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.

Punisher (disambiguation)

The Punisher is a Marvel comic book character.

Punisher or The Punisher may also refer to:

Marvel Comics "The Punisher" franchise

Punisher video games

The Marvel Comics' anti-hero Punisher has made several appearances on numerous electronic and gaming platforms.

1990 (console)

A Punisher game for the Nintendo Entertainment System was produced by LJN Toys in 1990. The player controls the Punisher character from an over-the-shoulder perspective through various New York City locations, shooting thugs and battling supervillains as bosses (the final boss was the Kingpin).

The game was also ported to the Game Boy in 1991. It plays in a manner similar to Operation Wolf and features a cameo appearance by Spider-Man. The Kingpin was the final boss in all versions except for Game Boy, which used Jigsaw.

1990 (computer)

Also in 1990, MicroProse produced a Punisher computer game for DOS and Amiga. It features three different modes of gameplay: driving the Punisher's "Battle Van", walking through NYC's streets and select buildings, and scuba diving.

1993

A coin-operated arcade game titled The Punisher was released in 1993 by Capcom. The game is a side-scrolling beat-'em-up in the vein of Capcom's Final Fight, where the player can control the Punisher or Nick Fury on their quest to kill The Kingpin, and would engage on various foes in a hand-to-hand combat, occasionally drawing firearms in lieu of melee combat. A single home version was released for the Mega Drive/Sega Genesis in 1994.

Punisher (1995 series)

Punisher (1995 series) is the third eponymous comic book series starring the fictional Marvel Comics vigilante the Punisher. The series begins with Frank Castle on death row for the murder of Nick Fury, with the mafia staging Castle's electrocution in order to recruit him into their rankings, which he eventually accepts.

Throughout the series, he is later betrayed by the mob boss, and survived numerous attempts on his life. He is also recruited by SHIELD to provide protection to a pastor who preaches equality for both humans and mutants alike. The series concludes with Castle, now suffering from amnesia, living in an abandoned Catholic Church. He does remember bits of his violent life, and seems to believe he has a mission.

Publication history

This series followed The Punisher (1985 limited series) and The Punisher (1987 ongoing series), just without the "The" of the previous two. It is the fourth ongoing series to feature the Punisher after the 1987 series, The Punisher War Journal (1988–1995), and The Punisher War Zone (1992–1995). The series was published by the Marvel Comics imprint Marvel Edge and ran for 18 issues from November 1995 to April 1997, all written by John Ostrander.