By request: Captain America beats up the Punisher... and lets him leave.

[starwolf_oakley.insanejournal.com]

Upon request from wizardru, here's the CIVIL WAR scene of the Punisher killing two villains right in front of the Secret Avengers. Frank gets a pass on this, even though Cap beats him up and Frank feels he proved something to Cap nevertheless.





Goldbug was a Luke Cage foe obsessed with gold. He also was part of the Bendis SECRET WAR series that never really caught on. The Plunderer was Ka-Zar's brother. However, he re-appeared in MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS #5–6 (March–April 2008), explaining the man who had died was his "American representative."



What's worse: the Punisher killing these two or Captain America willingness to work with them?





An A+ parody of this scene and the rest of CIVIL WAR can be found here:
http://mightygodking.com/index.php/i-dont-need-your-civil-war/
Oddly, the parody seems to have a more in-character Spider-Man than the actual CIVIL WAR story.

Matt Fraction put his own twist on this in PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL #2 and #3.





It is unusual that no one else in the room, given their powers, can do *anything* to stop the Punisher.



The direct order seemed to be regarding lethal force. Of course, that non-lethal force had been against police officers.

I'll pause for a moment to reflect on a line said in a podcast reviewing CIVIL WAR #6. It was either a Marvel podcast or a Marvel-themed podcast, but I remember the line very well.

"Now, the Punisher's crazy. He's a killer. But he's not an idiot."



This is intercut with a flashback to Frank at boot camp, being asked by "Captain America" to hit him. Frank refuses. This is one of the "alternate" Caps, and probably the "Crazy Cap" from the 1950s.



The Punisher is deliberately provoking Captain America. I'm starting to question the "crazy, but not an idiot" idea.



"I got to doin'." As someone said in a review of this issue, Frank Castle isn't Mal Reynolds (from Firefly and Serenity).

Captain America wanted the Punisher on the team to do the dirty work? Well, it's pretty much the same reason they wanted Wolverine in the New Avengers, so it isn't that OOC. Meaning the Punisher is right, although I doubt Cap had "executing villains that want to help out" in mind.

Cap doesn't understand why the Punisher won't fight back. Perhaps a flashback might help:



Scenes of Frank Castle's earlier life often show that he had something wrong with him. It just wasn't "kill all criminals" wrong until his family was murdered.





So... the Punisher killed two super-villains and then let Captain America beat him up just to prove a point? Anyone know the point?

And none of the heroes do anything to stop the Punisher from LEAVING. I usually criticize Spider-Man for doing that, but this was a WHOLE ROOM of superheroes!

Comments

[lynxara.insanejournal.com]

Well... I didn't want to get OCD about this, but yes, Punisher is actually based on the genre of men's adventure novels that gave rise to Death Wish.

Men's adventure has since utterly dried up as a publishing genre, so it's easier to explain the cultural zeitgeist that gave rise to Punisher by referencing Death Wish.

[wizardru.insanejournal.com]

I bow before your wisdom, sir. I didn't know that.

[lynxara.insanejournal.com]

If you're interested in exploring the whole men's adventure idea, the Mack Bolan (http://www.mackbolan.com/) series is a good place to start. Being conversant with this genre is especially interesting in light of Garth Ennis's work, as he seems to draw a lot of inspiration from it.

Most bookstores don't sell this stuff anymore but men's adventure tends to flood thrift stores and second-hand shops.

[the_jeff.insanejournal.com]

I read a fair amount of Mack Bolan and Phoenix Force novels in the 80s. It's easy to see the inspiration for the Punisher there, heck the old War Journal comics were so similar in tone it's close to plagerism.