The Punisher has become one of the most famous characters from Marvel Comics thanks to three movies and a Netflix series exploring his character. However, for people who only know Frank Castle from the movies and streaming series, there is a lot about the comic book character that they might not know.
The movies changed a lot of what made Punisher such an iconic comic book character, one who skirted the line between antihero and villain. He debuted in Amazing Spider-Man #129, trying to kill the Wall-Crawler after he thought the hero killed Norman Osborn in cold blood. Since then, he received his own series and for a time existed in his own alternate universe in the Punisher MAX series.
Frank Castle’s Origin Was Changed To A Fictional War
Punisher had his history changed in the Marvel Netflix series to keep it up to date with the times. However, the Marvel Comics Universe is set on a sliding timescale where the heroes keep their past intact and condense the years to keep them from aging. As a result, Frank Castle was originally a Vietnam veteran in the comics.
However, over the years, Marvel Comics also changed things up. In the 1990s, the Vietnam War was changed to the Gulf War, which changed his history drastically. That was also later changed, but now Marvel has created a fictional war for his past. This is the Siancong War. This was revealed in History of the Marvel Universe Vol. 2 #2 in 2019.
Punisher Won’t Kill Soldiers
The Punisher will kill any and all bad guys on the streets, and he even has no problem with collateral damage if he achieves his goal of taking bad people off the streets. However, there are a few exceptions for Castle. One of these is that he won’t kill police officers, at least until giving them the warning to stop. Even bigger is that he won’t kill American soldiers at all.
Even if the soldiers are trying to kill him, and even if they are doing horrifying criminal activities, Castle will not kill a soldier. In the great Punisher storyline Valley Forge, Valley Forge, Punisher had to deal with elite soldiers, and he took them all down but didn’t kill a single one of them.
Captain America Is His Hero
Punisher wanted to join Captain America’s side during the Civil War storyline in comics. Cap hates everything that Frank Castle stands for, but he gave him a chance to join up with his resistance. That all changed when two villains offered their services and Punisher killed them in cold blood.
Captain America beat up Punisher and when he demanded that Frank fight back, he said he would never fight back against Captain America. In the storyline Marvel vs. The Punisher, a virus was turning superheroes into cannibalistic monsters. When Cap was infected, he asked Punisher to kill him before he changed and that is when Punisher delivered the line, “you were always my hero.”
Punisher Once Became An Avenging Angel
There have been some Punisher storylines that pushed the boundaries and betrayed most of what Frank Castle is about. One of these came in 1998 when Punisher took his own life. By killing himself, Punisher damned himself to hell but something happened to change all that. He was resurrected by Heaven.
Punisher returned in Punisher Purgatory and he returned as an Avenging Angel. Punisher had a divine essence and was basically immortal with supernatural powers. He also received access to guns that could kill supernatural beings. This ended when Punisher refused to continue to work for Heaven, but he remained resurrected.
Punisher Once Became Franken-Castle
In the Dark Reign storyline, Norman Osborn created his own team of Dark Avengers, with villains taking on the roles of the classic heroes. One of these villains was Logan’s son Daken, who went on to become the new Wolverine. He was also sent to kill Frank, and he succeeded, chopping Punisher into pieces.
However, Punisher did not remain dead. Morbius gathered the pieces, had him reassembled and resurrected as a Frankenstein-styled monster called Franken-Castle. He joined the Legion of Monsters and worked with them until Elsa Bloodstone healed him and returned him to normal.
Punisher Once Became War Machine
There was also a time in the comics where Punisher gained access to the War Machine armor and became a new armored hero, making him deadlier than ever for villains. This happened when Hydra Supreme took control of Steve Rogers’ body and Hydra took over America.
Believing that this was still his hero, Captain America, Punisher worked with Hydra in his war on terror with some major firepower. When he realized he was being used, he accepted the War Machine armor from Nick Fury Jr. and set out to destroy what was left of Hydra. He refused to give it back until Jim Rhodes showed up and convinced him to return the armor to him.
Punisher Teamed Up Once With Eminem
In another very strange Punisher storyline, Marvel Comics tried to crossover with the music industry and had Frank Castle teaming up with rap star Eminem. Punisher showed up and executed Eminem’s bodyguards, which sent the rapper into hiding, where he found one of Punisher’s deadliest enemies, Barracuda.
Eminem then worked with Barracuda to take out Punisher before the rapper realized it was all a setup because Barracuda was hired to kill Eminem. Just seeing the skinny rapper fighting alongside Punisher and Barracuda was one of the craziest things that ever happened to Frank Castle in comics.
Punisher Killed His Closest Ally
Punisher had a friend early on that helped him in almost all his endeavors. This Punisher ally was Microchip and he even got a role in the movies and Netflix series. He had a happy ending in the Netflix series and was killed by Jigsaw in The Punisher movie. His fate in the comics was more tragic.
After years of helping Frank, Microchip realized that Frank was losing control and wanted to find a replacement. He appeared to have died at that time but returned years later. In Punisher: In the Blood, Frank Castle tried to have the Hood resurrect his family and Microchip ruined it to have his nephew resurrected. In anger, Castle sliced Micro’s throat, killing his old friend.
Punisher Is Saving One Bullet For Himself
The PunisherMAX series had Frank Castle operating outside the mainstream Marvel Universe in his war on villains. This series saw Frank Castle active as a vigilante for 30 years and had killed almost 2,000 people. However, he had an end sight in this series and it is something that could carry over to the main Punisher series as well.
When talking about the villains he killed, he was asked about his role as a murderer and what that meant in his vendetta. That is when Frank said that he was saving “one bullet” for himself and he would end his life when his war of crime came to a close.
Punisher’s Symbol Is About Sharing Death
The Punisher uses a specific symbol in his vendetta, the skull head that he wears on his shirts and had painted on his van. Over the years, Punisher’s symbol was used in comics by others as well as in the real world. Marvel dealt with this in the comics.
Punisher found police officers in the comics using his symbol and told them not to. He explained that police made an oath to uphold the law and help people. Punisher said he doesn’t do that his symbol represented death, telling them not to use it or he will come for them next.
