Daredevil: Born Again’s Punisher twist isn’t what it seems

While the Netflix era of Daredevil didn’t exactly skimp on the violence, Daredevil: Born Again hasn’t let its new home on Disney+ dilute the brutal nature of its source material. Despite only being three episodes into its nine-episode run, Born Again has already made the most of its TV-MA rating with the shocking death of Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson) during a blood-soaked fight scene that opened the first episode. The body count is only set to climb thanks to the much-hyped return of Frank Castle, a.k.a. the Punisher, and while Jon Bernthal is yet to officially appear, Born Again makes it look like the violent vigilante has already claimed his first victim. 

The third episode of the series, "The Hollow of His Hand", played out like more of a courtroom drama, where Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) made the bold decision to expose the identity of Kamar de los Reyes’ Hector Ayala as the White Tiger in order to win his trial. Although Murdock celebrated with a bottle of O’Melveny’s and Ayala returned to patrolling the streets as the White Tiger, the latter’s arc ended abruptly.

While the tragic passing of Reyes led to questions about what would happen to his character, Born Again pulled out another shocker when he was gunned down at the end of episode 3. If the early exit of the OG White Tiger wasn’t enough to deal with, fans were left reeling by the reveal that Hector’s killer was seemingly the Punisher.

Who killed the White Tiger?

Ayala was killed in cold blood by someone sporting a vest adorned with Castle’s signature white skull. Considering we don’t see the man behind the murder, it seems like an easy reveal that the Punisher will be framed for killing Ayala as part of a larger villainous scheme. It’s true that Punisher isn’t against killing costumed characters, and having shot Captain America in the head (twice), one of his most iconic comic book panels has him run a steamroller over Wolverine. The question is, would Punisher really consider Ayala as a villain? He was accused of killing a cop, and with Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin referring to Ayala’s innocent verdict as a gross miscarriage of justice, it’s certainly possible that the mayor recruited Punisher to do his dirty work. 

The series is loosely adapting the “Mayor Fisk” arc that played out in Daredevil #595-600, but by having it look like Punisher killed Ayala, it could fit Fisk’s bigger agenda that vigilantes should be outlawed. Behind-the-scenes photos have shown Castle going up against Fisk’s Anti-Vigilante Task Force, with NYPD Officer Cole North (Jeremy Earl) leading the pack with a Punisher’s skull emblazoned on their uniforms. With it assumed that Fisk has an army of dirty cops in his pocket, the reveal that one of these (possibly North) is behind Ayala’s death is a popular theory. North’s comic book counterpart has no love for vigilantes, and with particular disdain for Daredevil and the Punisher, him taking out White Tiger makes the most sense.

While it’s true that Punisher and Fisk have worked together in Daredevil season 2, that was only because Fisk wanted one of his rivals killed, and Castle wanted to get closer to the mystery of who killed his family. The scene of Ayala’s death is conveniently accompanied by a voiceover from Fisk, saying that White Tiger shouldn’t be allowed to roam the streets while a member of the NYPD lies in the morgue. It ends with him reiterating to BB Urich (Genneya Walton) that he will keep his campaign promise to end vigilantes in New York. By setting up Castle as his killer, it can also promote his anti-vigilante agenda by highlighting vigilante on vigilante violence.

Perhaps the biggest clue that it’s not a trigger-happy Castle responsible for Ayala’s murder is the fact that his skull symbol has already been adopted by corrupt cops in Born Again. Even during Ayala’s trial, we see one cop with the Punisher skull tattooed on his neck. 

The murky past of the Punisher's Skull

The Punisher’s skull being adopted for nefarious means mirrors some real-life controversy, like when the Proud Boys wore the symbol when storming the U.S. Capitol Building in 2021. Others have adopted it for pro-cop merch with the ‘Blue Lives Matter’ slogan. 2019’s Punisher #13 even included a storyline where Castle confronted a pair of police officers who’d adopted his logo and tore the skull sticker from their patrol car. It would be pretty on-brand for dirty cops to frame Castle for murder, especially after Punisher co-creator Gerry Conway spoke out about trying to reclaim the symbol.

Speaking to SYFY WIRE (via Uproxx) in 2019, Conway explained: “To me, it’s disturbing whenever I see authority figures embracing Punisher iconography because the Punisher represents a failure of the Justice system. He’s supposed to indict the collapse of social moral authority and the reality some people can’t depend on institutions like the police or the military to act in a just and capable way.”

The final hint that Castle is being framed comes from trailer footage that shows a battered Frank coming at Murdock (in his civilian attire) while wielding a hatchet. Picture the scene where a rattled Punisher has to go into hiding after he’s accused of murdering Ayala. Some might see him taking White Tiger off the streets as a heroic act, which in turn, could allow the Anti-Vigilante Task Force to officially adopt the symbol as their own. 

The comics and various live-action interpretations of the Punisher continue to remind us he’s not a ‘good’ person, but killing White Tiger seems like a line even he wouldn’t cross. As Daredevil: Born Again heads toward its second half, there are some serious questions that need some serious answers.