indict the collapse of social moral authority and the reality some people can’t depend on institutions like the police or the military to act in a just and capable way.”
Conway further emphasizes the contradiction inherent in law enforcement’s adoption of the symbol: “The vigilante anti-hero is fundamentally a critique of the justice system, an example of social failure, so when cops put Punisher skulls on their cars or members of the military wear Punisher skull patches, they’re basically siding with an enemy of the system. They are embracing an outlaw mentality. Whether you think the Punisher is justified or not, whether you admire his code of ethics, he is an outlaw. He is a criminal. Police should not be embracing a criminal as their symbol.”
What makes Daredevil: Born Again‘s exploration of this theme particularly powerful is how it reveals the dangerous consequences of this phenomenon. The show’s Punisher-inspired officers have abandoned due process entirely, replacing it with intimidation, evidence tampering, witness coercion, and ultimately murder. This portrayal starkly illustrates what happens when law enforcement officers stop seeing themselves as public servants and start viewing themselves as arbiters of punishment: they become the very criminals they were meant to apprehend.
To make matters even worse, Frank Castle, for all his brutality, possesses a twisted but consistent moral code. These officers have adopted his methods while abandoning any sense of principle, becoming precisely the kind of corrupt authority figures the real Punisher would likely target. As Daredevil: Born Again continues to develop this storyline, it serves as a powerful reminder that symbols matter, and that the Punisher’s skull was never meant to be a badge of honor, especially for those already wearing an actual badge.
New episodes of Daredevil: Born Again premiere on Disney+ every Tuesday.
How do you feel about Daredevil: Born Again exploring certain cops’ admiration with the Punisher? How do you think the MCU’s Frank Castle will react to the news he has a fanclub? Join the discussion in the comments!
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Image Credit: Marvel Comics
