Punisher

The punisher max

The Villain

Origin And Characterization

Francis David Castle was  born in Queens, New York to David (a World War Two  veteran) and Louisa Castle.  When he was ten years old,  He witnessed the murder of a local criminal who was burned to death by Frank's friend, Sal Bulvoli. This shocking event  left a horrible scar on his psyche. At 19, he began training as a roman catholic priest, but after a few months he quit, and lied to the few friends he had there as to why he left. The real reason was that he could not forgive or forget people who did evil. His first vigilante tendencies began to emerge as he began stalkng a local gang of thugs.  Later on in life, he would completely forget why he ever decided to join the priesthood. He enlisted for the army, but before he joined the United States Marine Corp, he was sent to camp Lejeune to train. He graduated boot camp having completed his Basic Training and then carried on this training by enlisting for further training in Infantry, Reconnaissance, Force Reconnaissance and then in Sniper Schools and LINE training. Castle was able to attain dockets that would  permit him to go through U.S. Army Airborne Training. He served as a point man, a sniper and a paratrooper in the special forces.  He became a sergeant Major Marine, and his generals recognised some dark quality in the young soldier, and because  his unrivalled skill, instinct and resourcefulness they selected him to assasinate enemy commanders. Rumors of the  young sniper spread throughout the infantry, though nobody knew his name. He became a Second Lieutenant afterward.

During his first tour of duty in Vietnam, Castle found out that his Commanding Officer, Mikuta, was taking money from soldiers for a promise of getting them out of the war. What he was actually doing is killing the soldiers so they would be declared Missing In Action and keeping the money for himself. Frank ended up killing Mikuta with no remorse. An unnamed Colonel  found out what happened and promised Frank that he would look into it further. Instead of that, he pushed Castle’s tour into dangerous territories. This is when Frank figured out that Colonel No-Name was in on it with Mikuta. When Frank’s tour of duty was up, the Colonel was there to see him off, happy to be rid of him. Castle then told him that he was going to re-join after coming back for another tour of duty. Though it depends  on the origin and writer, Castle served 3 tours of duty in the Vietnam war, then joined Marine Recon, with the Garth Ennis version stating he served 3 times and then another illegal tour, while another, more modern version shows him serving in the Persian Gulf War in a Kuwait battalion.

On his final tour, his garrison Forge Valley Firebase was falling apart. His commander Col. Ottman was lazy and uninterested in the activities of the men under his command; and Castle was the true leader amongst the men. He fought in a Direct Action unit, attacking special enemy bases and command posts. Though only in his twenties at the time, he was both respected and feared, an accomplished, hard as nails soldier with a finely honed killer instinct. Even back then aside from his duties in the garrison, he had vigilante inclinations, killing corrupt or incompetent officers, as well as killing a private called McDonald who attempted to rape a female enemy sniper, Castle killed her, and drowned him a nearby stream. He also took it upon himself to clean the base of several drug abusing fellow soldiers. As his post began to weaken with the weight of the rampant corruption, Castle began to hear a voice, not his own, speak through his thoughts. As Castle killed his way through both his enemies and the corrupted soldiers within the camp, the voice spoke of a new power that could be his, strength, endurance, speed, and intellect, it also offered him an eternal war, as much killing as a man could deal, but there was an unspecified price for these new abilities. Should he just give the word, it could all be his. Castle tried with difficulty to resist. He considered "fragging" Ottman, but resisted this as well, with increasing difficulty. Soon afterward, the base came under heavy assault. As his fellow marines were killed around him, as his enemies closed in to finish off the last survivors, something happened to Castle. The voice spoke in his head, growing steadily louder until it drowned out the noise of battle. Suddenly, Castle was fresh with a new vigor, and took the fight back to his enemies. When reinforcements did arrive at the garrison, they found over 700 bodies, but only one survivor. Frank Castle stepped out from one the bunkers, covered in cuts and blood.  
 
He underwent surgery to remove  the seven spent rounds in his body, and his memory of the violence at Valley Forge was hazy at best. He was given leave,and returned to his family for a while. The voice still was speaking in his head as he debarked the plane at Kennedy. His family were waiting to greet him. The voice spoke one last time, as it revealed what the price was. In his minds eye, Frank saw a target reticule zero on his family. He only paused for a moment as the realization dawned on him, then walked over to hug them. 
 
His commanders offerred him his old job in specialised assasination for peacekeeping missions. Castle was only  too happy to accept.
 
 Despite having won several medals for his service, including the Navy Cross, the Silver Star, The Bronze Star,and the purple heart,  he distanced himself from people, not knowing how to communicate properly. His only love now was war.  On another leave of absence,   He felt alienated from his family, and tried to rebuild his relationship with them. His wife Maria took the family to New York's central park, where the family made a kite and the children played with it. But the day was seemingly destined to end in horror and violence, as the family stumbled upon a group of mafia enforcers attempting to assasinate a rival boss  in a violent display of power. The thugs shot them down and Frank was the only survivor. Castle ignored police aid in the case and withdrew away from everyone around him. He became despondent and brooded on his past and memories . He even went so far as to attempt suicide. Before he pulled the trigger, he remembered the voice in his head. He remembered everything he had done that day, on that hill, at the firebase. He came to only one conclusion;The time had come, the moment he had waited for had arrived  at last.  His war was not over. He deserted the army, and begun his never ending war on crime.

 His one man vigilante war has come to dominate his every thought and emotion.  He is obsessed with vengeance, fighting crime with utter finality and no compassion. He gives no second chances and kills with no remorse, no regrets, and no mercy. He ignores law enforcement officials and they regard him as a sociopath, a mass murderer, and a danger to society. He harbors resentment to their methods, stating that he could not be able to operate with all those rules. Of course criminals treat him with utter disdain, and react to him with fear. After killing corrupt cops, he stirred the NYPD police force into action against him. He will kill any one he believes is guilty of a crime, including even traffic offenders on occasion. He has no quams about killing a child for the same reasons he would kill a grown man.  
 
He has been incarcerated in maximum security prisons, but has found means of escape.He uses Extortion, threats of violence and violent torture as crimefighting methods.  He never questions his own dubious morality, and has fought many other, more heroic vigilantes, such as DC's Batman, Daredevil, and Captain America. He even once allowed Captain America to beat him down during the Superhero Civil War(See Civil War no.6) , while they were partnered. In and effort to spite his ethics, He told Rogers that he knew that he was teaming with a killer vigilante like Castle, a fact which Castle is completely unashamed of(See The Punisher Vol. 4, no. 12). 
 
He has been described as being in love with war, though the words love and Frank Castle have no business being in the same sentence( See The Punisher; Born no.2).   However should he kill an innocent person, he may voluntarily surrender himself to police or even kill himself (see The Punisher ; MAX no. 63) It has been suggested his main reason for not killing innocents is simply because he will not allow himself to become what he hates most. In fact Vigilante may not be the correct term for the character, as a more accurate description would be that he is a serial killer with vigilante tendencies. Writers like Garth Ennis and Chuck Dixon have explored his amoralities, suggesting Castle lies to himself when he says he cares about innocent people, and that his vigilantism is driven by nothing but his relentless compulsion for killing. Garth Ennis' "The End" explored how much he hates not only criminality, but all of humanity itself. 
  
Whether or not he enjoys killing is up for debate, but Garth Ennis's writing suggests he shoots until he is satisfied, and his complulsion has been sated.  
Since he began his vigilante war, He has killed over 2000 people.  
 
He fights in New York,New Jersey, Philadelphia, Manhattan, and Conneticut. He has fought on the former US refueling island Grand Nixon Island, and Batman's hometown Gotham.

The Skull

During Castle’s last tour of duty he was serving as a sniper. He was asked to hunt down a Viet Cong sniper known as “The Monkey”. The VC sniper wore a monkey’s skull around his neck for good luck. Castle ended up being captured, but during his escape he tied a dead Viet Cong soldier  to a tree and painted a white skull on his chest as a message to “The Monkey” that he was coming for him. He would use the white skull as his calling card during his hunt, and even painted one on his own chest. He ended up killing “The Monkey” in a sniper duel in the jungle. In his vigilante activities, Castle uses a variety of menacing skulls.

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The 80s and 90s

During the eighties the Punisher was at the height of his popularity. So much so that Marvel had three ongoing titles and a large amount of spin-offs, specials, and one-shots. During the time the Punisher was much more of an anti heroic superhero than he would be later. He also had a sidekick, computer genius Linus Lieberman a.k.a. Microchip. He also had hundreds of weapon stashes, hideouts, and advanced battle-vans stationed throughout the country. Punisher also frequently teamed with other super-heroes more often then in recent days, most notably Spider-Man, Daredevil, Ghost Rider, and Wolverine. Punisher even served as a reluctant member of Dr. Strange's Secret Defenders alongside Namorita and Sleepwalker for a very short time. 
  During this time Frank had a love/hate relationship with other gray area characters of the time. Such as Ghost Rider, Moon Knight, and Wolverine. There was a time that you couldn't read a Marvel title, without having one of these characters in them. 
 
This version of the character has been replaced by the darker, more sociopathic anti hero of Garth Ennis and Chuck Dixon's versions.

Characteristics

Gender--Male

Height--6' 1"

Weight--220 lbs

Eyes--Blue

Hair--Black

Unusual Features--  Stab Wound scar on his neck, two bullet wound scars on his left arm, bullet wound scar on his right shoulder.

Relatives: Maria Castle (wife,deceased), Francis Castle Jr. (son,deceased ), Lisa Castle (Daughter, deceased) David Castle (Father,possibly deceased) Louisa Castle (Mother, deceased) Micheal Castle (Brother deceased, stillborn)
Status: Widower, Vigilante, former US. Marine.
Powers

Castle does not possess any super powers, but has an extensive background with weapons and hand-to-hand combat. He has excellent physical conditioning despite his age.  He pursues his goals wholeheartedly, and executes them with a very methodical and ruthless way. His missions are always well planned, and carried out with the utmost preparation and attention to detail. He is able to asses and adapt to just about any situation and turn it to his advantage. He has a very high threshold for pain, able to undergo surgery without any kind of anesthesia, and his reflexes are second to none. Castle sticks to a balanced diet based on his military philosophies.The only time he ignores this code is when he drinks one glass of bourbon,  and only very rarely.   He exercises his body and marksmanship rigorously every two days. His favourite exercise technique is performing pull ups with a bar that is fixed into the walls of his armory.  He  knows and is skilled with  just about every firearm known to man, even able to grasp the most advanced weaponry, though he prefers his more traditional armory made up of shotguns, assault rifles,
sub machine guns, knives, pistols, and explosives.He is an excellent point marksman (ability to fire a gun accurately with both eyes open), and that technique is preffered method. He may also be ambidextrous in regards to marksmanship. He is also an exceptional knife fighter, as well as being well learned  in  The Nash Ryu Ju Jitsu fighting style, having been trained during the LINE regime by sensei Adam Nash, though he improvises his fighting skills with a series of lethal manouvers.   Castle is an expert pilot, having begun training in the skill during his airborne training. He is also able to analyse a criminal and/or predict their actions. Castle is also a skilled tactician able to create plans based on various military stratagems including urban (combat assaults, bombings, ambushes, using the enemies money, weapons and supplies against him, using the city of New York as weapon, fading in and out of sight with considerable ease) guerrilla warfare. He knows many ways of physical and psychological torture, enabling him to obtain information to continue his  war on crime.
His preferred methods are simply to aim a pistol at the eye of an enemy,and apply pressure downward into the targets eye socket until the victim talks. Another, more violent method is to locate and sever all the major tendons of a victims legs, in particular those near the kneecaps. He can also kill several enemies unarmed, if he deems it necessary. All of his skills (apart from those he learned in the army) are mostly self thought. 


However, in The Punisher: Born, it is suggested that Castle may have made some sort of pact with a death-related deity (Such as the Angel Of Death), to fall into a  subconsciousness that quickens his speed and reflexes, as well as making him super aware of his surroundings, completely merciless and next to unstoppable. The price of these new attributes would require the sacrifice of his humanity.  Could this be the cause of his incredible drive to kill, and his tolerance for pain? Another , more realistic explanation of this is that he allowed himself to be consumed by his own killer instinct.

Gear/Resources

The Punisher mostly uses conventional firearms which would include, but need not be limited to: handguns, rifles, shotguns and machine guns. He is also known to be very effective with knives and explosives. Most of these weapons are confiscated from  dead criminals. however Frank Does have favorites among his weapons. He keeps these weapons both in his apartment and in a basement in the Lower East Side.

While The Punisher is constantly changing his gear depending on the mission, he uses a large arsenal of firearms, from handguns to rifles to rocket launchers. One of his more notable items is a spring-loaded knife that allows the blade to be launched at an enemy. He tends to customize his weapons so they can all use identical calibers but he prefers the of  use weapons of military origin like the Colt M1911 or pistols based on its design. He also uses The M16 assault rifle (which is Vietnam era). He also has various sights, scopes, silencers and grips for his preferred guns which he cleans and repairs every other day.

Arms commonly used:

  Classic Weapons: M16 assault rifle( Sometimes Customized with an M203 Grenade Launcher), M60 Machine Gun, Flamethrower.
 
Colt M1911 (Dual, silencers) Barrett M95 50.cal sniper rifle, Remington 700, Ontario Shank Knife, Ontario Shiv Knife, Ka Bar knife,Combat Knife, TNT (with Remote Detonator) 
 
Weapons  used in Punisher Max:  
Silenced M1911's,Mossberg 590, Frag Grenades,Desert Eagle, Ontario shank knife, TNT, Sawn off Savage Stevens 311A, Bennelli Tactical shotgun, flashbang grenades, M60 machine gun. He seems to have an affection for shotguns in the Max series.
 
He also makes use of syringes, Goti petrol and  his teeth.

He has personally turned his small, cheap apartment into a formidable armory, with an automatic locking system on the front door, as well as  drop down steel sheet shields on the windows. Frank 
designed the apartment to function, with only the minimal attention to comfort. He has also armored his Beater to aid his vigilantism. 
 
After his first base was discovered, he moved to a small basement in The Lower East Side, which he also designed with Vigilante activity in mind.

Costumes.
 Castle has been known to vary his clothing depending on the mission. The most common  and basic one is simply a t shirt with the deaths head symbol sown into it , a pair of 
combat pants,  gloves, combat shoes, a utility belt , and a pair of shoulder holsters. The second costume is essentially the same, with an overcoat worn to hide
his weapons and of course the deaths head symbol. The last is a full black  costume with a deaths head, gunbelts, and utilitys.
                       
His more personal belongings include his War Journal, various books on the human anatomy, and Several supposedly classified documents on federal agencies such as the FBI and NYPD. He also targets corporate fraud using similar papers, as well as reading obtained documents on targets he aims to pursue. He used to keep pictures of his family, as well as his military medals, but not anymore since he finds they distract him from his missions at hand, having flung them off the Brooklyn bridge at the beginning of his vigilante crusade. 
 
ENEMIES

 Castle will kill any kind of criminal that comes across his path, but he mainly targets the Cesare crime family, as well as all their connections and allies . He seems to focus his attention  towards the drug trade (as well as all crimes that tie into it), money laundering and fraud. He has killed corrupt police officers, drug dealers, pimps, paedophiles,Drug Cartels, hitmen, hired muscle, rapists, psychopaths, sadists,street gangs muggers, and even traffic offenders.

 Notable Enemies: Burt Kenyon, John James Toomey, John Gorrini, Dominic Gorrini, Annabella Gorrini, Tim Buccatto, Sean Gorrini, Peter Gorinni, Lorraine Zucca, Barbara Barrucci, Bonnie De Angelo, Shauna Toomey, Shepherd, The Russian,Paul Zucca, Larry Barrucci, Pat Migliorratto, Tony Pizzo, Ann Larsen, Carl Larsen, Lenn Micheal Daley.

Criminal Enterprise he has fought: 
- Cesare Crime Family  
- Pizzo Crime Family
- Eternal Sun Yakuza Gang
- Gorrini Crime Family 
- Casino Crime Family 
- The Toomey Gang  

ALTERNATE REALITIES
  
Earth-295

In the Age of Apocalypse continuity Frank Castle was separated from his family during one of the first American sweeps, where Apocalypse searched out humans to kill them. He fled from certain death until he came across a hidden monastery. Castle became a monk, searching for inner peace, until the monastery was finally discovered by Apocalypse's agents. All the monks were killed, as were many of the humans and mutants that they had offered refuge. Frank Castle was once again able to escape, though his location is unknown.

Earth-2149

In the Marvel Zombies universe Frank is still a vigilante with all the hallmarks of the regular continuities. In Marvel Zombies Vs. Army Of Darkness #2 he meets Ash. Ash and the Punisher partner up to beat down some Zombies, but first The Punisher guns down The Kingpin, The Owl, and Hammerhead after they offer to ally with him. He fights alongside Ash against zombies, before Ash leaves him to die fighting them.

Earth-1610

The Ultimate Punisher is an ex-NYPD SWAT sniper whose family was killed by corrupt cop that was going to be be exposed by Frank. He was the one that killed the corrupt cop and informant to the Kingpin, Jean DeWolff. He continues his vigilante crusade from there, with him being incarcerated in Rikers island (and even continuing to kill on the inside), fighting Daredevil, and partnering up with Spiderman on occasion.

Earth-928

There are two Punishers in the year 2099, a man and woman.

Jake Gallows is the first Punisher. He was a cop in the Public Eye, the police force of the future. After the murder of his mother, brother and sister-in-law, Jake came across the war journal of the original Punisher, Frank Castle, in the archives of the Public Eye. From then on, he took the mantle of the Punisher.

The second Punisher is a laboratory-bred humanoid named Polly. when she released herself from her mental limiters, she gained free will, intelligence and superhuman strength, but she also became psychotic. She called herself Vendetta, and thought of replacing Jake Gallows because she deemed him as ineffective. Although in the end, they became partners.

Earth-2992

In the Marvel Mangaverse, The Punisher is a woman named Cossandra Castle who goes by the alias of Cossandra Natchios. She is the daughter of Frank Castle and Elektra Natchios and has a son named Franklin. When she is diagnosed with cancer, Cossandra sets out to teach her son everything he needs to know to become The Punisher next. Upon her death, Franklin cannot bring himself to take life, as his mother and grandfather did so ruthlessly. He ultimately chooses not to take over, allowing The Punisher's mantle to end with his mother.

Earth-58163

In the House of M, Frank's family survived the mafia attack and is still the Punisher. But now he is apprehended and recruited by Thunderbird to be with a human strike force called the Brotherhood. Disgusted about mutant's disregard of humans, he later joined Luke Cage's version of the Avengers as an adventurer to fight Magneto's mutant supremacy over humans.

Earth-9939 (Earth Charnel)
Punisher was a member of the Avengers of this reality, he along with Spider-Man, Daredevil, and Doctor Strange were killed by Charnel in a mission to recover the time disc.

Punisher MAX

In these stories,  the Punisher was born in February 1950, lives in what is essentially the real-world, a place free from any sort of superhero (the only other member of the mainstream Marvel universe to appear is Nick Fury) 

He fights Eastern European slave traders, Mexican slavers, whatever's left of the Italian and Irish Mobs, corrupt soldiers, and mercenaries. He is essentially just a world weary vigilante in this continuity.  
He features all the same character traits as the regular continuitys. 
 Garth Ennis is probably the most significant creator for these stories, but crime writer Gregg Hurwitz has recently left a strong mark on the character with the Girls In White Dresses storyline. Victor Gischler and artist Goran Parlov are the latest creative team on Punisher MAX.
Limited series and one shots of Punisher;MAX include The Tyger, Born, Naked Kill, The Cell, Force Of Nature, and The End, and most of these stories seek to explore his dark psychosis and the roots of his character, in contrast to the main stories of Punisher MAX. In 2009, after four years since the volumes initial creation, the name was changed to Frank Castle: The Punisher.

Similarities:

Similarities have been drawn between The Punisher and Rorschach, as they both see the world in completely black and white terms. This is also reflected in their costumes. Both are also anti-heroes, and show absoloutely no mercy to their victims.It could be said that Alan Moores  inspiration for Rorshach actually came from The Punisher, as he has been around since 1974, and Watchmen has only been around since 1986. Another character that bears more than a passing similarity to Castle is the Foolkiller, another amoral, violent Marvel vigilante, who has recently returned to mainstream comics, under Gregg Hurwitz. There has also been a recent MAX story called White Angels in which the two partnered.