In present day, the military and paramilitary have seemingly adopted the punisher’s skull symbol as part of their uniform as some kind of identifier. But what does that mean, where does it stand for? Can Law enforcement really carry this symbol?

Francis  “frank” castle Castiglione aka The punisher, is quite the super hero/super villain twist, and after his debut in that #129 edition of the spider man comic in 1974, he has made quite the impression with more than just the comics community.

The punisher is an Italian-American vigilante comic book character, who loses his family by getting involuntarily intertwined with the mob.

He was a war veteran and also a marine corps scout sniper.  With him being highly skilled in guerrilla warfare, hand to hand combat and marksmanship, he had all it took to be the ultimate vigilante, and only needed something to push him over that edge of no return.

The loss of his family is the incident that sets his dark side in motion.

In present day, the military and paramilitary have seemingly adopted the punisher’s skull symbol as part of their uniform as some kind of identifier.

This skull symbol is worn in form of patches that are attached to said uniforms, and though it would make some sense for the military and co to identify with the punisher’s entity because of his military background and the drive to get the bad guys to pay, a lot of people feel strongly against it.

A large part of the public and some of the creators of the comic character feel like the military indentifying with the punisher tells quite the negative tale on the part of the military.

While the masses believe that by identifying with the punisher, both the military and paramilitary are publicly declaring their willingness to take the laws into their own hands to ensure their idea of justice, some creators of the comic character believe that the character signifies the failure of law enforcement to provide justice for everyday people, hence the punisher taking the law into his own hands.

This controversial topic has being one of quite the back and forth, and it has become obvious that this topic would not find a middle ground anytime soon.

These creators believe that by attaching the punisher’s symbol to their uniforms and gear, they are simply agreeing with what the punisher stood for, which kind of defeats the purpose of the existence of law enforcement.

The color scheme used in these punisher patches include, black, grey, dark green, blue, red etc.

Apart from the military, popular clothing and general brands including the hello kitty brand have gotten into the creation of the punisher related merchandise and patches that have been well received by the public.