The following contains spoilers from Punisher (2022).
Frank Castle is by no means a good man. He tries his best to do good, but he is constantly misguided, which always leads him to show brutal violence. To be fair, this is done to killers and wrongdoers. But that doesn’t make the Punisher a good person, and even Frank has often said so himself.
This makes her teased relationship with Captain America all the more complex. In the Marvel Original Series Civil war Comic book event by Mark Millar and Steve McNiven, Frank spoke of admiration and kinship with Captain America. The World War II veteran was Frank’s inspiration and guide. However, that’s largely been overlooked, as the two characters’ widely divergent senses of morality tended to avoid them being put in each other’s orbit…until now.
Frank Castle’s position in Punisher (2022) #2 by Jason Aaron, Jesus Saiz and Paul Azaceta catches up with Frank after killing an entire room of objectively horrible people. They were brought to him by The Hand, and the group informed him that the people met his demands for permanent justice. His blade sharpened by the blood of the guilty, the Punisher tells his past to the reader.
In the past, Frank Castle is in position once again after inflicting his brand of violent justice on those he believes deserve it. However, rather than being rewarded by seeing his newly resurrected wife, Frank is a kid in a therapist’s office, scolded for attacking a bully. His shirt features a clear Captain America motif, which once again contrasts with his actions.
Frank knows he did a bad thing as a child. He also doesn’t think he did the right thing by killing off the bad guys in the first issue. What’s most important, however, is that Frank Castle knows full well if Captain America approves of his methods – he doesn’t. In the original version Civil war comically, Frank Castle crossed paths with Cap’s resistance and saved Spider-Man from the Thunderbolts. When a pair of villains approached the resistance to join and bring down Iron Man, Frank killed them. Captain America immediately attacked Frank in anger, even though Punisher never lifted a finger on the WWII legend.
Spider-Man suggests that the reason Frank went to Vietnam in the first place was because Captain America inspired him. this led to the eventual creation of the Punisher. Although Cap denies any similarity, this characterization of Frank Castle makes his methods a sad reflection of Cap’s. Although initially a Spider-Man guess, Frank wearing a Captain America shirt in this issue, as well as a patriotic helmet on the cover of the next issue, seems to confirm that Frank is who he is because of Cap.
The last series of Punisher revealed many sad truths about Frank and his position in the Marvel world. Out of time, desperate and almost unable to stop killing, Frank Castle is as tragic a hero as any, especially since he aims for such a high standard.
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