The Punisher (Marvel)

The Punisher (real name Frank Castle, Sr.) is a violent vigilante from and varies from being a dark anti-hero to being an outright protagonist villain depending on the writer and/or story. Driven by the death of his family, the Punisher hunts down criminals and kills them in brutal ways, and he is also known to settle for intimidation or torture. He briefly became the second War Machine following the death of James Rhodes, but relinquished the armor back to it's original owner, following Rhode's resurrection.
He was created by Gerry Conway, the late Frank Giacoia, the late Dave Hunt and the late Ross Andru, and first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #129 in February of 1974.
==Skills and Abilities==
Frank Castle is a military veteran with years of experience and training to handle himself against any threat, and is skilled in weapons, stealth tactics, espionage, and many other tactics. Though he has no superhuman powers, Nick Fury's intel classified him as a being power level 6 or greater due to his said abilities, and use of lethal force.
===Former Powers===
*Angelic Powers: After being resurrected by a Grigori named Gadriel, he was imbued with divine essence giving him biological immortality, accelerated healing, supernatural sense, and dream-based precognition. In addition, Castle was also given access to a "hammerspace" portal to Heaven, giving him the ability to produce special firearms that were capable of killing both mundane and paranormal threats. These powers were removed when Frank wouldn't work for Haven and the Angels.
*Franken-Castle Powers: After his death by Daken, Castle was resurrected by Morbius to aid him and the Legion of Monsters. He had superhuman strength to an unknown degree, and he was rendered immune to Lady Gorgon's telepathic mind control, and Daken's pheromones.
*Bloodstone Fragment: At one point, Castle once had this fragment that enhanced in unknown ways, giving him some degree of a healing factor which allowed him to recover from serious injuries.
===Abilities===
*Indomitable Will: Frank has complete control of his mind and consciousness, providing a strong resistance against telepathic powers that are used against him.
*Military and Extensive Special Operations Training: As part of his Marine Force training, Castle completed U.S. Navy SEAL (SEA Air Land), UDT (Underwater Demolition Team) and LRPA (Long Range Patrol) training, EOD (explosive ordnance disposal) training, graduated the Army's Ranger School, complete the U.S. Army Airborne School, graduated the U.S. Army Special Forces Qualification Course, and LRRP (Long Range Recon Patrol) training. He also took part in cross-training with the Australian Special Air Service Regiment, and also is a qualified HALO (High Altitude Low Opening) jumper.
*Master Tactician and Strategist: Frank shows himself to master tactician, allowing him to single-handedly incapacitate up to a dozen well-armed and experienced opponents in a single encounter and escaped uninjured. This is achieved to his attention to detail, and getting to know the environment around him.
*Maximum Human Conditioning: Castle is at the peak physical condition of a human being, going through rigorous training and exercise regimes. As a result, he developed strength, speed, endurance, stamina, healing, metabolism, immune system, longevity, reflexes, and agility near the limits of a super-soldier's capabilities. Black Widow, a Russian super-soldier and hero of the Avengers, has stated that Castle is stronger than her.
*Master Martial Artist: Castle was trained in multiple forms of armed and unarmed combat, becoming highly adept in Nash Ryu Jujutsu, Hwa Rang Do, Chin Na, Ninjutsu, and Shorin-ryu Karate. His mastery of hand-to-hand combat allows him to fight mundane heroes, but strain against enhanced, superhuman, or paranormal enemies.
*Weapon Profiency: Being trained to fight in modern warfare, the Punisher is a recipient of multi-disciplinary military knowledge from the U.S. Armed Forces. Thanks to this and continued training, the Punisher is a master of many weapons and firearms, favoring long-ranged weapons and knives. His training has allowed him to be master marksman, and favors using melee weapons, mainly knives and daggers.
*Expert Pilot: Castle received helicopter training with the U.S. Army and U.S. Naval Special Warfare Command, allowing to fly helicopters and airplanes when the situation calls for it.
*Master Interrogator: Castle is a master interrogator, and get information from people with little effort, due to his brutal methods and intimidating demeanor. He shows himself to be creative with his torture techniques, such as using water boarding, electrocution, suffocation, sleep deprivation, and starvation to name a few.
==Portrayals==
===Live-Action===
*In the titular 1989 film, he was portrayed by Dolph Lundgren, who also played He-Man in Masters of the Universe.
*In the titular 2004 film, he was portrayed by Thomas Jane, who also played David Drayton in The Mist.
**Jane would voice the character in the 2005 video game, and portray him again in the fan film The Punisher: Dirty Laundry.
*In Punisher: War Zone, he was portrayed by the late Ray Stevenson, who also played Volstagg in the MCUs Thor films.
**Stevenson also voiced the character in The Super Hero Squad Show.
*In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he was portrayed by Jon Bernthal, who also played Shane Walsh in The Walking Dead, and Grady "Coon-Ass" Travis in Fury
*In the fanmade YouTube series The Punisher: Uprising, he was portrayed by Brandon Forgione.
===Animation===
*In the Spider-Man animated series, he was voiced by John Beck.
*In Iron Man: Rise of Technovore, he was voiced by Norman Reedus, who also plays Daryl Dixon in The Walking Dead.
*In Avengers Confidential: Black Widow & Punisher, he was voiced by Brian Bloom, who also voices William "B.J." Blazkowicz in the MG Wolfenstein series, and voiced Alex Shepherd in Silent Hill: Homecoming, Adam "Kane" Marcus in the Kane & Lynch series, Matt Horner in the StarCraft series, Yuri in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Jackie Estacado in The Darkness II, and Nick Reyes in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare.
===Video Games===
*In the 2000 Spider-Man video game, he was voiced by Daran Norris, who also voiced Cosmo in The Fairly OddParents, Jack Smith in American Dad, Knock Out in the Transformers series, and played Gordy in Ned's Declassified School Survivor's Guide.
*In Marvel Super Hero Squad Online, he was voiced by Crispin Freeman, who also voiced Alucard in the Hellsing series, Itachi Uchiha in the Naruto series, and many others.
*In Marvel Heroes, he was voiced by Marc Worden.
*In Lego Marvel Super Heroes, he was voiced by Robin Atkin Downes, who also voiced Minh Young Kim in the Gears of War series, Tenzin in Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Kazuhira Miller in the Metal Gear Solid series, Nikolai in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, and Michael Becket in F.E.A.R. 3.
*In Marvel Avengers Academy, he was voiced by James Arnold Taylor, who also voiced Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars: Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels series, Ratchet in Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando, and Leonardo in the TMNT film.
==Quotes==
==Gallery==
===Images===
Frank Castle (Earth-616) from Amazing Spider-Man Vol 1 129 0001.jpg|The Punisher in Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 1 # 129.
Franken Castle.jpg|The Punisher as Franken-Castle.
Frank Castle (Earth-616) from Punisher Vol 9 1 0001.jpg
Punisher In the Blood Vol 1 1 Textless.jpg
Punisher Vol 12 1 Textless.jpg
Frank Castle (Earth-1610) from Ultimate Comics Avengers 2 1 0001.png|The Punisher from Ultimates comics.
Punisher-(Earth-1610)-3.png|Ultimates Punisher as an Avenger.
Punisher.jpg|The Punisher in Spider-Man animated series
DolphLundgrenPunisher.jpg|Dolph Lundgren as the Punisher in the 1989 film The Punisher
ThomasJanePunisher.jpg||link=The Punisher (The Punisher Film Series)|Thomas Jane as the Punisher in the 2004 film The Punisher
Punisher-2-ray-stevenson.jpg|Ray Stevenson as the Punisher in the 2008 film, Punisher: War Zone
Punisher 01.png|link=The Punisher (Marvel Cinematic Universe)|Jon Bernthal as the Punisher in the Daredevil Netflix series
Punisher 2017 Character Poster Textless.png|Jon Bernthal as the Punisher in his titular Netflix series.
The Punisher (MUA3).png|Punisher in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order.
Frank Castle (Earth-616) from Punisher Vol 13 1 0001.webp|The Punisher in Punisher (Vol. 13) #1, debuting the new design of his iconic skull emblem.
==Trivia==
*Ranked 27th in IGN's "Top 100 Comic Book Heroes".
* Ranked 39th in Wizard Magazine's "Top 200 Comic Book Characters".
*Ranked 19th "Greatest Comic Book Character of All Time" by Magazine Empire.
*The character is based on Don Pendleton's The Executioner character/vigilante Mack Bolan.
*According to editor Don Daley, he estated that the Punisher's version of justice was the Code of Hammurabi: "An eye for an Eye".
==External Links==
*Punisher on the Villains Wiki.
*Punisher on the Marvel Database.
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