January 18, 2021, 11:13 am
The star of the Netflix series adaptation of Marvel’s “The Punisher” has spoken out against Trump supporters wearing the skull logo of the franchise, calling those who stormed the Capitol “misguided, lost, and afraid.”
Advertisement
Hide
He did so in a quote tweet from a fan saying that the rioters don’t understand what the franchise is about along with some gorgeous fan art of its iconic anti-hero, Frank Castle.
Advertisement
Hide
“I’m with you. Beautiful work,” wrote actor Jon Bernthal. “These people are misguided, lost, and afraid. They have nothing to do with what Frank stands for or is about. Big love. J.”
The long-toothed, glaring skull logo from the franchise has been increasingly used by far-right individuals in recent years, to the dismay of many involved in the comic’s various adaptations.
The co-creator of the series, Gerry Conway, has also objected to its use by police, explaining that Frank Castle is a violent vigilante who represents the systemic failure of law enforcement to produce justice.
Advertisement
Hide
“It’s disturbing whenever I see authority figures embracing Punisher iconography because the Punisher represents a failure of the justice system,” he said in early 2019. “He’s supposed to indict the collapse of social moral authority, and the reality is some people can’t depend on institutions like the police or the military to act in a just and capable way.”
In this context, the insurrectionists’ use of the logo makes more sense, but that doesn’t make it less misguided. People working on the franchise have long tried to get the point across that Frank Castle is not a man to emulate. The Punisher’s first appearance in a Marvel comic, in fact, was in an attempt to kill Spider-Man.
Advertisement
Hide
The appearance of the franchise logo on the outfits of multiple Capitol rioters, including in alarming photos of men carrying zip tie handcuffs, has renewed calls for Marvel to do something about its use among the far-right.
“The seditionists that invaded the Capitol today wore a Punisher logo,” wrote Twitter user ComicTropes. “I say @marvel needs to either aggressively enforce their trademark so it isn’t printed everywhere or abandon the Punisher completely. You can’t allow your characters to be used by terrorists.”
Marvel has not yet responded to this controversy and has declined to do so in the past. Disney, however, has a history of aggressively protecting its trademarked materials, and this might be the one time that people would support them in doing so.
*First Published: January 18, 2021, 11:13 am
0 Comments