The Punisher: Difference between revisions

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Frank Castle is a [[The Vietnam War|Vietnam War veteran]] who saw his wife, son and daughter slaughtered in a Mafia hit gone wrong. So he got himself a black shirt with a scary white skull on the front and a whole [[More Dakka|lot of guns]], and started a one-man war on crime.

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'' and then PunisherMAX). 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, 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 {{spoiler|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."<ref> 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 [[Driven to Suicide|it was a setup]] to get him out of the way of a local crime syndicate.</ref>

 

 

 

The character has the ignoble distinction of ranking highly in various [[Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny]] debates, thanks to 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 title stars of what is undoubtedly [[Story-Breaker Team-Up|The Single Weirdest]] [[Intercontinuity Crossover|Comics Crossover Known to Humankind]]: ''[[wikipedia:Archie Meets the Punisher|Archie Meets the Punisher]]''.

 

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* [[All Just a Dream]]: {{spoiler|The infamous comic of Frank traveling back in time to kill Al Capone is just Frank having a dream.}}

* [[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 {{spoiler|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.

** The Russian is another example: murderous, violent and psychopathic. He is, nonetheless, incredibly friendly to his enemies, actively complimenting and joking with them mid-fight.

* [[And Call Him George]]: The Russian puts his arm around the shoulder of one of the guys assigned to escort him for reassurance, and ''it kills him.''

* [[Androcles' Lion]]: {{spoiler|The Delta commander}} in "Valley Forge, Valley Forge", or at least what his hapless "minder" ends up thinking happened. When {{spoiler|the colonel}} was a regular soldier in Vietnam, {{spoiler|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.

* [[Ambiguously Evil]]: This has mostly do with inconsistent writing, but it's still debatable whether Frank is an [[Anti-Hero]] or a [[Villain Protagonist|psychotic serial killer.]]

* [[Arch Enemy]]: [[Kill'Em All|For obvious reasons]], criminals rarely make repeat appearances. The closest thing Frank's got is Billy "Jigsaw" Russo, whose main claim to fame is tusseling with Frank a few dozen times and actually living to talk about it.

** In the Marvel 'verse there are some superheroes that semi-regularly tussle with Frank, like Captain America, Daredevil and Spiderman being three common ones. It should also be noted, however, that they are, just as often, on the same side.

* [[The Atoner]]: Frank's mission against criminals is partially motivated by his failure to protect his family from being gunned down. {{spoiler|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.}} This trope shows up under Ennis's authorship. 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.

** The second MAX series reveals Frank to be this in a bigger, more disturbing way than ever thought. {{spoiler|The reason why Frank continues to wage his war on crime is to punish himself with a life of endless suffering. He feels he deserves this because it is revealed that shortly before his family was killed, he had made a decision to divorce his wife and leave his kids with her, because his time in Vietnam had [[Blood Knight|made life outside the battlefield unbearable for him]]. The fact that he was willing to toss aside his family in favor of his bloodlust sticks with him.}}

* [[Avenging the Villain]]

* [[Awesome McCoolname]]: Frank Castle.

* [[Black and Grey Morality]]: The Punisher is a [[Heroic Sociopath|sociopathic,]] cruel, [[Knight Templar]], [[Blood Knight]], [[One-Man Army|mass-murderering]], [[Vigilante Man]], but is recurrently put against [[Up to Eleven]] versions of the worst sorts of [[Complete Monster|CompleteMonsters]] reality has to offer. Most Punisher villains don't seem to even ''have'' any character traits besides malice, greed, sadism, and selfishness. [[Garth Ennis]] writes the character as 100% aware of this, often repeatedly stating that his only reason to continue living is to punish those worse than himself.

* [[Black Comedy]]: Shows up from time to time throughout the character's history, but Ennis's 90s run is built on it.

* [[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.

* [[Boisterous Bruiser]]: The Russian. Just... the Russian.

** Some of his enemies - particularly The Russian - are similarly empowered.

* [[Chest Insignia]]: The Punisher's iconic skull. Like Batman, it serves as a heavily armored target and in the earlier issues the teeth were spare ammo magazines.

* [[Christmas Special]]: He's dressed as Santa whilst gunning down mobsters ''multiple times''.

* [[Coincidental Broadcast]]: All three new vigilantes watch the same broadcast about them and the Punisher, and say "This gives me an idea!" at the same time.

* [[Cold Sniper]]: Castle himself. His second tour of duty in 'Nam was spent performing sniper work and recon. Its never said exactly what went on (and the men he led on his third tour only knew rumours too grisly to be true) but Microchip knows about it and apparently it was when he first started to love violence.

* [[Combat Pragmatist]]: The following quote from "Welcome Back, Frank" sums it up:

* [[Comically Missing the Point]]: When Ma Gnucci says she wants to kill the one who crippled her, one of her mooks says, "You want us to put a hit on the ''bear?"''

* [[Comic Book Fantasy Casting]]: The MAX version is a beefy Clint Eastwood. This particularly evident in the first arc {{spoiler|when he's held prisoner by Microchip}}.

*** Budiansky's CSI friend is [[Tommy Lee Jones]](And he hates [[CSI]].)

** And Colonel George Howe is [[Morgan Freeman]].

** 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.

* [[Costumed Nonsuper Hero]]: Close enough to hero for the trope.

* [[Crapsack World]]: The MAX series is the best example.

* [[Criminal Doppelganger]]: In the [[Crossover]] ''[[Archie Comics|Archie]] Meets The Punisher'', a criminal the Punisher has tracked to Riverdale looks very similar to Archie.

* [[Crisis Crossover]]: He tends to be left out of these big events, partly because they don't fit his "realistic" tone, and partly because, as mentioned above, most of the spandex set ''really'' don't like him, and would rather he was in jail. Two notable exceptions:

** Frank appears very briefly in the [[Justice League]]-Avengers company crossover series. Batman sees him in action, and swiftly kicks the tar out of him.

* [[Crusading Widower]]

* [[Dangerously Genre Savvy]]: General Zahrakov, again. He uses [[Mook Chivalry]] ''twice'' to catch Frank unprepared. He's the only one in Russian intel to guess that the Americans would attempt a [[Moral Event Horizon]] for their [[False-Flag Operation]] (though it takes a [[Complete Monster]] to know one). Finally, he anticipates a [[Defensive Feint Trap]] the Punisher had planned for him and even when warned by Rawlins and Dolnovich that he was heading into a trap, outwits all three of them and captures the Punisher. His only mistake really was taking [[Smug Snake]] Rawlins at his word when he said that he searched The Punisher properly. And we have this gem:

'''Zahrakov''': Because I am a soldier and you are something else. It is in your [[The Starscream|nature to betray]], a small child could tell you that. You would betray me and I would be forced to kill you--and why would I create that much trouble for myself? }}

* [[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.

* [[Dark Is Not Evil]]: The Punisher is an [[Anti-Hero]] example who only kills bad guys and he has black clothes with a skull.

* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: It's rare for him to make a joke, but when he does, Frank's shows he's got a very dark and cynical sense of humor.

'''Frank''': I'm not really dating right now. }}

* [[Decompressed Comic]]: ''The Punisher MAX''.

* [[Dented Iron]]: Becomes a plot point in the second Punisher MAX series, in which the physical and sometimes emotional toll of waging a 30+ year war on crime has on Frank is explored. Frank goes through an increasingly ruthless [[Rogues Gallery]] worth of foes including [[Real Men Love Jesus|The Mennonite]], [[Daredevil|MAX!Bullseye]], MAX![[Elektra]], and finally, [[Kingpin in His Gym|MAX!Kingpin]], getting more and more irrevocably battered after dispatching each one, {{spoiler|with the last one culminating in a long, drawn out, excruciating [[Mutual Kill]]}}.

* [[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 [[Psycho for Hire|Psychos For Hire]] or otherwise too raving mad to feel fear - only very rarely you can see a sane villain who just has enough guts for something like [[Facing the Bullets One-Liner]].

* [[The Dog Bites Back]]: Zahrakov and Dolnovich get bitten back in the worse way by [[Smug Snake]] Rawlins after attacking his groin several times, wiping blood on his shirt, and generally kicking him around. Granted, Rawlins is such a bastard that they probably would've gotten a knife in the back regardless but at least don't give the guy ammunition.

* [[Don't Make Me Destroy You]]: Inverted in Mother Russia. Frank catches his partner doing something he shouldn't be doing. His partner shouts "Back off! Don't make me fuck you up!" Frank just kicks him in the face and knocks half his teeth out.

* [[Driven to Suicide]]: {{spoiler|Frank at the end of "Punisher Kills The Marvel Universe"}}

** Also, {{spoiler|criminal profiler Buddy Plugg.}}

* [[Even Evil Has Standards]]: Frank himself arguably qualifies, if you accept Ennis' version, in that he's a monster who knows he's a monster and has a strict code against harming innocents.

* [[Everything Is Worse With Bears]]: One of the earlier stories had Frank stranded in Alaskan wilderness and picking a fight with a bear. And there is the infamous moment when he deliberately angered a bunch of polar bears to kill mobsters in a zoo.

** Barracuda was thought to have met his end by one in his first arc in the MAX series.

* [[Exiled From Continuity]]: First MAX series. Second is completely in [[Alternate Universe]] with it's own versions of Kingpin and Bullseye.

** [[Broad Strokes]]: While the second MAX series is set in a different continuity from the first, it often references characters and events present in the first one, up to and including the appearance of [[Garth Ennis]]' version of [[Nick Fury]]. These are often treated as [[Backstory]] for Frank, and will certainly seem that way to fans who follow the second series but not the first.

* [[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 [[Psycho for Hire|Bullseye]]. Probably that's why he mostly goes for mundane mobsters, who don't have [[Joker Immunity]] (and superpowers, for that matter).

** He did bag Stilt Man. With a bazooka to the groin. The saddest aspect of all is that this probably was the high point of Stilt Man's career - getting offed by the Punisher.

* [[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 [[Cold-Blooded Torture|other methods]] [[Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique|of loosening tongues]].

* [[Fan Disservice]]: Mamma Cesare is at least eighty years old. [[Squick|Both Fisk and the reader are given a view of her naked body]].

* [[Follow the Leader]]: Almost single-handedly kick-started the [[Darker and Edgier]] trend of the late 80s and on through the 90s, and remains one of the few such series/characters to have retained his popularity and effectiveness after it died out (though Lord knows he's had his share of [[Dork Age|Dork Ages]]).

* [[Funetik Aksent]]: Mrs. Pearse

* [[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 "[[Pre-Mortem One-Liner|They put the sights on top for a reason]]" before downing the gangster with pinpoint accuracy.

* [[Genre Blind]]: The numerous gansters, mobsters and other crooks who think that ''they'' [[Attack! Attack! Attack!|will be the one to finally bring Frank down]]. A few are [[Genre Savvy]] enough to know that the best course of action is to just try to avoid him like the plague.

** Maginty, who is otherwise one of the most [[Dangerously Genre Savvy]] villains in the comics, cheerfully walks into his hideout without an armed escort after mentally torturing a [[Retired Monster]] and leaving him in the room by himself. It's a good thing his [[Mook|Mooks]] came back to check on him--of course getting his fingers sliced off by said murderer didn't do much to dissuade him from walking into Nesbitt's [[Batman Gambit]], making him doubly Genre Blind.

* [[Genre Savvy]]: During the whole "Kills the Marvel Universe" issue, Frank manages to kill [[The Hulk]]. How? By following him undetected until he turns back into Banner. [[Combat Pragmatist|And then killing Banner.]]

* [[Handy Cuffs]]: Frank was captured by a minor gang leader named Machete, who insisted on killing a cuffed Castle in a machete duel. Castle rejects the machete, and kills the guy with his bare hands.

* [[Hannibal Lecture]]: Frank doesn't do this often, being [[The Stoic]], but he completely destroys the last shreds of dignity Nicky Cavella has with one.

'''Castle''': You won't shoot him. You're a coward. ...[[Complete Monster|Psycho rep only takes you so far]]. After that, you've nothing. Hurt the boy and you die bad. You know that. But there's a part of you that still thinks that if you let him go, you've got a chance. And that part of you just won't shut up. }}

** Frank's S.A.S. pal Yorkie is the master of these. He'd probably have the [[Trope Namer]] weeping for forgiveness after a few minutes with him.

*** [[Double Subversion]] Barracuda [[Shut UP, Hannibal|laughs off one of these]] after killing Yorkie, but true to form his dying speech echoes in his head at a most inopportune moment and gets under his skin -- allowing the Brit to punk him from the grave. (It's possible that Yorkie did it in the hopes that this would actually happen.)

* [[Hero Antagonist]]: Any superhero that shows up is likely to become this. Especially [[Daredevil]] who is the superhero most determined to put a stop to the Punisher.

* {{spoiler|[[The Hero Dies|The]] [[Anti-Hero|(Anti-)]][[The Hero Dies|Hero Dies]]}}: The second Punisher MAX series.

* [[He Who Fights Monsters]]: BIGTIME

* [[Hidden in Plain Sight]]: Despite being a fugitive for 30+ years and having his mugshot on the news semi-regularly the only time he is ever recognized is when he opens his coat and reveals the skull on his chest. Either people recognize him but pretend they don't or they don't watch a lot of news.

** Dolnovich used this trope on Rawlins to give him a last-minute attempt to come up with the [[Batman Gambit]] of his life. Notably he didn't even want to let Rawlins live in the first place and even tried to shoot down the latter's attempt to save his life.

* [[Hollywood Silencer]]: Averted in Punisher: War Zone. During Castle's attack on Jigsaw's hideout, Castle uses an M4 variant with a supressor. The gunshots sound more like muffled cracks than a "fwip". Also, the Smith and Wesson model 500 he uses is fitted with a supressor which makes the shots sound like loud thuds.

* [[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 {{spoiler|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.

** Frank himself qualifies.

* [[Improvised Weapon User]]: Oh, so much. He uses pirahna, giant snakes, rhinos, [[Groin Attack|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.

** And don't forget he used the freakin' Hulk against Daredevil, Spidey and Wolverine to get them off his back.

* [[Instant Death Bullet]]: Played straight or subverted depending on the comic.

** Notably subverted in the finale to the Punisher MAX story arc, ''Up is Down and Black is White''.

* [[Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique]]: Frank is a big fan of it.

* [[Jerkass]]: Kevin the bartender

* [[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 {{spoiler|except in the 2008 movie, where Frank impales him with a metal rod, then pushes him onto a large torch}}.

** Lampshaded in his crossover with Batman. Frank has cornered the [[Trope Namer]] himself, who immediately starts cracking jokes about going to Arkham. Frank just coldly cocks his handgun and prepares to blow off the Joker's head, until Batman intervenes.

* [[The Joys of Torturing Mooks]]: The video game was basically built on this.

* [[Keep Circulating the Tapes]]: Tons.

** After rescuing a not-so-corrupt corporate executive from retaliatory gang rape for threatening to blow the whistle on a scheme, Frank shows an alarming amount of callousness towards the victim, telling him 'I bought you eggs and bacon--two days is more than enough to get over this'; unusual since [[Double Standard|he's usually more sympathetic to female rape victims]]. His indifference comes back to bite him in the ass later.

** Dolnovich, who was otherwise portrayed as a loyal, level-headed hardass kills a reporter who wrote an unflattering book about his boss. Even then, he probably didn't deserve to die believing that his only son was going to be raped to death his his [[Smug Snake]] killer.

** {{spoiler|[[Knight Templar Parent]]}}: In the MAX series, Barracuda {{spoiler|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.

* [[Large Ham]]: Dominic West as Jigsaw. ''Lordy.''

* [[Left for Dead]]: In the Punisher MAX continuity, you can NOT count on this trope to save your bacon one it. One particularly noteworthy example was when Castle drove Cavella out to some abandoned woods and shot him low in the gut with the intention of slowly killing him over several hours/days while he walked away. Perfect setup for Cavella to come back, right? Well, just to shoot down any ideas of him returning some mooks talk about how they found his corpse with the eyes eaten out. Just as well, as [[Villain Decay]] had wrung out any threat he had to begin with.

** He states in one comic devoted to showing his equipment and methods that he orders the shirts by the gross (gross = 144).

* [[Made of Iron]]: Especially in MAX, but even in mainstream continuity Castle's a tough bastard. By human standards, anyway.

** {{spoiler|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!}}

*** The Russian, Barracuda, and oh god, Pittsy.

**** {{spoiler|In the finale to Punisher MAX Frank gets stabbed, shot, and beaten half to death by Electra (to the point where his face is described as looking like "a swollen wad of hamburger" by Nick Fury), shot multiple times by The Kingpin's goons, and endures a savage beating by Fisk himself, ''and still'' manages to kill him in the end. Only succumbing to his wounds much later.}}

* [[Merry Christmas in Gotham]]: There's a story where Frank is about to snipe a druglord, when suddenly there's a little girl pulling on his coat telling him she's lost her dad. Frank stares at her and puts the gun away. When they find her dad, he starts to thank him before recognizing his chest emblem and starting to panic. Frank tells him to calm down, that he should really teach his daughter not to talk to strangers, and then leaves.

* [[Mook Chivalry]]: Obviously used quite a lot. What makes this extra-hilarious is that the smarter bosses (Cavella, Zakharov, Maginty) actually take the failings of their Mooks into account and use it to engineer [[Batman Gambit|Batman Gambits]]; Zakharov got his [[Magnificent Bastard]] status cemented by blindsiding Frank with this trope ''twice''.

* [[More Dakka]]: Frank's solution to most problems.

* [[Morality Chain]]: Frank's family was this to him. In his origin story set in 'Nam he says to a fellow soldier that they might be his "last chance" to be something other than a [[Blood Knight]].

* [[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.

* [[Muggles Do It Better]]: He has fought many super powered heros and villains, often beating them or at least fighting to a draw, with nothing more than his wits, aim, and guns.

* [[Noodle Incident]]: We catch the tail end of [[Butt Monkey|Soap]] describing how he was once handcuffed to a dead sheep.

* [[Oh Crap]]: The closest Castle has ever gotten to doing one of these was when he was fighting Pittsy, a balding fatso of at least 60 years old. Halfway into the fight, he tore off Pittsy's bandage where he received an [[Eye Scream]] and broke his fingers. Pittsy gave him a [[Cluster F-Bomb]] in defiance and popped all of his fingers in place, ready to fight. Frank looked on in disbelief.

* [[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.

* [[One-Man Army]]: In the side materials to ''Secret War'', [[Nick Fury]] compares the Punisher's destructive capabilities to that of ''[[The Incredible Hulk]]'s''

* [[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.

* [[Pay Evil Unto Evil]]: Pretty much the cornerstone trope of The Punisher.

* [[Pet the Dog]]: Having beaten Jigsaw, Frank goes to finish the job when Soap calls for help, having been taken prisoner. It nearly costs him his life, as Soap tries to reason not to kill Jigsaw, before shouting a warning when he tries to shoot The Punisher.

** In his final appearance, [[Nick Fury]] {{spoiler|finds Frank had written ''I'm sorry'' on the walls of his old house (for failing to save his family.)}} Fury then pets the dog by {{spoiler|using Frank's flamethrower to burn the house down and drive away the police raking over old wounds.}}

* [[Play-Along Prisoner]]: Whenever The Punisher is jailed, it's usually because he allowed himself to be (usually he walks up to a police station and says "I surrender"), so he can kill one or more guys who are unreachable otherwise. Given that he's the friggin' Punisher, no one gives him trouble (those that do [[Too Dumb to Live|don't last very long]]).

* [[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.

* [[Serial Killer]]: Arguably so, with vigilante tendencies. He tries to present himself as the Mission-Based type, but in later stories, he's shown to be more of the Hedonistic type; subconsciously obsessed with the idea of a never-ending war to sate [[Colonel Kilgore|the bloodlust he developed in Vietnam]].

** In the Young Masters arc of [[Young Avengers]], Hawkeye (Kate Bishop) notes that the superhero community of the [[Marvel Universe]] only sees the Punisher as a serial killer and any real hero would bring him down as hard as any villain if nessessary.

* [[Shell-Shocked Veteran]]: Frank definitely fits the bill. After three brutal tours of duty in [[The Vietnam War]], Frank Castle lost his wife and children to Mafia thugs and now wages a one-man war on crime. Various authors have toyed with Frank's mental state, and Garth Ennis has suggested that in Vietnam, Frank started to [[Blood Knight|love combat and killing people]], with the death of his family possibly being only the final straw that caused his killing sprees.

* [[Shotgun Wedding]]: ''Welcome to the Bayou'' has an absolutely psychotic woman suggesting this as Frank's fate. He thinks he'd prefer being eaten by cannibals.

* [[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".

** One of the mooks is reading ''[[The Bridges of Madison County]],'' of all things.

* [[Sinister Minister]]: The Rev, a [[Captain Ersatz]] of Jim Jones, and one of the few villains to survive his initial run-in with Frank.

* [[Sociopathic Hero]]: [[Your Mileage May Vary|Depending on the reader and writer]] Frank is either this or a [[Villain Protagonist]].

* [[Spoiler Title]]: There's an [[Alternate Continuity]] comic which asks the question "What would happen if the Castle's had been caught in the middle of a Superhero battle instead of a gangland shooting?" It's called {{spoiler|Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe}}.

* [[The Stoic]]: Frank is either calm, detached, and homicidal, or (much more rarely) [[Tranquil Fury|pissed off and homicidal]]. That's it. To quote the videogame (written by Garth Ennis):

* [[Story-Breaker Team-Up]]: ''[[Archie Comics|Archie]] Meets The Punisher''.

* [[Superhero Packing Heat]]

** The ONLY person Frank feels sorry for when he guns down a cadre of swamp-dwelling cannibals is the [[Psychopathic Manchild]] banished to the edge of the community, kinda-sorta blaming himself for pissing the poor bastard off.

* [[Teeth-Clenched Teamwork]]: Force Frank to team up with another hero, and this trope is the result. While he tends to dislike the rest of the hero community, and the feeling is mutual, he's at least willing to work with them against the real villains.

* [[Thou Shalt Not Kill]]: Extremely averted to the point of inversion.

* [[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:

'''Frank:''' Yeah. Well. ''* shoots him* '' Just in case. }}

** Special mention goes to Nicky Cavella, a jackass of a mob dude who got the [[Sarcasm Mode|astoundingly bright idea]] to dig up the remains of Frank's family and ''urinates on them''. And then release the footage to the news media in the hopes of getting Castle [[Incredibly Lame Pun|pissed off]] and go berserk. Yeah. It's been nice knowing you, Nicky.

* [[Tranquil Fury]]: More often than not, Frank's completely and totally calm when brutally murdering villains. Pushing one of his [[Berserk Button|Berserk Buttons]] leads to [[Unstoppable Rage]]. Either way, people die.

* [[Troubled Backstory Flashback]]

* [[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.

* [[Vigilante Execution]]: With a fire truck, no less.

* [[Vigilante Man]]: He's actually been ''called'' "Vigilante Man" a couple of times.

** Frank also has a disdain for other "amateur" vigilantes as shown when he calls out the "Vigilante Squad" (a trio of Punisher fanboys who don't have as much scruples) for being [[Ax Crazy]] [[Knight Templar|Knight Templars]] before gunning them down.

* [[Villainous Breakdown]]: Cavella and Barracuda break down spectacularly, the first turning into a simpering pants-wetter and the latter turning into a raving lunatic. Finn Cooley's breakdown is more physical than mental, as his face continues rotting with each appearance. Surprisingly averted with Rawlins, though, because even as things repeatedly go to hell for him he can't help but act the smug little weasel he is.

* [[Would Not Shoot a Good Guy]]: Frank doesn't kill honest cops ([[Dirty Cop|Dirty Cops]] aren't so lucky). In fact, the final run of Garth Ennis' take on The Punisher involved Frank being in the sights of a cabal of Corrupt US Army Generals... who use their connections to send a group of honest US Soldiers after him. Frank doesn't kill them, but the soldiers learn the hard way that [[Thou Shalt Not Kill|non-lethal force]] [[Good Is Not Nice|doesn't mean gentle force.]]

** That said, he had no problems with shooting up Russian soldiers in a missile base. [[What Measure Is a Mook?]]?

* [[Wall of Weapons]]: Frequently.

* [[We Have Reserves]]: Subverted spectacularly at one point; Nicky Cavella, desperate to finish off the Punisher, attempts to bully his ''capo'' underlings into giving him their men. Not only do they tell him to get bent, they also rant at how they're not going to serve as cannon fodder for an obvious [[General Failure]] [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|complete with his mooks giving him a Hannibal Lecture on how much of a fuckup he is]]. This took major brass on their end, since Nicky was known for among other things chopping up a preteen and serving him to his father.

* [[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 {{spoiler|Barracuda}}, learn nothing even after their first attempt of killing Frank in some elaborate and sadistic way backfires spectacularly.

** Rawlins probably would've gotten away with everything if he had finished off General Zakharov and Dolnovich when he got the chance rather than letting them slowly die in the desert, an act which let Zahrakov tell The Punisher where Rawlins was headed. Granted, he was majorly pissed at them.

* [[Wife-Basher Basher]]: Frank is [[Up to Eleven|extra-cruel]] towards scum who beat women.

* [[Worthy Opponent]]: Frank Castle to General Zakharov in the Mother Russia arc, as he explains after Frank {{spoiler|successfully escapes the nuclear missile silo by setting one of the missiles to defuse at 8000 feet, stowing away inside, launching it and parachuting to safety.}} Especially notable because it came after spending the whole arc insisting to his disbelieving inferiors that they were under attack from Americans and not Arab terrorists.

* [[Would Hit a Girl]]: When he finds out that {{spoiler|Vera}} was actually the brains behind the human trafficking operation (i.e. was the one who told the mooks to "break" their victims by gang rape) in "The Slavers," he {{spoiler|repeatedly throws her face-first against a shatterproof window, reasoning correctly that the frame would give before the windowpane did}}.

* [[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 its second appearance.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Better Than It Sounds/Comic Books]]

[[Category:The Seventies]]

[[Category:Marvel Comics Characters]]