History ComicBook / ThePunisher

'''The''' SociopathicHero. '''The''' DarkerAndEdgier Hero. ''''The'''' VigilanteMan.

The Scourge of the Underworld, Little Hunter, Mr. [=UnSmiley=], The Skull Faced Guy, The Franchise/MarvelUniverse's Grim AntiHero.

'''The''' DarkerAndEdgier Hero.

The TropeCodifier and possibly the most enduring DarkerAndEdgier BadassNormal AntiHero ever to appear in a comic, the Punisher is one of Creator/{{Marvel|Comics}}'s most reliable [[CashCowFranchise cash cows]], a VigilanteMan and JudgeJuryAndExecutioner whose only passion is finding and executing criminals in the most brutal (and sometimes [[CruelAndUnusualDeath imaginative]]) ways possible. The Punisher first appeared in ''Amazing Spider-Man'' #129 (February, 1974), created by writer Creator/GerryConway, along with artists John Romita, Sr. and Ross Andru.

* TheStoic: Frank is either calm, detached, and homicidal, or (much more rarely) [[TranquilFury pissed off and homicidal]]. That's it. To quote [[VideoGame/ThePunisher the 2005 videogame]] (written by Creator/GarthEnnis):

* RevengeIsNotJustice: This is a typical topic of conversation for any person who tries to talk Frank Castle into stopping his vigilante war. As they see it, murdering criminals for the sake of getting even for the death of his family is wrong (depending on the universe, the people who committed the murders were the very first criminals Frank killed, so he already got his pound of flesh, too). [[DramaticallyMissingThePoint What they never seem to understand]] is that, DependingOnTheWriter, Frank is either so hardcore a BloodKnight that if he was not killing crooks he would probably be a worse SpreeKiller so at least he?s doing something constructive with his mayhem, he is a DeathSeeker hoping to go out guns blazing, or he has already adopted the mentality that every scumbag he kills saves many other people in the long term, so there is no way in hell he is going to stop or going to let anybody stop him as long as he is still breathing.

* SerialKillerKiller: Frank's more of a Mass-Murderer Murderer, but he still fits.

* SupermanStaysOutOfGotham:

The Scourge of the Underworld, Little Hunter, Mr. [=UnSmiley=], The Skull Faced Guy, The Marvel Universe's Grim AntiHero.

* PreMortemOneLiner: Gives one in ''Secret Wars 2015'' [[spoiler: when he crashes Kingpin's End of the World Party and kills Kingpin, Bullseye, Green Goblin, Lizard, Absorbing Man, Scorpion and Sandman]].
--> '''Frank''': Gentlemen, they say when you die you can't take it with you... which begs the question, what am I supposed to to with all of these bullets.''

* LighterAndSofter: After getting his own series, Punisher became a good deal more sympathetic, to the point that he rarely used real bullets in crossovers. This reached it's highpoint in a crossover with ''ComicBook/PowerPack'' (Frank does have a soft spot for kids, but that usually extends to just avoiding them so they won't get caught in the crossfire and protecting them from bad guys, not teaming up with them).

When his film rights reverted back to Marvel in the early 2010s, many wondered if The Punisher ever officially join the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse. Outside of a reference in ''Film/AllHailTheKing'', there weren't any immediate plans to reintroduce the character. In June 2015, it was announced that The Punisher would make his MCU debut during the second season of ''Series/{{Daredevil|2015}}'', played by Creator/JonBernthal. After months of speculation following the release of ''Daredevil'', it was later confirmed that The Punisher would later spinoff into his own series.

** Later, ComicBook/{{Morbius}} the Living Vampire resurrected Frank as a FrankensteinsMonster version of himself after a fight with Daken left Frank shredded into pieces.

* NotSoDifferent: Many villains will cry and scream about how Punisher is just as bad as them. While Punisher acknowledges that this is probably true, he just doesnt ''care'' about true justice anymore, only vengeance.

--->'''Punisher''': [[NotSoDifferent You know... you and that giggling idiot deserve each other]].

* BlackLikeMe: One arc has Frank go to a BackAlleyDoctor after Jigsaw slashes up Frank's face. The doc's treatment heals the scars but also turns Frank black, allowing him to fight alongside ComicBook/{{Luke Cage|HeroForHire}} for a while.

* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: Kevin the bartender, who despises Martin Soap. As mentioned above under {{Jerkass}}, he always gives Soap a hard time whenever the two interact at Lucky's Bar. Kevin shows himself to be firly this when Soap attempts to commit suicide in the bathroom, and Kevin stops him... because he just doesn't want to clean up the mess and [[KickTheDog tells Soap to go and do it at home instead.]] In response, Soap snaps, grows a spine, and puts Kevin back in his place while telling him off for how he always made him feel a thousand times worse before leaving Kevin crying in the restroom.

** Kevin the bartender, who is always giving Det. Soap a hard time.

* ButtMonkey: Detective Soap, the biggest joke of NYPD, is the prime example. For that matter, if you're a police officer and The Punisher's case is assigned to you, it's a sure sign that you're in danger of becoming this. Charlie Schitti would be another great example of ButtMonkey, if not for the fact that just still being alive and not crippled or disfigured at the end is remarkably lucky for a (former) mobster. Of course.

** Detective Soaps entire life, to the point where it eventually stops being funny and just becomes depressing. Fortunately, his life gets better once he decides to walk away from his job as a police officer. His new occupation? Porn star. Turns out he had unusually large genitals, but was unaware that they were bigger than average.

* MutuallyUnequalRelationship: Soap thinks he's VitriolicBestBuds with Kevin the bartender, Kevin thinks he's a whiny, annoying little shit (and while the audience sees his point, he also does things like not tell an oblivious Soap he's hitting on a man or a drag queen or his own mother). Things come to a head when Soap attempts to commit suicide in the bathroom, and Kenny is disgusted with him... because of the inconvenience it'll be to clean out the bathroom afterwards. Soap snaps, grows a spine, puts Kevin back in his place and goes out to confront the Punisher at last. [[spoiler:It only lasts long enough for Frank to tell him to go away, which Soap does, finally finding a more fulfilling career as a porn star.]]

'''The'''DarkerAndEdgier Hero.

* RealityEnsues:
** Frank easily kills normal human villains. Put him against a genuine superhuman, though, and he's in trouble. Both ComicBook/TheMightyThor and ComicBook/IncredibleHulk have curbstomped him at least once apiece.
** ''ComicBook/DarkReign'' shows what would actually happen both if Frank got on the attention list of a major super-villain AND what would happen if you pitted a guy whose "power" is "I know how to shoot people" against somebody whose power is [[HealingFactor "shooting me doesn't work"]]. Frank gets put down fatally, and would have been KilledOffForReal if PopularityPower hadn't kicked in and seen him revived by [[ComicBook/{{Morbius}} Morbius The Living Vampire]].
** ''Comicbook/TheSuperiorFoesOfSpiderMan'' viciously subverts the idea of [[NinetiesAntiHero Punisher-style anti-heroes]] somehow being better at fighting supervillains simply because they're willing to "do what it takes". In the finale, [[CurbStompBattle Shocker launches the Punisher into the horizon in a single panel]]. Frank might be TheDreaded, but he's still a normal man who found himself up against a guy who could blow apart buildings with just a squeeze of his fist.
** In one ''Marvel Knights'' storyline, the Punisher took on Ulik the Rock Troll. It didn't go very well for him, because even Frank's most powerful weapons could do little more than annoy Ulik. When you're fighting someone who regularly goes toe-to-toe with Comicbook/TheMightyThor, you've got to do a lot better than some fancy guns. The Punisher only survives the battle due to Daredevil bringing Ulik the magical artefact he had been seeking.
** A crossover with the ComicBook/{{Runaways}} has this on both sides. For most of the story, the team, despite possessing superpowers, are still just kids, so they simply attempt to flee from Frank due to being terrified by his [[TheDreaded reputation]]. But once he has them cornered, Molly takes him down with a single punch, because at the end of the day he is still only human and she has SuperStrength.
** In ''Welcome Back, Frank'', three "vigilantes" decided to join forces to continue their war on "evil" and get the Punisher to lead them. However, the three all have their own views on who is evil. Elite wants to KillThePoor, Mr. Payback wants to [[EatTheRich Kill The Rich]], and the Holy wants to KillThemAll. These leads to Elite and Payback arguing and threatening with each other since both are exactly what the other one hates, leaving the Holy as the AxCrazy OnlySaneMan of the group. Another issue is that by themselves, they don't know how to develop a crimefighting group and spend most of the time arguing and getting nothing done. On top of that, they just think the Punisher is just going to join their group and lead it, ignoring the possibility [[spoiler: that he wants nothing to do with them and that he would much rather want them dead]].
** In ''What If... The Punisher Had Killed Spider-Man?'', Frank manages to kill ComicBook/SpiderMan via an explosive trap. This results in every single superhero in New York coming after him, and none of them are holding back this time. Frank is comically outmatched by even the likes of ''ComicBook/{{Hellcat}}'', and only manages to avoid being captured/killed on the spot is by hiding and running away if he’s spotted.

'''''[[TropeCodifier The]]''''' {{Darker and Edgier}} BadassNormal Anti Hero.

Possibly the most enduring DarkerAndEdgier AntiHero ever to appear in a comic, the Punisher is one of Creator/{{Marvel|Comics}}'s most reliable [[CashCowFranchise cash cows]], a VigilanteMan and JudgeJuryAndExecutioner whose only passion is finding and executing criminals in the most brutal (and sometimes [[CruelAndUnusualDeath imaginative]]) ways possible. The Punisher first appeared in ''Amazing Spider-Man'' #129 (February, 1974), created by writer Creator/GerryConway, along with artists John Romita, Sr. and Ross Andru.

The Scourge of the Underworld, Little Hunter, Mr. UnSmiley, The Skull Faced Guy, The Marvel Universe's Grim Anti Hero.

'''''The''''' {{Darker and Edgier}} Badass Normal Anti Hero.

For a while the Punisher appeared mostly in titles starring ComicBook/SpiderMan (see ''ComicBook/TheCloneSaga''). He received his first origin story in ''Marvel Preview'' #2 (April, 1975), again written by Conway. He received another solo story in ''Marvel Super Action'' #1 (January, 1976), a one-shot publication. After that Punisher returned to making appearances in titles featuring Spider-Man, ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, and ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}. In the [[TheEighties 1980s]], Steven Grant and Mike Zeck campaigned for a Punisher mini-series. But Marvel editors were reportedly reluctant. The series eventually did materialize: ''[[ComicBook/ThePunisherCircleOfBlood Punisher]]'' [[ComicBook/ThePunisherCircleOfBlood vol. 1]] (January-May, 1986). It sold well and consequently Punisher gained his first ongoing series in 1987. The Punisher has since starred in various magazines over the years, even gaining four multi-part events that ran through various titles in the nineties, said events being ''[[ComicBooksThePunisherSuicideRun Suicide Run]]'', ''Countdown'', and ''Over the Edge''.

'''''The''''' {{DarkerandEdgier}} Badass Normal Anti Hero.