--- title: "The Punisher, Marvel’s Baddest Veteran, Is Back With Some Brand New Gear" date: "2017-07-21" modified: "2017-07-21" authors: - name: "James Clark" job_title: "Editor-in-Chief" link: "https://taskandpurpose.com/authors/james-clark/" url: "https://taskandpurpose.com/culture/punisher-marvels-baddest-veteran-back-brand-new-gear/" categories: - "Culture" - "Entertainment" --- # The Punisher, Marvel’s Baddest Veteran, Is Back With Some Brand New Gear ![]() A new promo trailer for forthcoming Netflix super hero mash-up *The Defenders* just dropped, and while Marvel icon Stan Lee delivers a pretty inspiring monologue as each of the series’ principal characters — Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist — get a moment in the spotlight, the real standout star has just two seconds of screen time. I’m talking about The Punisher, the legendary anti-hero currently portrayed by Jon Bernthal. And although Bernthal first appeared in the second season of *Daredevil*, this new teaser marks the first time Frank Castle shows up with his iconic leering white skull body armor — with a pair of slugs embedded in the chest plate — to deliver a single line: “Looks like I got here just in time.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYNZ9CZ6U6o Based on the July 20 trailer, it’s unclear if Castle, a former Force Reconnaissance Marine turned gun-toting murder-machine after his family was killed, will have a cameo in *The Defenders*, [but it seems likely](). What is known, however, is that The Punisher will get his own show on Netflix, slated to air sometime this year. Related: No, Cops Shouldn’t Be Rocking The Punisher Skull » As one of the few veterans in the Marvel Universe whose military service is still crucial to his identity — yeah, yeah, I know, Captain America, Deadpool, and Wolverine, [among others](), were also in the military — Castle’s time in uniform is more than just an addendum to his backstory, or an easy way to explain his proclivity for firearms. It’s a defining feature of who he is, and that, combined with his all-or-nothing approach to dealing with bad guys has made him a sort of cult comic book icon in the military community. “He takes with him a military code for accountability and responsibility and he is very much an objective oriented person,” Gerry Conway, one of The Punisher’s original creators, told Task & Purpose in a March 2016 interview. “There’s not a lot of room for nuance when you’re in a firefight. … He in that sense has a certain appeal.” So if you’re as stoked as we are to see Frank Castle dish out punishment — not justice — you’re in luck. Like the man said: He got here just in time. **WATCH NEXT:** ## Author James Clark is the editor-in-chief of Task & Purpose. He is a former Marine and a veteran of the War in Afghanistan. ### Author social links [Twitter]() [LinkedIn]()