25 Things You Need to Know about The Punisher on Netflix

2. Jon Bernthal Says Punisher Is About Moral Issues And Not Guns

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Steve Lightfoot said that he agreed with the decision to postpone the release of The Punisher after the Las Vegas shootings. However, when Jon Bernthal was talking about the series, he said that he felt that The Punisher isn’t a show about assault exploitation at all.

Instead, Bernthal said that the show is instead a serious look at trauma and grief. According to Bernthal, “Frank is a guy who is in unbelievable pain, and there’s an unbelievable cost to the violence that he’s gone through in his life.”

It is an interesting outlook on the character and one that fits in well with things that Garth Ennis was trying to do with his run on the character for Marvel Comics. According to Bernthal, he didn’t want to create a figure the “lionizes” violence and said that would mean he failed if people saw that in his portrayal.

Instead, Bernthal said he wants people to walk away from The Punisher knowing that this man is not a hero but is a man torn apart by pain. He also promised that his character’s struggle is right out of the comics. The series even signed on veterans to play small roles in The Punisher to help bring a realness to the series.