The Punisher: Why Frank’s Family Was Killed & Who Did It

In Marvel’s The Punisher series, Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal) cleans New York City’s streets of criminals by any means necessary following the murder of his family, later discovering who orchestrated their murder and why. While Castle first appeared in Daredevil season 2 avenging his wife’s and children’s deaths by killing the members of the criminal gangs involved in the amusement park shooting, Netflix Original The Punisher went into detail about how Castle’s history in the Marines special ops was tied to his family being killed. Despite being originally produced and distributed by Netflix, along with Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and The Defenders, The Punisher became available to stream on Disney+ on March 16, with the rest of MCU films and TV shows.

Daredevil portrayed Castle only as a violent vigilante, mostly in opposition to the way Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) handled criminals. The Punisher offered a different side of Castle, however. By introducing friends Curtis Hoyle (Jason R. Moore) and Billy Russo (Ben Barnes), The Punisher showed who and how Castle was before his family was killed. The show also revealed how his previous life, despite still being difficult because of what he had to do while in the service, was very different from the one he led as a vigilante.

Castle believed for a while that his wife, Maria (Kelli Barrett),  and children were just random victims caught in the middle of a deadly fight between New York City’s criminal factions. Because of this, he became the violent vigilante known as the Punisher to clean the city up and rid it of thugs like the ones who murdered his family. However, he later learned the killing was set up precisely to seem like a tragic accident but was really a targeted hit relating to his time in the Marine Corps. During his final tour in Afghanistan, Castle realized he was part of an illegal operation, which he opposed, soon leaving the service shortly thereafter. His superiors Colonel Ray Schoonover (Clancy Brown) and Operation Cerberus leader William Rawlins (Paul Schulze) believed Castle left to terminate and expose Operation Cerberus, so they organized the massacre of his family to derail and deter him. As Schoonover was also a powerful drug lord, he used his criminal “Blacksmith” persona to organize a drug deal at Central Park between the Dogs of Hell, the Kitchen Irish, Mexican Cartel, and drug dealer Dutton to use it as a cover for the killing.

Castle ended up learning the truth about the deaths of Maria and their children deaths only in The Punisher season 1, episode 2. When he tortured special agent Carson Wolf (C. Thomas Howell) to learn more about former NSA analyst David Lieberman (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), Castle discovered he was the main target of the organized hit, but ended up living to see his family killed right in front of him. In the end, his family’s murder was a “calculated risk” rather than an accidental tragedy. As Wolf explained, the ones who organized the hit on Frank and his family had figured that “if there were enough dead bodies, nobody would really care to look close enough at any given one of them.“

The Punisher season 1 revealed another enemy disguised as a friend in Billy Russo. Though Billy refused to kill Frank or his family, Billy had known about Rawlins and Ray Schoonover’s plan but did nothing to stop them or warn Frank, despite being considered family by Maria and the kids. While not technically involved in the murder plot, Billy’s betrayal of Frank was a particularly deep hurt, as Castle always saw Billy as his brother. Nevertheless, saving his own reputation ended up being more important for Billy, as he, too, was part of Operation Cerberus. It led Frank to believe Billy was responsible for his family’s deaths, even though he wasn’t the one who pulled the trigger or orchestrated the plot. This led The Punisher season 1 to really provide closure for Frank Castle as he unraveled his family’s deaths and managed to avenge them.

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