The Punisher (Francis G. "Frank" Castle, born Castiglione) is an antihero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Gerry Conway and artists John Romita Sr. and Ross Andru.
The character is a vigilante who employs violence and killing in his campaign against crime. Driven by the deaths of his wife and two children, who were killed by the mob for witnessing a murder in New York City's Central Park, the Punisher wages a one-man war on all criminals. Castle is a veteran U.S. Marine Corps Scout/Sniper in Force Recon. The stories initially place his military service in the Vietnam War, but this was much later updated to the Gulf War and then to the fictional Siancong War. Castle is skilled in hand-to-hand combat, guerrilla warfare, and marksmanship. He is known for the skull motif on his chest. The symbol has since become widely controversial after becoming appropriated by United States military personnel and law enforcement, as well as far-right organizations. The character has been analyzed as an expression of ambivalence in American culture regarding the legacy of the Vietnam War as well as controversies about the proper response to violent crime. While he typically fights and kills networks of organized crime, his archenemy is Jigsaw.
View the full Wikipedia page for The Punisher (MAX line)