Marvel Comics Kills Off The Punisher Character: No Conservatives in that Woke Universe! By Brian Simpson
In the 1960s, when I was growing up, there was no internet, or video games. There was TV, and comics. TV at the time was a golden age compared to the toxic waste on TV today; The Rifleman, Greenacres, Bonanza, Gunsmoke, and numerous Westerns, celebrated the West. That changed by the late 1960s, early 1970s, with TV then moving to things like soap opera Number 96, with the first full frontal nude, which was testing the boundaries and made the news. At that time, I turned off TV in disgust, as a young Christian conservative, and devoted my time to science, mainly biology and Bible studies and prayer. Until 1970 I had read Marvel comics, in the days of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Fantastic stories from Lee, and legendary artwork from Kirby, on the Fantastic Four, and Thor. There was Spider-Man too, with Steve Ditto, I think. The stories are adventures that stretched the imagination. But I think around the time of Fantastic Four # 103, Kirby left Marvel. About the same time, stories started to get more political, with a Leftist base. I remember as a 13-year-old saying to myself as I left the newsagent in disgust after looking through the month’s offerings, not buying my last comic, something has gone wrong here; we have been betrayed. I was saddened by what had been lost, but with hindsight, this was never part of my people’s culture to begin with. As I see it, the whole concept of a superhero was pagan and anti-Christian. It was toxic then, and is now, the whole genre.
Fast forward to modern times, and popular culture has moved so far Left, that there is a danger of it falling of the edge of the planet! This has been seen in Marvel films since Avengers: Endgame, with the pushing of the feminist agenda, then the broader woke ideology. But it has been nowhere near as bad as the open transgenderism that other films for kids have pushed, by other companies.
Thus, the cancellation of the only Right-wing anti-hero, The Punisher. For Marvel, the cancellation of The Punisher, should come as no surprise. In fact, I was surprised that this character, vigilante Frank Castles was still shooting on. Castles became a vigilante after his family was killed in a gangland incident, and the authorities did nothing. He decided to hunt down bad guys himself, and deliver “justice.” And Castles became popular with the Right. Hence, now The Punisher ends, in the wokest of fashions. His once dead wife comes back from the dead, just to financially destroy him, and divorce him, and proclaim feminism. Then Castles kills himself. Gee Marvel, couldn’t you have had a bit more imagination and had Frank decide to “transition,” becoming Frankie, and with a new non-binary gender identity, taking up a teaching position on gender studies at the local university, the Empire State University?
Of course, from a Christian perspective, the entire concept of The Punisher was flawed from the beginning as the failure of the justice system does not mean one can then play judge, jury and executioner oneself. But a comic involving political struggle may not have got the readers, looking for cheap thrills. Even so, the story does show the depth of woke and Leftism in popular culture.
https://summit.news/2023/06/09/it-cannot-be-tolerated/
“A year ago progressive news outlets were calling the idea of the culture war a “right-wing conspiracy theory” that had no basis in reality. Yet, the injection of far-left politics into entertainment media had already started years previous, with noticeable propaganda efforts in movies, streaming television, children's shows and books, even commercial advertising was replete with progressive ideological imagery by 2016 onward.
The goal is relatively obvious – To erase competing ideals and viewpoints while saturating the market with only one political vision; a woke vision. It's called social engineering, and anyone who claims this is not happening in the US today is gaslighting.
Strangely, the American comic book industry has become a major battleground in the culture war, with heroic symbols being increasingly erased or hijacked as vehicles for woke talking points. A vast array of comic book characters are now race-swapped, converted to LGBT or they have had their histories rewritten to make them more “acceptable for modern audiences.” At the same time, they promote everything from BLM, to climate change propaganda, to gender identity politics and anti-gun messaging.
Why would leftists target something as frivolous as comic book heroes? Because pop-culture is first and foremost a playground where children grow up, and by rewriting heroes as social justice crusaders and communists they hope to indoctrinate the next generation.
However, one hero figure in particular is seen as so egregious and so triggering that leftists want him memory-holed altogether – The Punisher.
The Punisher character (Frank Castle), originally created by writer Gerry Conway in 1974 with artists Ross Andru and John Romita, was a product of a chaotic era; a reaction to the rise of war, stagflation, instability and exploding crime rates in the US. The Punisher's story is a tragedy of a returning military veteran whose family is killed during what seems to be a gangland hit. With federal agencies doing little to arrest the perpetrators, Castle takes matters into his own hands and begins systematically assassinating the criminals.
The concept of citizen crime stopping and vigilantism was becoming popular in the cultural zeitgeist in the 70s, with many people living in metropolitan areas dealing with increasing criminal violence and unreliable government protection. City governments in places like New York were actively restricting gun rights for law abiding people, which only made things easier for criminals.
The same exact conditions are returning to the US today, and debate is boiling once again on vigilantes (just look at the media fury over Kyle Rittenhouse or Daniel Penny). The mainstream left is adamantly opposed to any form of civilian intervention (unless it's Antifa or BLM), while also being adamantly opposed to any intervention by police. In other words, they want to let criminals run wild and then threaten to prosecute anyone who dares to do anything about it.
The Punisher as an icon has been highly popular among conservatives, military veterans and law enforcement officers in recent years. The trademark skull symbol can be found everywhere, with patches, gear and flags sporting the image, often as a representation of citizens taking matters into their own hands. The symbol was also seen at the January 6th protests.
This has made leftists at Marvel Comics livid. They first attempted to make fundamental changes to the character, including a redesign of his popular skull symbol, as well as taking away his guns and giving him swords in 2021. Instead of fighting against criminal organizations, Frank Castle joins with one, violating his fundamental code of ethics.
This month, though, Marvel officially declared the Punisher persona non grata, eliminating the character as readers know him. Did he go out in a blaze of glory? No, in typical woke fashion Frank Castle is captured by progressive heroes, chained up and forced to go through a struggle session in which he is admonished as a murderer and a terrorist. Marvel even brings the Punisher's wife back from the dead, only so that she can divorce him and take his money and property, and then inform him that his lifelong crusade against the criminal underworld was all for nothing.
The character then “dies” from apparent suicide but the story is left open to his return, just not as the gun-toting hero people know and love.
Marvel writers, including original Punisher creator Gerry Conway, specifically cite the popularity of the character among conservatives as the reason for his virtual elimination. As Newsweek noted, the Punisher was “problematic” for Marvel because conservatives liked him too much. He represents the every-man: He has no superpowers, he's not a billionaire like Batman, but he still fights evil with an immovable will and a lot of guns.
The co-option and erasure of popular heroes (or anti-heroes) is representative of the disturbing politicization of our times. Much like the Cultural Revolution in China, leftist movements in America are systematically tearing down all opposing beliefs from our cultural catalog, and this includes any positive representations of vigilantism. They openly admit why they are doing it; conservatives aren't allowed to be the good guys. They aren't allowed to have heroes. Meaning, if the Punisher was a leftist icon, Marvel would have no problem with him.
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