The Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe
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The Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe is a 1995 one-shot comic book written by Garth Ennis and illustrated by Dougie Braithewaite, which depicts a What If... story where Frank Castle kills every superhero and supervillain in the Marvel Universe.
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[edit] Synopsis
This tale takes place in an alternate universe. In this universe, Frank Castle became an officer in the NYPD SWAT team after leaving the U.S. Marine Corps. Rather than falling victim to a gangland slaying, Castle's wife and children are instead killed when caught in the middle of a battle between the Avengers, the X-Men, and a group of Brood in Central Park. Castle arrives just in time to find his family dead, and Daredevil berating Cyclops and Captain America for their carelessness. As Castle grieves, none of the heroes are willing to admit their fault in the deaths, until finally Cyclops attempts a half-hearted apology. Enraged, Castle begins opening fire on the assembled heroes, killing several. He is then attacked and wounded by Wolverine, and only survives due to the intervention of Colossus.
After recovering from his injuries, Castle is put on trial for murder. His attorney is Matt Murdock, who recognizes Castle as the man who rescued him from bullies when they were both boys (the two characters did not know each other as children in the normal Marvel universe). Despite Murdock's defense, Castle is sentenced. On his way to prison, he is rescued, and Castle finds himself at the mansion of a rich but hideously disfigured old man named Kesselring. Kesselring introduces Castle to his associates, other disfigured and brain-damaged individuals, who reveal that they too were maimed in the crossfire of superhero/supervillain battles. They provide Castle with all the resources he will need if he will destroy every superhuman on earth. Thirsting for revenge, Castle agrees, and becomes the Punisher.
Over the next several years, the Punisher kills hundreds of individuals, until finally only Daredevil is left. By now weary of all the killings, Castle reports to his benefactors and tells them that he never expects to hear from them again once his assignment is complete. Kesselring tells him that the Punisher's crusade will never be complete, as a new generation of heroes will inevitably rise, and must be halted. Punisher then guns down Kesselring, and tells his colleagues that their need for vengeance has made them bitter and pathetic, leaving with the threat of killing them all if any of them try to contact him. Still, however, he goes to complete his assignment by killing Daredevil.
After a battle, Frank is wounded after falling off a roof. Daredevil tells Frank that he doesn't need to live through his pain, and begs for him to let it go. Not listening, Frank stabs Daredevil through the chest, killing him. Before he dies, Daredevil removes his mask and Frank is shocked to see the face of his friend Matt Murdock. Realizing the truth of Daredevil's words - the individuals he killed were still human beings despite their masks and powers - the Punisher makes one final kill: himself.
[edit] Victims of the Punisher
- Cyclops - shot in the head in Central Park with a Beretta Model 92FS pistol.
- Shadowcat/Jubilee - While the costume looks similar to one worn by Shadowcat, the judge at Castle's trial identifies her as Jubilee).
- Hawkeye - shot in Central Park (other Avengers were apparently killed at this point, but Hawkeye was the only one seen killed).
- Spider-Man and Venom - stunned with barbed tasers in the sewers, and then killed with a Colt M-4 carbine fitted with an M203 grenade launcher. The tasers stunned the Venom symbiote long enough to leave Eddie Brock vulnerable.
- Hulk - shot with a Browning Hi-Power pistol after reverting to Bruce Banner, thanks to a tracking device planted on him.
- Kingpin - after Punisher's assistant Microchip disabled the Kingpin's security system, the Punisher blasted his way through the Kingin's building, killing all in his path (including a henchman who may have been Bullseye). Upon reaching Fisk, the crime lord threw the Punisher against the wall and snapped his M-16 rifle in half with his bare hands. Punisher then opened fire with two Desert Eagle pistols. The Kingpin's powerful frame took several bullets, but a shot under the chin to the head finally killed him before he could kill the Punisher. The Punisher was arrested by the NYPD after storming Kingpin's building and found the Punisher pinned under Kingpin's corpse. After getting out of jail the Punisher then looted Kingpin's vast arsenal of high-tech equipment.
- Doctor Doom - injured after a magnetic mine exploded in his face and disables his armor and Doombots, and then was beaten to death with an iron hammer. The Punisher then looted Doom's vast arsenal of high-tech equipment.
- Mutants - killed when the Punisher tricked them into meeting on the moon in an air-filled dome, ostensibly for their final battle. As soon as the two groups realized that they had been tricked, a nuclear warhead exploded, destroying the dome and killing all in it. The two rival teams had at least these members, and likely others:
- Magneto's Team
- Xavier's Team
- Professor X
- Storm
- Iceman
- Phoenix (Jean Grey)
- Colossus
- Gambit
- Rogue
- Strong Guy
- Puck
- Sasquatch
- Cable
- Beast
- Thunderbird
- Morph
- Cannonball
- Psylocke
- Wolverine - stabbed in the chest with one of his own claws by the Punisher and was electrocuted after being thrown into a high voltage fusebox with 50,000 volts. The voltage was intense enough to burn all his flesh down to his skeleton.
- Avengers - disintegrated when the Punisher sabotaged their teleporter. Among those killed were Iron Man, Thor, Vision, Giant-Man, and the Wasp.
- Mister Fantastic - somehow killed by the Punisher, his remains were found in a dumpster.
- The Thing, Invisible Woman, The Human Torch, Black Panther, Nick Fury, Ghost Rider, and the Green Goblin - all confirmed as killed, but it was not revealed how. As well, every supervillain in the Vault perished when the Punisher flooded it.
- Captain America - killed after besting the Punisher in hand-to-hand combat, Captain America made the mistake of trying to talk to reason with him, saying that he was a disgrace as a soldier. The Punisher retorted that he was having a My Lai kind of day, and told Captain America that, as a World War II veteran, he knew nothing of what things were like in Vietnam. As Captain America turned to leave, the Punisher remarked that in Vietnam he learned to use the terrain to his advantage, pulling out a GLOCK 17 pistol he had hidden previously and shooting Captain America in the back of the head.
- Daredevil - stabbed in the chest with a combat knife by the Punisher.
[edit] Reaction
The Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe polarizes many comics fans. Some dismiss the story as implausible, as many characters seem uncharacteristically stupid (Doctor Doom, Captain America and Professor X) or weak (Wolverine, Spider-Man), and would not die under the circumstances depicted. Captain America and Cyclops are often cited as being out of character in the opening scene, wherein they show no compassion or remorse over the accidental deaths of the Castle family. Many also claim that this is writer Ennis' well-known dislike for "traditional" superheroes. The fact that the Punisher uses "cheap" methods to eliminate powerful heroes (such as the Fantastic Four, who he realistically could not defeat with conventional weaponry) is written off as lazy writing, although it can be argued that it is in the Punisher's character to use such underhanded methods against foes he would stand no chance of defeating otherwise. In an interview Ennis said that most of his original work had been re-written by editors at Marvel. But the Punisher doesn't kill all the superheros and villains with guns, the Punisher knew it was going to take much more than just bullets: After killing Doctor Doom the Punisher uses his hi-tech weapons (although we only see him make use of a single WMD to destroy most of the mutants, but that doesn't mean he didn't, in fact the Punisher would have to use such hi-tech weapons to kill such people as The Avengers, The Fantastic Four and others). It is also pointed out that we never see how the Punisher deals with such powerful foes as S.H.I.E.L.D., Doctor Strange, Scarlet Witch and the Silver Surfer. Braithwaite's artwork is also criticized by many, even those who otherwise enjoy the story.
The story itself is not beyond the realm of possibility. It would be illogical to think that innocent people don't get hurt, disfigured or even killed when characters like the Hulk, the X-Men or the Avengers battle in the streets of populated cities. When such things do happen they can do little if nothing about it. And some do show no compassion or remorse over the accidental deaths of innocent people.
Other fans enjoy the story, claiming that it proves that no hero is sacred and that under the right circumstances any character can be killed. Still others consider the story tongue-in-cheek, and that it is a clever satire of the excessively violent and morbid comic book atmosphere of the 1990s. Others see it as payback for the way the Punisher has been written in other titles, where he was uncharacteristically written as stupid or weak.
