Punisher

The Punisher is a fictional antihero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Gerry Conway and artist John Romita, Sr., with publisher Stan Lee providing the name. The Punisher made his first appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #129 (cover-dated Feb. 1974).

The Punisher is a vigilante who employs murder, kidnapping, extortion, coercion, threats of violence, and torture in his war on crime. Driven by the deaths of his wife and two children, who were killed by the mob during a shootout in New York City's Central Park, the Punisher wages a one-man war on the mob and all criminals in general by using all manner of conventional war weaponry. His family's killers were the first to be slain. A war veteran of the U.S. military, Frank Castle is a master of martial arts, stealth tactics, guerrilla warfare, and a wide variety of weapons.

The Punisher's brutal nature and willingness to kill made him a novel character in mainstream American comic books in 1974. By the late 1980s, he was part of a wave of psychologically troubled antiheroes and at the height of his popularity, was featured in three monthly publications, including The Punisher War Journal, The Punisher War Zone, and The Punisher Armory. Despite his violent actions and dark nature, the Punisher has enjoyed some mainstream success on television, making guest appearances on Spider-Man: The Animated Series and The Super Hero Squad Show, where the depiction of his violent behavior was toned down for family viewers. In feature films, Dolph Lundgren portrayed the Punisher in 1989, as did Thomas Jane in 2004, and Ray Stevenson in 2008. Jon Bernthal will portray the character in the second season of Marvel's Daredevil, set to premiere in 2016.

Punisher (Galactus)

The Punisher is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Fantastic Four #49 (April 1966), and was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist and co-plotter Jack Kirby.

Publication history

A robot created by the cosmic entity Galactus, the Punisher debuted in Fantastic Four #49 (April 1966), by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist and co-plotter Jack Kirby. The Punisher fought the Fantastic Four superhero team and returned in issue #74 (May 1968) to battle Galactus' former herald, the Silver Surfer. The robot was later reprogramed by the extraterrestrial Colonizers of Rigel to fight the heroes Iron Man and Jack of Hearts in Iron Man #110 and 112. Galactus retrieved the Punisher and uses it to defend his vessel from an attack by the Elders of the Universe and the cosmic entity the In-Betweener, who appeared to destroy the Punisher with a lethal blast, in Silver Surfer vol. 3, #17. The Punisher returned, however, to battle the Silver Surfer in issue #109. The supervillain the Wizard later found the Punisher adrift in space and reprogramed it to serve as part of the supervillain team the Frightful Four in Fantastic Four vol. 3, #29. Galactus used several dozen Punishers against the supervillain Thanos in Thanos #4-5 (2004).

The Punisher (2011 series)

The Punisher is a Marvel comic book series featuring the character Frank Castle, also known as the Punisher. This volume of Punisher continues the tradition of Matt Fraction's War Journal series and Rick Remender's previous Punisher series and places the character firmly in the ongoing Marvel Universe inhabited by superheroes such as the Avengers and Spider-Man.

Although the series' first issue was released at the time of the Fear Itself event, Rucka stated his intent to focus the series solely on the Punisher's exploits without having larger Marvel U events interfere with the flow of the series, although because the series takes place within the shared universe, it allows him to interact with the super heroes and villains that inhabit it.

Story

The series, although being a self-titled Punisher ongoing, does not have many internal monologues, nor does Castle speak often throughout the series. It's instead focused on the impact that the Punisher's actions have on those around him, and the repercussions those actions create for other characters involved in the story. In the first arc, Castle is committed to taking down a criminal organization known as "The Exchange," and is later joined by a former Marine whose husband was murdered on the couple's wedding day.