What if the Punisher had killed Daredevil?

[history79]

9 pages of 28

Comments

[sadoeuphemist]

"Spice Importer Wilson Fisk" is pretty good. Maybe better than the Kingpin.

[crinos]

How is that still a title in the modern age.

Who the Hell claims to be a "Spice Importer."

He may as well introduce himself as "Totally not a crime lord."

[stolisomancer]

Did you think to Google "spice importer" before you asked that question?

[lordultimus]

I did find it funny that in almost every What If the Kingpin appeared in, he died.

Hell, Spider-Man dies a lot too, now that I think about it.

[zylly]

I remember this one. Pretty decent story on the whole.

But the way I figure it, if the super-heroes of New York ever really wanted to take down the Punisher, he wouldn't last a week. It's just kind of one of those comic things you have to accept; that certain things that should happen just don't.

[joetuss]

So does Spidey not have any super powers in this?...

[locuatico]

he doesn't have bullet-immunity, no.

[joetuss]

No Spidey sense? No enhanced reflexes multiplied by a factor of 15? Doesn't Spidey regularly dodge automatic gunfire a point blank range?

[zechs80]

Well that's a very "Mechanic"-like end to this one.

[locuatico]

Funny thing is, didn't later comics mention that Kingpin's control over the city of New York is such that, if brought down, the vacuum power would create a gang wars so chaotic that the heroes would have problem controlling?

[cyberghostface]

Yep. The government actually begged him to return at one point because NY had devolved into an utter catastrophe with everyone vying for power.

[silverhammerman]

I've always disliked that explanation, it's patronizing to the reader and the whole necessary evil angle is just off-putting.

[locuatico]

Personally, i like to think of it as further proof that the Marvel Universe is a really, REALLY awful place to live in even if you count the Magic and Super-Science out. I mean, how crappy does your city have to be that the ONLY thing keeping it from falling into complete anarchy and chaos is the mob boss who rules it through fear?

[espanolbot]

Ah, the "this is why they don't kill the Joker" logic.

[freezer]

"He died a hero."

A heroic suicide bomber!

[starwolf_oakley]

A few stories in the 1980s gave the Kingpin a kind of Joker Immunity from the Punisher. If someone killed Fisk, a super-massive gang war would break out and lots of innocent people would die. That was the only thing stopping the Punisher.

[beyondthefringe]

What If... I loved that series in its prime, but man, it was usually so bleak. Writers always seemed to take out their frustrations by killing characters they'd never be allowed to kill in the real M.U. With Spidey at the top. :)

[sinanju]

Yeah, the What If series apparently existed to demonstrate that the Marvel Universe was the best of all possible worlds. Without exception, any change proposed, always ALWAYS resulted in some horrible outcome. Even if the character in question came out better (Ben Grimm wasn't a rocky monster, Bruce Banner wasn't the Hulk, etc) even their happiness was generally shortlived as the world went to hell on a rocket sled around them.

[zylly]

I actually heard a theorized explanation for that, once. Basically, it came down to "the last thing you want to do is make the readers think they could be reading about a better universe than the mainstream books."

[reveen]

A tranq pistol? Reminds me of Metal Gear. I'm just gonna assume Frank got it when he served with Diamond Dogs. They year isn't that far off.

[leoboiko]

The more I think about it, the more it fits.

[dcbanacek]

Not shown in the scans of the last Punisher/ Spider-Man fight is Frank thinking to himself "All this time, he was taking it easy on me?"

[tcampbell1000]

This was surprisingly not-bad! I mean, Busiek's name makes it less of a surprise, but still. The problems with most "What If" stories are similar to the more severe problems with "Garth Ennis vs. superheroes" stories: rushed storytelling and characters who suddenly, jarringly seem a lot easier to defeat and/or kill than hundreds of other stories have led us to believe.

This story can't escape that effect entirely and still be told in one issue, but it comes pretty damn close. The scene with the mayor is excellent.

[amaniwolf]

I think i prefer the What If? Wolverine was Lord of the Undead, and What if Punisher killed Spiderman. Those two were pretty interesting.

[pwiggins]

Wow, check out Fisk's trollface in that one panel on page 29. Creepy.