"It's not glee, it's pain relief": Daredevil: Born Again finale directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead discuss the Punisher

Daredevil: Born Again brought back one character from the original Netflix Marvel Universe — the Punisher/Frank Castle. In Born Again, we meet him for the first time in the fourth episode of the series, titled Sic Semper Systema. After that, Frank returns in the finale of Born Again, Straight to Hell. In this episode, Frank directly confronts the corrupt police officers who use his skull symbol.

However, one misconception about the Punisher that has haunted the character for decades, both in the comics and adaptations, is that he enjoys killing despite the best efforts of all creatives involved in writing him. Daredevil: Born Again's lead directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead are the latest creatives to try and answer the question that has followed the question the Punisher ever since his first comicbook appearance, in The Amazing Spider-Man #129.

The director duo, who directed Daredevil: Born Again episodes 1, 8, and 9, was interviewed by YouTuber Brandon Davis for his Phase Hero: A Film & TV Podcast. In the 22-minute, 48-second interview, the director duo began speaking about their idea for shooting the Punisher's action sequences in the episode. Benson said, about a conversation they had with actor Jon Bernthal, who plays the Punisher:

"In the conversations we had with Jon [Bernthal] about that character, he really illuminated for us what is the right way to portray that character fighting, it is to lean into the grotesque consequences of what he does. And if you don't then you're just romanticizing... If you don't you're kind of celebrating gun p**n. There's so many things you're doing wrong. You need to understand that this is a guy who comes like everyone else in the show from a place of extreme pain and that's why he does this violence. because he has extreme pain and he does think this is an act of justice."

Benson continued:

"But in the moments when you see him committing the kill itself, it was important to us to capture to like see the dopamine hit that Frank gets from that mmilliseconds of relief from his pain of his past and also show how absurdly grotesque it is what he's doing and the fact that Phil Silvera action director, and all of us collaborating were able to get that across on screen the difference between those two fights, it's just uh we're extremely proud of that."

Aaron Moorhead, the co-director of this Daredevil: Born Again episode, added:

"One might think that if you're not paying really close attention to what the Punisher does, you might think he enjoys killing. But it's not glee, it's pain relief, you know? It's like saying you enjoy Tylenol. It's not you enjoy it, it's that it removes the pain for him."

What do these comments by the Daredevil: Born Again directors mean?

The Netflix shows and Daredevil: Born Again capture the fact that Frank Castle is one of Marvel Comics' most tragic characters, who masks his vulnerability with aggression. Bernthal's performance portrays how this man hides his loss and sorrow with anger. He hears his dead family every time he is not out there unleashing violence upon all those he feels have gotten away with crime.

Frank Castle himself admits to this in the fourth episode of Daredevil: Born Again, his first appearance in this revival series. He tells Matt:

"Every time I stop moving I still hear my little boy. I see him. And I hear his voice. He says "get 'em, Daddy. Every last single one of 'em, get 'em." That's why I do what I do."

Based on what the directors told Davis and how Frank's arc played out in his two appearances in Daredevil: Born Again, it seems that the creatives currently working on the Punisher have got the character well.

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What do you think of Benson and Moorehead's comments? The first season of Daredevil: Born Again is available to stream on Disney+.

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