Awesome / The Punisher

Mainstream

Yes, he just shot Wolverine in the groin.

• At the beginning of Secret Wars (2015), with the Ultimate Universe crashing into Earth-616 and both realities seconds away from ceasing to exist, Frank casually strolls◊ into a bad guy bar and just gun down Wilson Fisk, Norman Osborn, and Bullseye, among others.
• During the Daredevil arc "The Devil, Inside and Out," fellow vigilante and occasional ally Matt Murdock AKA Daredevil is slowly breaking down while imprisoned at Ryker's Island. Frank is sitting a diner reading about Murdock's almost Punisher-like activities in jail. Deciding that Murdock needs a reminder of who he is, Frank gets up, heads outside, and casually breaks the neck of a pimp beating on one of his prostitutes, advises the girl to get clean and out of the life, and surrenders to a nearby police officer. Just to go help Daredevil.
  • Later, during a prison riot intended to kill Daredevil, Frank calmly waits reading a book in his unlocked cell for DD to come get him...though any thug that dares take a run at him ends up in a pile of bodies outside the cell. He subsequently uses the riot to break himself and Daredevil out...by pretending to hold "helpless" blind lawyer Matt Murdock hostage at gun point, simultaneously springing them and creating a little more doubt that Murdock is Daredevil (which he's on trial for).
• Frank jumping out of a plane without a parachute from 35,000 feet up.
  • That's nothing. Frank has jumped from a nuclear missile, with a rescued child.
• Frank's Big Damn Heroes moment in Shadowland event, saving several Marvel superheroes from an evil Daredevil
  Frank: Kung-Fu this. (Opens fire on Daredevil's ninjas with a machine gun)
• The "Confederacy of Dunces" arc (Garth Ennis's finale to his Marvel Knights run of the Punisher) is one long CMOA for Frank. Daredevil, Spider-Man, and Wolverine decide to team up to bring the Punisher to justice once and for all. Frank just outsmarts the trio at every turn with a series of Batman Gambits culminating in him unleashing The Incredible Hulk on them. After the Hulk incapacitates Daredevil and knocks out Spiderman and Wolverine, the Punisher goes to the man without fear and points out that this is how far he had to go not to kill them. When Daredevil counters with a What the Hell, Hero? at Frank unleashing the Hulk, Frank responds by saying that he found an unconscious Bruce Banner and fed him stew with C4 hidden inside it and then detonates it, knocking out the Hulk by forcing him to turn back into Bruce Banner to escape the pain of a huge stomachache. The Punisher then says one last Hannibal Lecture to Daredevil before leaving:
  Frank: "You want to stop me murdering criminals by taking me off the streets. That's stupid. Send me to prison and I'll just kill everyone I meet. There's only one way to stop me. You know that. If you haven't got it in you to do it, don't waste my time."^note Ironically enough though, as the "Welcome Back Frank" example of Daredevil's Sadistic Choice had already showed that yes, Daredevil can have it in him to do it. And even then, it's still an awesome moment for Frank because there was no firing pin in the gun.
  • His rematch against the resurrected Russian, who's been transformed into this bizarre cyborg mismash (he even grew breasts because of the hormone treatment needed for the resurrection to work), but is even stronger because of it. Frank wins because Spider-Man tries to intervene, only to get knocked unconscious. Frank uses him as a human shield, knowing that his powers makes him strong enough to survive, and manages to throw the Russian off the building.
  • Their third fight, where Frank finally kills the Russian by tying him to a nuclear bomb. The Russian is fine with dying that way.
• Issue #3 of Greg Rucka's 2011 mainstream series comic cements his reputation as THE BADASS NORMAL of the Marvel universe, with him facing off against the new, red-costumed Ax-Crazy incarnation of The Vulture, who gave even Spider-Man trouble when he faced him. After being snatched up by Vulture's talons and having a crazy prolonged mid-air battle, Frank finally ends him by ramming his combat knife into his chest and throat numerous times, resulting in both of them falling into the streets of New York with The Vulture dead and Frank's left eye damaged, some broken ribs and a leg. And you know what? He just keeps on going after a few months of healing, albeit with his left eye bandaged for the rest of the run.
  • Later in the same series, Frank goes undercover at an Auction of Evil. When, after allowing himself to be captured, he escapes and kills the overly-confident thug who was trying to beat some information out of him...
  Dying Thug: ...who...who are you?
  Frank: Die curious.
• One issue where Frank meets Ghost Rider includes, at one point, Frank resisting the Penance Stare. And when the Ghost Rider, a demon from Hell, asks how...
  Frank: I regret nothing.
• That time Frank took down Electro! With rubber bullets.
• The 2018 run has Frank taking on A- List supervillians and whose his first victim? The Mandarin himself.
• The second crossover with Batman, when Frank has The Joker cornered in an alley, and the clown just assumes he's going to get hauled back to Arkham as usual... only to find out The Punisher is not that kind of vigilante.
  Frank: *aims his gun* I got all the therapy you need right here, comedian!
  Joker: ...You're really going to do it.
  • The best part is the look on Jokers face, he actually stops smiling, realizing that he's up against someone who wants to just kill him outright, and seconds away from doing so.

Films

• The Punisher (2004)
• Punisher: War Zone

• #DIRTYLAUNDRY is one of these in both what happens in the movie and its existence in of itself. Just...watch it.

---