Fresh off the heels of yet another mass shooting, considered to be the deadliest in modern U.S. history, which resulted in 59 deaths and hundreds injured, it’s perfectly understandable that emotions are running high right now. They should be. Many mass shootings have taken place over the last year alone, with at least one occurring each day. Every day, the lives of innocent people are ended and destroyed by gun violence.
So why are we still glorifying it?
This month on Netflix, perhaps as soon as this Friday, there's going to be a 13 episode series based on Marvel Comics’ The Punisher, a vigilante character who uses assault weapons to take justice into his own hands, going so far as to massacre people if he feels justified. He's been around for years, plastered onto shirts, merchandise, into movies, and making his mark on American culture. He has an undeniable impact on people, and in almost every poster or comic book cover or appearance he has in any sort of media, he's wielding an assault rifle. This is an obvious and iconic part of the character. It's his entire gig; what separates him from other vigilantes like Daredevil or Batman.
But it's also undeniably harmful. People pined for him to get his own series. They praised his portrayal in Season 2 as sympathetic, badass, etc, even though we were first introduced to him when he massacred a bar of Irishmen. Giving a character such depth, asking people to sympathize with him when his entire gimmick is that he shoots entire groups of people does nothing but glorify gun use. Why do we need to keep watching angry white people and giving them a platform to connect with people instead of other characters, other voices that haven't been heard? Why don't we give a thirteen episode show to characters like Kamala Khan, Sam Wilson, or Riri Williams, who, instead of ruthlessly plowing people down with weapons intended to kill entire groups of people, represent an inspirational fight against forces of evil?
To Netflix and Marvel, I simply ask that you cancel the Punisher series, and to be very very careful about how you portray the character in the future, if at all. Understand that your stories have impact on people. Marvel comics is where I turned for characters I could relate to and felt inspired by, and so many other people do too. A man wielding an assault rifle should not be considered to be either of those.
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