History Characters / ThePunisherMAXThePunisher

* DropTheHammer: During a vicious battle with the deranged hitman Bullseye, Frank is briefly left without a gun and forced to improvise.

* RatedMForManly: The weapons and [[Creator/QuentinTarantino Tarantino]][[{{Gorn}} -esque violence]] are the hallmark of his comic. Castle is essentially a OneManArmy who obtains his weaponry and resources from the same criminals he kills and/or tortures before dispatching them, and he frequently embarks on adventures where hundreds, dozens of criminals, terrorists, and/or war soldiers are annihilated. He's ''badassery personified''.

* RatedMForManly: The weapons and [[{{Gorn}} Tarantino-esque violence]] are the hallmark of his comic. Castle is essentially a OneManArmy who obtains his weaponry and resources from the same criminals he kills and/or tortures before dispatching them, and he frequently embarks on adventures where hundreds, dozens of criminals, terrorists, and/or war soldiers are annihilated. He's ''badassery personified''.

* SerialKillerKiller: It's more or less been implied via WordOfGod that Frank is essentially a serial killer who happens to go after other serial killers. At the beginning of the series he's currently over 2000.

* SociopathicHero: He's a blood-hungry lunatic who only manages to be sympathetic by virtue of his foes being far worse.

* DeathSeeker: His character shows shades of this from time to time, most notably in the sequel series written by Jason Aaron where [[spoilerthe last thing he ever told his wife was that he wanted a divorce]].

* AdaptationalVillainy: Despite being ALighterShadeOfBlack, this version of Frank is definitely more morally questionable than the mainstream version. While his war on crime is still half-RoaringRampageOfRevenge over his family's death and half-BloodKnight tendencies, unlike the canon Punisher he has considerably less interest in doing it for the sake of justice. If nothing else, this series probably showcases why it's so important he has as many "friends" as he does in the superhero community that help [[MoralityPet rein him in]] along with ComicBookTime, and that's not even getting into the fact that ''this'' Frank Castle either [[spoiler:made a DealWithTheDevil for a "war without end" at the cost of his family, or is ''literally out of his mind''.]]

* AdaptationalVillainy: Despite being ALighterShadeOfBlack, this version of Frank is definitely more morally questionable than the mainstream version. While his war on crime is still half-RoaringRampageOfRevenge over his family's death and half-BloodKnight tendencies, unlike the canon Punisher he has zero interest in doing it for the sake of justice. If nothing else, this series probably showcases why it's so important he has as many "friends" as he does in the superhero community that help [[MoralityPet rein him in]] along with ComicBookTime, and that's not even getting into the fact that ''this'' Frank Castle either [[spoiler:made a DealWithTheDevil for a "war without end" at the cost of his family, or is ''literally out of his mind''.]]

* ComicBookFantasyCasting: In the first arc, he is drawn to resemble a beefed up Creator/ClintEastwood. Unfortunately later artist abandoned this design aesthetic.

* DeathSeeker: His character shows shades of this from time to time. Most notably in the sequel series written by Jason Aaron.

* DentedIron: As the series progresses, we begin to see the toll that his 36-year war on crime has had on both his body and his state of mind. He goes through an increasingly ruthless [[RoguesGallery rogues gallery]] worth of foes including Barracuda, the Mennonite, Bullseye, Elektra, and finally the Kingpin. Getting more and more irrevocably battered after dispatching each one, [[spoiler:with the last one culminating in a long drawn out, excruciating MutualKill.]]

* DoomMagnet: Lets just keep this short by saying that ''very'' '''''bad things''''' commonly happen to people that Frank cares about. This even gets lampshaded at one point. Where Frank notes that [[spoiler:Yorkie]] was killed for no other reason than the fact that he was associated with him.
* TheDreaded: Especially among criminals. The smart crooks know that running from the Punisher is a smarter choice than fighting him. This is what saves his life in ''Punisher MAX'' when he's bedridden and helpless in the prison hospital, recovering from the injuries he sustained during his fight with Bullseye. Corrupt guards allow two rival prison gangs to enter the prison hospital at night, with the door to Castle's room unlocked. Yet, despite Castle's seeming helplessness, the inmates still fear him too much to actually dare enter his room and walk away instead.

* FaceOfAThug: Ironically enough. Despite making a living by killing criminals, one cant help but overlook the fact that he himself has the face of a villain.

* InvulnerableKnuckles: Averted. In ''Long Cold Dark'', he wakes up in a hospital after blacking out after [[spoiler:Barracuda annouced his attention to torture his illegitimate baby daughter in front of him.]] He was able to piece together what happened based on his injuries, which included broken knuckles.

* IWasQuiteALooker: Although he is by no means ugly in his old age, he was noticeably more handsome and rugged in his youth.

* LivingLegend: Being a Vietnam vet who spent years as the [[TheDreaded scourge of the underworld]]. It only makes sense that he would become this.

* NotWearingTights: Unlike his mainstream counterpart, Frank is never once seen wearing his iconic black and white tights. Instead he opts for a more practical leather outfit.

** In ''The Long Cold Dark'', Castle's vengeful nemesis Barracuda targets Frank by [[spoiler:kidnapping the daughter Frank unknowingly had with Kathryn O'Brien]]. When Frank finds out, he is '''''pissed''''', to say the least, and at one point he [[spoiler:spends an hour running electricity from a car battery through 'Cuda's genitals in retribution and then empties a whole assault rifle magazine into Barracuda's head just for good measure]].

* PaperThinDisguise: In a one shot story, Frank's disguise consists of him wearing a flimsy mustache held together with spirit gum and not much else. Naturally, his disguise isn't fooling anyone, and he is immediately recognized by the guard at the front gate. Frank had to kill the guard quickly before he could blow his cover. However, he appears to be aware of how poor his disguise is and has planned ahead.

* PermaStubble: Later artist such as Goran Parlov, draws Frank with one of these.

* PlayAlongPrisoner: More often than not, whenever he finds himself taken prisoner. It's only because he ''allowed'' himself to be taken in. Usually as part of whatever [[ThePlan plan he's got cooked up.]]

* PreMortemOneLiner: At one point when he's about to execute a street thug who was aiming his [[GangstaStyle gun sideways]], Frank tells the thug this:"''They put the sights on top for a reason''."

* SoleSurvivor: Either through [[ShoutOut divine]] [[Film/PulpFiction intervention]] or having the devil's luck, he has somehow been the lone survivor of two [[NearDeathExperience life threatening incidents]]. First he survived the battle of Firebase Valley Forge. That is, everyone on ''both'' sides (USMC garrison vs VC/NVA Regiment) perished... except for him. Then there was that [[DeathByOriginStory one day in central park]]. Where his entire family was wiped out in a mob shootout.

* SteelEarDrums: Judging from the amount of in-door firefights that he has had throughout his 30+ year vigilante career, the man must have ''adamantium'' ear drums. Cause other wise the man should be deaf by now.

* [[Determinator]]: True to form, Frank Castle does not go down without a fight despite [[MadeOfIron numerous injuries]] and seemingly insurmountable odds.

* PerpetualFrowner: True to his [[TheStoic stoic]] nature, he ''never'' '''''ever''''' smiles.

-->--''When you're on your own, behind enemy lines, no artillery, no air strikes, no hope of an evac, you don't fight dirty. You do things that make dirty look good.''

* OhCrap: The look on his face in ''Born''. Just as he's reuniting with his loving family, he suddenly here's the mysterious voice from the past come back again. Telling Frank that he's come to claim the "price" for his eternal war. [[spoiler:i.e: His family.]]

** He seems to know without fail whether any given person is a criminal who deserves death or not... or he's just really good at self justification. [[spoiler:This could be a trait he has as Death's/The Grim Reaper's personal avatar, an aspect of his character Garth Ennis introduced in the ''Punisher Born'' mini-series.]]

* {{Hypocrite}}: He himself surprisingly. But it's not revealed until #16 of the second Punisher MAX series, where it's revealed that he had decided to [[spoiler:divorce his wife and leave his kids with her,]] in order to satisfy his new-found bloodlust. Way back, in #4 of the original MAX series, he had told Microchip how he had almost killed his neighbor because said neighbor had left his wife for another woman. Ultimately, Frank proved to be no different from his victim. As both of them where willing to [[spoiler:abandon their spouses to satisfy their own lusts.]] Of course, given Frank's guilt over choosing combat instead of his family, his rage could be him projecting himself onto the other guy. In that case, he's giving his neighbor the beating he wishes he could give to himself.

** In the first issue of the series, Frank [[BoomHeadshot shoots a mob Don in the head]], [[RefugeInAudacity in his own house, at his 100th birthday party]] (which is being attended by dozens of high-level wiseguys), [[DissonantSerenity calmly walks out the door]], waits for the gangsters to chase him ([[NeverHurtAnInnocent and move away from the children and women]]), [[DefensiveFeintTrap unloads an M60 on their asses when they exit the house]], and when the survivors try to flank him, they find out that [[CrazyPrepared he's planted claymores in their path]]. He ends the night [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill shooting at moans and movement]] just to make sure he's completely slaughtered every motherfucker at the event.

--> '''Barracuda''': You know for some reason I was expecting the motherfucker to be taller.

* AnAxeToGrind: During a vicious fight with Barracuda, he uses a nearby ax to hatchet off several of Barracuda's fingers. Not that this fazes him mind you.

* WeaponOfChoice: In one of his internal monologues he describes why the M16 has always been one of his favorite firearms.

** In the ''second'' issue, he ambushes the remaining wiseguys ''[[UpToEleven attending the funeral of the guys he massacred]]'' [[OutGambitted just as they are about to discuss how to get back at Castle]].

** Taken UpToEleven in ''Mother Russia'', where he single-handedly holds off the ''Russian Army''.

* ThousandYardStare In the in-universe book title "Valley Forge", the soldier who was the first to find Frank Castle in the middle of hundreds of dead Vietcong and Marines mentioned thousand-yard stares as common enough in Vietnam, so you can imagine what he felt like when describing Franks as a ''[[UpToEleven million-mile stare]]''.