Having rewatched all of The Punisher, Frank Castle's story in the cast of Daredevil: Born Again. As such, while the show certainly has its own merits, Frank Castle's arc is made so you don't have to watch prior releases to understand where he's at in Daredevil: Born Again itself.

With that said, though, there's certainly a lot added to the character, his arc, and the nuances of Jon Bernthal's performance by watching the solo series that centered on the Punisher and his story, set between the events of the original Daredevil show and 2025's Daredevil: Born Again season 1. This is particularly true when looking at the Punisher and Daredevil's initial confrontation in Born Again, as Castle's stance on Bullseye being alive after the villain killed Foggy has a lot more layers than it could otherwise seem.

The Punisher's Story In Daredevil: Born Again Makes Even More Sense Looking Again At How He Dealt With All Of His Main Villains

Even without watching The Punisher or having any idea of Frank Castle's personal endeavors, his conversation with Daredevil in Daredevil: Born Again about Bullseye and Foggy's death makes it clear that he has very few qualms about doling out lethal doses of what he considers justice. However, the weight of his words is best communicated by The Punisher - or, rather, the fact that essentially every central villain in The Punisher show is killed by Castle before his series is done.

This creates a considerable kill list by the end of the series, as before the show is done, Castle has killed prior CIA Director William Rawlins - in a particularly brutal fight at the end of season 1 after being tortured - convinced veteran Lewis Wilson to detonate an explosive at lethal range, killed his former best friend Billy Russo, and killed corrupt "philanthropists" Anderson and Eliza Schultz via shooting Eliza and then blackmailing Anderson into using a gun's final bullet on himself.

The Punisher's season 2 finale debuted in January 2019 alongside the rest of the second season of the show.

Given this is combined with Castle taking down a wide range of unnamed characters, the numbers are relatively impressive, albeit exactly what you might expect from a series adapting The Punisher comics. This backdrop serves to not only reinforce just how imposing Frank Castle is as an antihero, but also helps explain exactly why he's so exasperated with Daredevil's no-kill rule when the pair meet again in Daredevil: Born Again, as - from Castle's perspective - his tried-and-tested method of killing his enemies has had far better results thus far than Murdock's, which "let" Foggy die.

The Punisher's Billy Russo Story Also Explains Frank Castle's Stance On Bullseye

Rewatching The Punisher also provides a reminder that Frank Castle had his own ongoing nemesis of sorts to deal with throughout the show, which looks like it could explain elements of his behavior in Daredevil: Born Again. Having been dear freinds and loyal brothers-in-arms who seemingly would have died for one another during their time in the military, Billy Russo is arguably Frank's most complicated enemy in The Punisher, if only because the story gives the impression that both Russo and Castle avoid killing the other at points where they could have due to the lingering embers of their friendship.

Indeed, at the end of season 1, Castle's climactic fight with Russo closes with the antihero deciding not to kill Billy despite clearly having gotten the upperhand - though he does drive Russo's face through a broken mirror instead. This kind of mercy from the Punisher does not go unpunished itself, as while Russo spends some time in hospital recovering from his wounds, he quickly goes on the warpath once more - but this time in an arguably even more intense way, since the damage done to his memory and mind in this fight leaves Billy even more unstable.

Frank eventually does kill Russo at the end of The Punisher season 2 in some of its final scenes - but not before plenty more chaos and bloodshed had broken out in the episodes between. As such, the Punisher taking the stance he does on Bullseye feels even more par for the course, as in his experience, leaving such bitter enemies alive only leads to more mayhem and pain - and he may well be trying to consciously impart the lesson he feels he learned from sparing Russo when talking with Daredevil in the first place.

Rewatching The Punisher Does Raise One Interesting Story Parallel

Interestingly, while Castle essentially calls Daredevil an idiot for not killing Bullseye when he had the chance, The Punisher does offer another parallel between this scenario and Frank Castle's own story that isn't his experience with Billy Russo. Instead, the other notable example of the Punisher letting an enemy go can be found in The Punisher season 2 finale, wherein Castle and long-term season 2 antagonist John Pilgrim have one last brutal battle before the grizzled antihero decides to spare Pilgrim, despite the character's many efforts to kill him during the course of this chapter of the show.

ittedly, this scenario is very different to the one with Billy Russo, as Pilgrim is not motivated by his own urge to kill or harm Frank, but rather hunting him down because the Schultzes had ordered him to do so while he was unable to really say no to them, given they were funding his ill wife Rebecca's treatment and then later holding his sons hostage. When Castle learns this, he realizes he would have likely done the same were he in Pilgrim's shoes at this point, and spares him.

This context is interesting in that it suggests there is more nuance to the Punisher's actions in Daredevil: Born Again than it might seem otherwise - since it seems less like Castle is saying Daredevil should never let anyone go free, and more that he specifically doesn't understand why Murdock would let specifically someone like Bullseye go free when he doesn't seem to show any remorse at all for his actions. With all this in mind, it should be fascinating to see how Castle's past weighs into his future decisions in the Punisher spinoff and Daredevil: Born Again season 2.