"Daredevil" fans were ecstatic when actor Jon Bernthal was announced to join the cast for season two as the antihero Frank Castle/The Punisher. Bernthal is best known to fans as Shane from AMC's hugely successful "The Walking Dead."
"I know how important this character is to you guys and I know how important this show is to you guys,"Bernthal told fans at New York Comic Con in October. "I look at this as a huge honor, a huge responsibility, and I give you my absolute word I'm going to give everything that I have," he said.
With a brutal storyline examining the corrupt justice system and Bernthal's incredible work as a grim reaper out for revenge after losing his family, The Punisher is the most compelling villain to come out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (encompassing both the films and the Netflix series) yet.
Warning! There are spoilers up to season 2, episode eight "Guilty as Sin" ahead!
The Punisher's battle against Daredevil exhibits the two sides of justice.
Matt Murdock/Daredevil wasn't exactly a pacifist in the first season, but we know he always opposed killing his opponents, including nemesis, Wilson Fisk. The key to Matt's storyline in season two is refusing to killing his enemies, even when his friends are the ones getting hurt.
Castle thinks of this as a "half-measure" and aligns Matt's beliefs with the same type of injustice that didn't prosecute his family's killers. He wants to kill criminals, not imprison them. We hear him tell Daredevil, "I think you're a half measure, I think you're a man that can't finish the job. I think that you're a coward."
Here we see the two sides of justice: if it's too soft, it only emboldens criminals who aren't afraid of the consequences of getting caught. If it's too harsh, it becomes oppressive and gives cops and vigilantes like Daredevil the unearned right to choose who lives and who dies.
Largely due to Bernthal's incredible acting, viewers empathize with Punisher's grief and frustrations for the loss of his family while also being reminded he's a cold-blooded criminal.
Castle doesn't want to imprison the people who killed his family. He wants them dead. In the trailer, Sergeant Mahoney explains to Daredevil that a "new player" has been tracking gangs to their bases and destroying them "with knowledge and hardwire to take out half the city." He warns Matt that "Hell's Kitchen is about to explode."
Matt resolves to stop Castle, concerned that soon innocent people will get caught up in his "war on crime" in Hell's Kitchen. Although they both want an end to organized crime, their methods are polar opposites. As Punisher summarizes, "You hit 'em and they get back up. I hit 'em and they stay down."
The limits of the legal system are a key theme in Netflix's Marvel adaptations.
Much of the story in Netflix's other recent Marvel adaptation,"Jessica Jones," revolves around trying to get a legal case prosecuted. As we saw in Jessica's critically acclaimed series, the disappointments of the legal system are numerous: unreliable witnesses, dismissive and uninterested law officials, corrupt lawyers, etc.
Similarly, season one of "Daredevil" is mostly about Matt trying to find concrete evidence of Wilson Fisk's misdeeds. Despite having his hands in all manner of crimes, weapon sales, forced prostitution, drugs, Fisk was careful to never leave a paper trail and paid off dozens of judges and police officers. In both series, the heroes have key scenes where they wonder if it would be better to simply kill their greatest enemies.
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