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alt title(s): Punisher 
It's Omaha Beach. Wounded Knee. Rorke's Drift, The Killing Fields, the first day on The Somme. World War Three in North Jersey. And only now, pouring automatic fire into a human wall — do I feel something like peace. ~ Punisher (MAX) #1
I leave this as a declaration of intent, so no one will be confused.
One: "Si vis pacem, para bellum." Latin. Boot Camp Sergeant made us recite it like a prayer. "Si vis pacem, para bellum - If you want peace, prepare for war."
Two: Frank Castle is dead. He died with his family.
Three: In certain extreme situations, the law is inadequate. In order to shame its inadequacy, it is necessary to act outside the law to pursue a natural justice. This is not vengeance; revenge is not a valid motive, it's an emotional response. No, not vengeance...punishment.
~ The Punisher (2004 film)
Possibly the most enduring Darker And Edgier Anti Hero ever to appear in a comic, the Punisher is one of Marvel's most reliable cash cows, a Vigilante Man whose only passion is finding and executing criminals in the most brutal (and sometimes imaginative) way possible.
Frank Castle is a Vietnam war veteran who saw his wife, son and daughter slaughtered in a Mafia hit gone wrong. So he got himself a fancy costume a black shirt with a scary white skull on the front and some cool gadgets a whole lot of guns, and started a one-man war on crime.
The big difference between him and, say, Batman? Castle kills criminals. A lot. Often several dozen at a time. (His confirmed record to date is approximately 2000 in the Marvel Universe with a nuke, and 68 in one night, 32 in one location in the MAX continuity. Wizard magazine also had his death count as slightly above 1000, pre-Ennis) He uses machine guns, explosives, a certain amount of martial arts, knives, and on occasion, wildlife (most notably, the time that he punched a polar bear in the face to get it riled enough to eat some Mafia hitmen). He can be very, very sadistic. He tends not to get on with Marvel's actual superheroes, especially when he's written by comic-book scribe Garth Ennis, which is often these days; many fans think Castle and Ennis are a match made in heaven. (Making it ironic that Ennis has finished with the series, declaring that he had said all that he could about the Punisher after eight years of writing the character. Except now he's teamed up with Steve Dillon again for the Punisher: War Zone weekly series.)
The tone of the stories vary from violent pitch-black comedy to intensively grim-and-gritty noir tales to attempts to make him a full-on Super Hero...who just so happens to kill people. His enemies have ranged from sex slavery rings (the MAX arc "The Slavers" being possibly one of the single darkest stories in comics history) to gigantic Russian hitmen augmented with cyborg body parts and enormous breasts...both of them written by Ennis.
The character himself often suffers from inconsistent writing. Many writers have portrayed him as a good man at heart who sincerely does want to help people and keep them from suffering the same way he did, while other writers have portrayed him as a psychopath with no pity for anyone and no motivation beyond killing criminals. There are two notably different Punisher series: the main Marvel Universe series and a second series created for Marvel's adults-only MAX imprint (originally titled The Punisher and referred to as Punisher MAX, before changing to The Punisher: Frank Castle). This latter version, written almost exclusively by Garth Ennis for four years, features no superheroes and is deeply rooted in "mundane" crime — The Mafia, Irish terrorist cells, Eastern European sex slavers, black gangsters and real-life wars are prominent. It is also considerably less funny than the mainstream Marvel series, though there are touches of black humour here and there. The MAX series is written much more consistently than the mainstream version, due to being almost entirely shaped by Garth Ennis' vision of the character; this series is also notorious for its moral absolutism. The Marvel Universe version may be willing to excuse himself for killing Stuart Clarke's girlfriend while under the influence of a "hate ray", but the first post-Ennis MAX issue sees Frank on the edge of killing himself after believing that his instinctive shooting had led to an innocent girl's death, declaring to himself that "I must be punished." (Realizing the possibility of a setup is the only thing that lets him live long enough to exhume the body, which he finds was slain with a bullet of a different caliber from what he had been carrying. Turned out that it was a setup to get him out of the way of a local crime syndicate.)
There have been three Punisher movies: 1989's The Punisher (starring Dolph Lundgren), 2004's The Punisher (starring Thomas Jane), and 2008's Punisher: War Zone (starring Ray Stevenson); Your Mileage May Vary with all three. (It should be noted that War Zone is not a direct sequel to the 2004 Punisher film.)
The character has the ignoble distinction of ranking highly in various Ultimate Showdown Of Ultimate Destiny debates, thanks a combination of Popularity Power and the comic entitled "The Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe" (coincidentally written by Ennis years before his more regular work with the character). He also has the distinction of being one of the two titular stars of what is undoubtedly The Single Weirdest Comics Crossover Known To Humankind: Archie Meets The Punisher .
This comic contains examples of:
- Affably Evil: Barracuda, despite being a treacherous Psycho For Hire and even a self-admitted cannibal, managed to reach status through being the ever-optimistic, constantly cheerful source of Black Comedy. He not only got better after being iced by Punisher at the end of his first arc, but even starred in his own mini-series, which was unprecedented for MAX villains.
- Alternate Company Equivalent: The Punisher is modeled very closely on the character of Mack Bolan, who also lost his family to mob violence and becomes a vigilante with the nickname "The Executioner". Mack Bolan was featured in a series of books that were first published in 1968, and new books in the series still come out today.
- Alternate Character Interpretation: Frank is usually treated as a absolute moralist who just happens to be fighting a neverending war on crime. Other interpretations imply he's just as bad as the monsters he fights and is little different from a serial killer. The only thing that stays the same is the reason why he became the Punisher.
- Punisher: Year One has yet another take on Frank's character - he goes vigilante only after all other methods of bringing the mobsters who killed his family to justice fail spectacularly (the police is ineffective and corrupt; an attempt to do an independent investigation leads only to death of the reporter whom Frank briefly befriended).
- Androcles Lion: The Delta commander in "Valley Forge, Valley Forge", or at least what his hapless "minder" ends up thinking happened. When the colonel was a regular soldier in Vietnam, he was rescued by a Special Forces raid that inspired him to enter Special Forces himself; the lieutenant realizes at the end that one of the participants was none other than Frank Castle.
- Anti Hero: Type IV.
- The Atoner: Frank's mission against criminals is partially motivated by his failure to protect his family from being gunned down.
- To be more specific, Frank feels that he sacrificed his family, as the voice he heard in Vietnam (the devil?) kept hounding him about a neverending war, which when the Vietcong overran his base he accepted to save his life, only to be told his family would be payment.
- That only showed up under Ennis. Prior to that, though it was rarely brought up, Frank did what he did in part to punish himself, for being unable to save his family.
- Authors Saving Throw: Frank's had brushes with Character Derailment almost from the start, but subsequent authors have been good enough to fix said derailment. For instance, in an early appearance, he tried to kill people for running stop signs and littering (this was handwaved at a later date by saying he had been drugged by Jigsaw to make him more violent and hardline). Most notoriously, The Punisher: Purgatory turned the gritty, mafia-killing Vigilante Man into a literal avenging angel, which literally ended up more or less killing The Punisher as both a character and a series...at least, until Garth Ennis brought him back.
- They'll need another one in a year or two, seeing as Daken, son of Wolverine, killed him, and Morbius the Living Vampire, stitched him back up in Frankencastle.
- Back Fromthe Dead: Jigsaw, Microchip.
- Badass Grandpa: While this isn't as prominent in the mainstream universe thanks to Comic Book Time, in MAX, he is drawn to look like the fifty-to-sixty-year-old man that he is, and his age is mentioned from time to time.
- Badass Longcoat: Frank's often depicted wearing a black trenchcoat, especially in more modern stories where it replaces his more traditional comic costume. Typically, towards the end of the story, when he starts to mean business he just stops wearing it.
- Badass Normal: Castle has no superpowers of his own, and typically most of his foes are either just mooks or other badass normals. However, he has gone toe-to-toe with various superheroes and villains in the past.
- In the MAX continuity, no superheroes exist, but Frank's badassery is not lessened one bit.
- Berserk Button: Frank has several. His family is one, his illegitimate daughter is another, and God help you if he finds out you're a human trafficker.
- Big Applesauce: Frank is nearly always depicted as a New Yorker, but the 2004 flick moves his story to Tampa for some reason.
- Punisher: War Zone moves Frank back to New York, though.
- Marvel probably caught on to the whole every hero in new york thing and decided to start expanding a bit, like they did with Iron Man.
- The DVD commentary on the 2004 flick reveals that the main reason to move to Tampa was Florida's tax incentives for film productions. The budget was too tight to film anywhere else.
- Black And Grey Morality: How can you keep a sociopathic, cruel, Knight Templar vigilante sympathetic? By putting him against opponents inspired by the worst sorts of real-life criminals, but far more over-the-top. Most Punisher villains don't seem to even have any character traits besides malice, greed and selfishness.
- Blood Knight: Why does Frank kill? 33% for revenge, 33% for justice, and 33% because he likes it; the remaining 1% is just plain crazy.
- Brainwashed And Crazy: Has happened a couple of times to Frank. He ended up killing jaywalkers and his second sidekick's girlfriend.
- He actually ended up missing the jaywalkers (unless we're thinking of different incidents).
- Bulletproof Human Shield: A common tactic of Frank's; use a crook to kill a crook.
- Butt Monkey: 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 Butt Monkey, if not for the fact that just still being alive at the end is remarkably lucky for a (former) mobster.
- Car Fu: In "Welcome Back, Frank," the mafia hires a former Desert Storm sniper to kill him. Frank just runs the guy over with an SUV, then backs up.
- Carnival Of Killers
- Chaotic Good: The Punisher is usually placed in this catagory. However, it's been argued that Frank's actually Lawful Stupid, since he follows Black And White Morality and will slaughter criminals even if they aren't truly evil.
- Christmas Special: He's dressed as Santa whilst gunning down mobsters multiple times.
- Cold Blooded Torture: Particularly in the MAX series.
- The Combat Pragmatist: The following quote from "Welcome Back, Frank" sums it up:
Frank Castle: When you’re on your own, behind enemy lines, no artillery, no airstrikes, no hope of an evac, you don’t fight dirty. You do things that make dirty look good.
- Complete Monster: The only reason the Punisher isn't considered one is because most of his enemies are; read The Slavers for probably the best example. Or, really, almost any MAX issue at random.
- MAX Kingpin manages to hit this trope in record time in his second appearance by torturing his abusive father to death by paralyzing him and allowing Rats to tear him to shreds, murdering the wife of a man who raped him in prison, and shooting two of his own partners on the orders of a mob boss.
- Cool Guns: Even though the Punisher uses a lot of different types of guns, he shows a preferance for military weapons such as the M16 rifle or M1911 pistols.
- He actually had a 10-issue series titled "Armory" dedicated to showing off his guns and other equipment.
- In one arc of the MAX series he explains this as force of habit, from his days in Vietnam.
- Crosses The Line Twice: In the 'War Zone' film, Barracuda gives an uncomfortably hilarious patriotic speech to several groups of blatant of national stereotypes. It's done in such a way it's impossible to get offended.
- Crowning Moment Of Awesome: Few would question that the fourth issue of the MAX arc "The Slavers" would qualify. It begins with Frank (who's hunting down those responsible for a rather brutal sex slave operation) reading a book on basic human anatomy, and ends with him walking away from one of the ringleaders, who looks on in horror at how his guts have been ripped open and dangle over a tree.
- An earlier moment occured in the Suicide Run arc. A gathering of crime bosses are opening a new building, with the intention of setting a trap for the Punisher. Frank infiltrates the building and enters a darkened room, where the bosses reveal themselves and mock the Punisher. Frank reveals that he expected it, and has rigged the building with explosives. The trigger is in his hand, and if he lets go, the building goes. He starts to kill the mob bosses, and there's nothing they can do about it.
- Darker And Edgier: Though pretty mainstream by today's standards, the first Punisher miniseries (Circle of Blood) was a far cry from most other Marvel Comics products of the mid 1980s. Today, The Punisher: Frank Castle (the MAX imprint title) is the epitome of this trope for Marvel.
- Deal With The Devil: In the MAX-continuity miniseries Punisher: Born, which shows Frank during his last tour in Vietnam, he appears to talk with a mysterious voice in his head. Frank refuses to accept that the US is withdrawing from Vietnam and does everything he can to postpone shutting down his camp. The Vietcong finally assault the base during a storm while the US army air support is cut off, killing everyone. Frank is the last American alive, and the voice makes him an offer. Eternal war, in exchange for something. Frank accepts and survives when the US air strike finally arrives. Frank comes back home and meets his family at the airport, and the voice returns to claim the price for his eternal war: Frank's family.
- Death By Newbery Medal: Frank's old guard dog, Max, which was killed off in the same arc is was introduced in. It's shot by a gangster trying to raid one of Frank's hidehouts. When Frank sees that he's dying, he puts him down with a knife. Frank's crying when he does this.
- Decompressed Comic: The Punisher MAX.
- Depending On The Writer: How much Frank fights to help innocents and how much because he likes killing, as well as how sane he is in general.
- Determinator: Frank, of course. As he once said "A man who doesn't have anything to lose, can't help but win."
- Dirty Coward: About 95% of the criminals behave like this when on the wrong end of a gunpoint, begging Frank for their lives and promising him anything and everything (this never helps). The remaining 5% are mostly Psychos For Hire or otherwise too raving mad to feel fear - only very rarely you can see a sane villain who just have enough guts for something like Facing The Bullets One Liner.
- Everything Is Even Worse With Sharks: A couple of mobsters thought that a big shark in equally big (and not bulletproof) glass fish tank would be a great addition to their opulent mansion. They eventually learn their lesson just before their messy demise.
- Barracuda was thought to have met his end by one in his first arc in the MAX series; He Got Better, though. Not for long, though.
- Failure Is The Only Option: The mainstream incarnation of The Punisher never succeeds at dispensing his own brand of justice to significant supervillains he encounters, even those who badly screw with him personally, like Bullseye. Probably that's why he mostly goes for mundane mobsters, who don't have Joker Immunity (and superpowers, for that matter).
- False Reassurance: If you're a criminal and The Punisher promises you something like "scratching your name from his list"... you better talk anyway, even if you are sufficiently Genre Savvy to recognize what that means, as being shot right after giving him the necessary information is still preferable to his other methods of loosening tongues.
- Gangsta Style: Subverted in one of the Ennis comics. A gang member fires at Castle like this multiple times, but misses every shot. Frank calmly says "They put the sights on top for a reason" before downing the gangster with pinpoint accuracy.
- Guns Akimbo: The Punisher frequently does this.
- Gun Porn: The Punisher Arsenal is an entire line devoted to loving descriptions of the guns and tactics he uses.
- Heroic Sociopath: Frank is usually portrayed as this.
- Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Often justified, as most of the mook criminals he faces don't really have much skills or experience in real combat.
- Averted in the case of "The Slavers", when Frank loses his self-discipline and breaks his cover by attacking a 'straggling' gunman, alerting his fellows...who are infantry veterans, aim down their weapons' sights, and use small unit tactics such as (effective) suppressing fire and flanking. End result: although he's able to swim away, non-powered gunmen actually defeat Frank Castle in combat and force him to flee for his life.
- Implacable Man: Thorn, an older villain. Originally the brother of a mob boss, he was nearly killed when Frank threw him into a frozen lake. He barely survived, but now shows no reaction to pain, and has no memory beyond knowing who tried to kill him. Also Roc, who survived being shot in the head and having his neck broken and the Russian, who's just a large man.
- Improvised Weapon Use: Oh, so much. He uses pirahna, giant snakes, rhinos, table saws, nail guns, fuses, meat packing equipment, a shark, the list goes on and on. The keeper would have to be punching out a polar bear to anger it into taking out a mob boss, and using a pizza and the morbidly obese Mr Bumpo on The Russian.
- One issue involved Castle assaulting an office building that was being used for snuff films. Security was ultra-tight, so he couldn't bring guns inside. Instead, he ended up killing the guards one by one with increasingly bizarre and brutal uses of office equipment. He started with pens and pencils, worked his way up to computer monitors as blunt instruments, staplers to the eyes, smashing a man's head to pulp in a copier machine....
- Instant Death Bullet
- Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: Frank is a big fan of it.
- Joker Immunity: Most notably, the Kingpin. The biggest gang boss in New York, but it's been explained that Frank can't kill him because if he does, New York will be devastated by gangs trying to take his place. Also Jigsaw, who Frank has let live numerous times.
- Kick The Dog: Frank's murder of Microchip, his sidekick. Frank also killed the reformed Stiltman.
- The villains also constantly do this (if not much, much worse), because as bad as he is, Frank's the protagonist.
- Knight Templar: The question is not "How far?" The question is "How fast will he get there?"
- Knight Templar Parent: In the MAX series, Barracuda kidnaps the daughter Frank had with O'Brien. He reacts...violently.
- Specifically, he has flashbacks to his children's deaths. He wakes up in the hospital with no idea what happened, but the skin doctors found under his fingernails and the flesh between his teeth jog his memory.
- Which is very much a Berserk Button for old Frank...he goes absolutely batshit insane on the Mongolian when he pictures Galena as his daughter, and the death count (which is actually higher than the stated 68 as he hits a drug den afterwards) after Nicky Cavella's actions.
- Lampshade Hanging: The aforementioned split in The Punisher's portrayal as regards to his interactions with the rest of the Marvel characters is lampshaded in Secret War: Secret Files (written in the voice of Nick Fury as entries in the SHIELD database); it comments on how it seems like Castle lives in "two different worlds," one where he interacts with the other heroes and one where he never crosses paths with them.
"I caught a glimpse of heaven once. The Angels showed me. The idea was I'd kill for them. Clean up their mistakes on Earth. Eventually redeem myself. Tried it. Didn't like it. Told them where to stick it. So they brought me up to heaven, to see what I'd be missing. A wife. A son. A daughter. I hadn't seen them since they bled out in my arms. Then I was cast down. Back to a world of killers. Rapists. Psychos. Perverts. A brand new evil every minute, spewed out as fast as men can think them up. A world where pitching a criminal dwarf off a skyscraper to tell his fellow scum you're back is a sane and rational act. The angels thought it would be hell for me. But they were wrong."
- Large Ham: Dominic West as Jigsaw. Lordy.
- Made Of Iron: Especially in MAX, but even in mainstream continuity Castle's a tough bastard. By human standards, anyway.
Frank: That's a rib gone. Not broken. Gone.
- In "The List", he continues trying to stab Daken after - in less than a half hour - having being shot, hit with grenades, punched around, cut across the chest by Daken, broke a leg, getting his throat slashed, lost (and I do mean LOST) an arm and about 3 gallons of blood. He probably would still be fighting him as a disembodied head!
- Magnificent Bastard: General Zakharov of the Mother Russia and Man of Stone story arcs. He was sent to investigate the attempted theft of a bioweapon, and when the Punisher goes in to steal it he keeps his identity secret, to the point of letting Moscow think an American trained terrorist group who hijacked a plane for a suicide bombing on Moscow were Al Qaeda. He reasoned that Russia would be too scared to fight Arab terrorists, but were prepared for nuclear war with America, and watched as Castle hid inside a nuclear missile and faked a missile attack to escape. Then there was how he fought in Afghanistan...
- Mook Horror Show: Happens a lot.
- More Dakka: Frank's solution to most problems.
- Mugging The Monster: Happens to Frank a lot, considering his habit of walking around the worst neighborhoods alone. Naturally this does not end well. In one short story, Frank pretends to be a drunken hobo to the specific purpose of practicing his knife fighting.
- Nightmare Fuel: The MAX series does a decent job at this, but if you're after high octane may I recommend "The End".
- Omniscient Morality License: Quite common, particularly in issues written by Garth Ennis; Frank seems to know without fail whether any given person is a criminal who deserves death or not. Or he's just extremely good at self-justification.
- Only A Flesh Wound: About 90% of times when Frank actually gets shot, it's Only A Flesh Wound, as a side effect of him being Made Of Iron. Sure, writers pay some superficial attention to things like blood loss and shock, but Frank still can operate at practically 100% efficiency within hours after, say, taking bullets from a machine gun in his flank and shoulder.
- The MAX series doesn't completely subvert this, but since it's set in a more realistic universe than most Marvel books, Frank usually isn't up and running after getting injured - unless he has to be to get his job done.
- Papa Wolf: In the MAX series, regarding his illegitimate daughter. Barracuda learned this the hard way.
- Pay Evil Unto Evil: Pretty much the cornerstone trope of The Punisher.
- Private Eye Monologue: The MAX series is typically narrated by The Punisher, who's every bit as gritty and cynical as one would expect.
- Power Armor: Frank had Micro whip up a suit in order to combat a bunch of cybernetic mutant hunters. He broke it, and had in repaired in order to assault a gang boss who was selling a modified version of PCP...and then broke it again.
- Psycho For Hire: Barracuda, The Russian, Jigsaw - most of Frank's serious opponents are this.
- Rasputinian Death: Many Dragons or more physically tough Big Bads require a rather spectacular sendoff. See Pitsy, The Russian, and Barracuda.
- Frank gets one in "Dark Reign", when Daken quite literally tears him apart piece by piece. Then Morbius the Living Vampire brings him back as a pachtwork monster (Frankencastle?). Yeah, I have my doubts too.
- Roaring Rampage Of Revenge: Frank's entire point, in some incarnations.
- Semper Fi: Frank's a Marine.
- Subverted in Ennis's work, especially The Punisher: Born. The story takes place in a base filled with Marines who are amoral washouts, apathetic or cruel, run by idiot commanding officers. As a Marine, Frank Castle was shown to be addicted to combat, willing to indirectly kill a general in order to keep his firebase (and therefore, his war) going. Certainly doesn't sit well with the brave, heroic image the USMC typically has.
- Series Continuity Error: Oddly, Frank's daughter has had at least three different names, while the name of his son (Frank Jr) is always consistent. Also Microchip's real name was originally "Bartholomew", but was changed to "Linus" later.
- Shout Out: The late, great, Puerto Rican rapper "Big Punn" (he had a heart attack; dude was 400 pounds).
- Morgan Freeman is the Colonel who tries to capture The Punisher in "Valley Forge, Valley Forge".
- Sliding Scale Of Anti Heroes: Most of the time, Frank sits firmly at Type 4.
- Squick: Mainly in the MAX series; since it's geared towards a more adult audience, the series shows off deaths in the most graphic ways imaginable.
- Frank himself feels this when, injured in a gunfight and handcuffed to a bed so he can't stop it from happening, he watches Jenny go into full Punisher mode as she beats her sister to death, naked, with a baseball bat.
- The Stoic: Frank is either calm, detached, and homicidal, or (much more rarely) pissed off and homicidal. That's it. To quote the videogame (written by Garth Ennis):
*after blasting Bushwacker through a wall* I don't smile much. Don't smile ever. But if I did, this would be one.
- Smug Snake: The conspiracy of generals in the MAX arc "Valley Forge, Valley Forge" is perhaps the best example, as it consists of eight incompetent Smug Snakes (who cause a great deal of death and suffering nevertheless), but it is far from the only example. The Punisher's opponents in general are no criminal masterminds, even if they aren't totally...
- Too Dumb To Live: Quite a lot of villains. One minor gangster was dumb enough to brag about how he would take over his boss' territory and "business" when Frank (who had just offed said boss) was still right there; this was met with the predictable results:
Gangster: I-I-I...I mean I'm gonna leave all this shit behind me. Get a job. Leave town.
Frank: Yeah. Well. *shoots him* Just in case.
- They Ruined It Now It Sucks: Which is what a lot of fans said of Angelic Punisher. And more recently, FrankenCastle.
- Tranquil Fury: More often than not, Frank's completely and totally calm when brutally murdering villains. Pushing one of his Berserk Buttons leads to Unstoppable Rage. Either way, people die.
- Vigilante Man: You Should Know This By Now.
- Well Intentioned Extremist: Frank's uncompromising morality is mixed with the fact that he's quite nuts.
- Why Don't Ya Just Shoot Him: Averted with Frank himself, who is quite happy to just shoot his opponents most of the time. Played straight with many of the villains. Some of them, like Barracuda, learn nothing even after their first attempt of killing Frank in some elaborate and sadistic way backfires spectacularly.
- Played with in one of the Punisher/Batman crossovers. Frank corners the Joker, who jokes about it, thinking that Frank is just going to take him off to Arkham Asylum. When he realizes Frank is perfectly content to blow his head off, Joker gives one of the best Oh Crap faces in comics history.
- Writer On Board: Garth Ennis hates conventional superheroes. You cannot help but notice that whenever any of them appears in an issue of the main Punisher series written by him.
- The Slavers, probobly the bleakest, most visceral Punisher story ever written, was based on Ennis's opinion of human traffickers. Hint: He doesn't like them.
- Wait... who would admit to liking them?
- Perhaps the cover of Frank sharpening a knife as he reads a book on Basic Human Anatomy will give you a clue that Ennis takes his hatred further than most. Note also that he also wrote the game and this story shows up.
- Frank Castle's hatred of the human traffickers in The Slavers is (paraphrasing) "the worst he'd ever hated someone in a long time." Note that in MAX continuity, Frank's been The Punisher for at least a couple of decades.
- Some of Ennis' political thoughts are chilling. The first line of "The End", where the war on terror goes nuclear? Soon.
- Read Ennis' take on Superman. Best portrayal, and he's only written him around three times.
- Video Game Cruelty Potential: The 2005 videogame's big draw was the Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique, wherein Frank could beat, threaten, or otherwise pry answers out of enemy grunts he manages to grab. Combine that with environment specific actions (Piranha tank interrogation anyone?), and you have this trope.
- The game ended up being censored (scenes turned black-and-white when the violence got exceedingly brutal), but a patch for the PC version restores the game to its original form.
- The Vietnam War: Frank served in Vietnam, and certain actions he did during the war are brought up in his appearances occasionally.
- In the 2004 movie, this is changed to Operation Desert Storm / the first war with Iraq.
- Frank will often bring up and compare his experiences in conversations with veterans of other wars, like Captain America.
- Weaponized Car: The Battle Van, which Frank had a tendency to trash every time he used it. He also once had what was basically a go-cart from Hell. It was destroyed in it's second appearance.
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