Marvel's and even his iconic skull logo - have undergone a massive overhaul...and unfortunately, the result is not the Frank Castle fans know.
Punisher was created in 1974 as an antagonist for Spider-Man; the character was manipulated by the Jackal into attacking Peter Parker, but upon realizing he had been deceived, the Punisher let Spider-Man go. In The Amazing Spider-Man series, a select few yet very important details about the character were revealed: his skull logo, his past as a Marine, his desire to kill his targets rather than spare them, and his uncompromising black-and-white view of the world. Eventually, Marvel would reveal the reason behind Castle's violent tendencies: his wife and children were killed in a mob hit gone wrong, sending Frank Castle into a deep depression which gave way to rage. Realizing that the system that failed him would fail others, Castle became the Punisher to inflict vengeance on other criminals.
A major aspect of Castle's backstory was changed in the 2022 Punisher reboot, however, and it remains a major sticking point with fans. It turns out that the ancient criminal organization the Hand was observing Punisher from a young age (via the ancient and mysterious High Priestess) and had singled him out to be their champion in the future - their "High Slayer." For his part, Frank Castle was a violent child from the start, drawing disturbing pictures, getting into trouble at school, and making far more enemies than friends.
The reboot heavily hints that Frank Castle was always destined to become the Punisher, long before he lost his family. This doesn't track with the most enduring aspect of the character's backstory: a relatively ordinary man who experienced a massive trauma in life and irrevocably changed. Add in the numerous supernatural elements in the reboot (the Punisher serving a monster, the Hand using special potions to revive his wife from the dead and using the Greek god Ares as a villain rather than his usual human enemies) and the character doesn't look, sound or feel like Frank Castle at all.
Frank Castle now works for a criminal organization, something that would never happen, even if offered the chance to resurrect his family. Frank appears to be the "chosen one" of the Hand; oddly enough, this makes the character less special (it takes away his relative Everyman status, along with the Joker-esque "one bad day" motif). From wearing someone else's symbol to taking orders from a criminal, this Punisher is not the fierce Frank Castle who was - and while the Hand's defeat at the hands of the Punisher seems all but inevitable, he cannot undo the unfortunate changes make to his backstory.
