[En Sabah Nerd]

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Originally Posted by scarecrow

How old are you? He's very popular to people of a certain age because he was created during a time where characters didn't have the same "edge" that he did. The angry vigilante thing really hasn't gone out of style for some people. He's also really popular among members of the armed forces. I can see the appeal of a character who kills for the "right" reasons.

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Originally Posted by lordbest

31. It could be an age thing, popular culture is completely over-saturated with bland, white, hyper-masculine, male killers, I've grown up with so many in film, tv, comics,books etc. I just do not care about them.

I don't think it's an age thing at all. Characters like Punisher hold a generally mass appeal simply because they stand out amidst the background of mostly squeaky clean heroes. Squeaky clean guys can still be great characters and fun to read but the darker guys like Punisher get to deliver a more permanent, exciting style of vigilantism and they're usually given a proper backstory so the reader may not agree with their methods but you're rooting for them to win anyway.

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Originally Posted by magma169

The Punisher is a classic character that has endured the test of time, one of the top 3 anti-heroes out there (along with Bats and Wolverine).

I would not say Batman is an anti-hero, at least not consistently enough. Most of his best stuff will lean him into anti-hero territory but then a lot of stuff also presents him as reserved. I think part of it also comes down to his no killing rule. While traditionally anti-heroes don't have to hold a firm stance regarding killing in comics it is easier to observe that most characters we consider anti-heroes have been purposefully lethal at least once. Guys like Punisher, Wolverine, Moon Knight, and even Deadpool hold more definite positions as anti-heroes and it's evident by the other heroes usually having a degree of dislike or distrust towards them because they have body counts.