The Punisher is a very complicated character to deal with within Marvel Comics, especially when he is outside the more adult stories, in the midst of the universe of heroes. His murderous nature and his less-than-optimistic message make him a difficult anti-hero to fit. And, although Frank Castle is beloved by fans, from time to time he disappears with no expected return – exactly as he is doing right now.
Warning for Punisher #12 spoilers!
“The Punisher is no more.” This is how the arc led by writer Jason Aaron ends, which ended with Punisher #12, released recently. But, before reaching his final destination, it is necessary to quickly summarize what happened to him until then – including outside the comics.
The Punisher has had some great stories, most notably those where he deals with villains so vicious that their ruthlessness and self-destruction seem “small” next to the evil he faces. In some arcs, his own code of honor, as an anonymous hero of the western, also worked, like the phases in which he faced the mafia, under the command of writer Chuck Dixon.
Frank Castle also proved to be a great supporting actor, especially in sagas like Dynasty M, secret empire e Original sin — in this one, he even starred in a hilarious and unlikely duo with Doctor Strange.
But the times we live in, especially with a lot of hate mail on the web, school shootings and gratuitous violence with common deaths around the world, a character like Castle can be used for other purposes quite different from entertainment. This is what started to happen when its traditional skull symbol began to be used by extremists.
It was because of this that Marvel itself decided to retire, indefinitely, the skull symbol from the Punisher’s uniform at the beginning of this Jason Aaron arc. And, perhaps for the same reasons as above, Frank Castle disappears from the comics, with no expected return.
How the Punisher’s journey in the comics ends
Throughout this phase, Punisher became the commander of The Hand, the same organization that has always stood up to Daredevil; and, for that very reason, we saw the two characters, who had already had other combats along their trajectories, facing each other again. And, in issue #11, towards the end of this arc, Frank Castle is reunited with his family, which was precisely the reason he started his rampant killing spree.
Behold, his own wife, Maria, uses a mystical weapon to shoot Castle — after all, she herself does not like to see what her husband has become. The Punisher survives his injuries thanks to Doctor Strange. It is worth mentioning that the anti-hero had been empowered by supernatural powers, which, with his apparent death, disappeared. Captain America, Black Widow, Wolverine, and Moon Knight help capture an injured Frank in the Hand compound, and imprison him in the basement of Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum.
Maria has been revived by the Hand, and Strange warns Castle that this is unnatural. Although her fate is still uncertain, she declares her marriage to the Punisher to be over and leaves for a new life, without saying that she is pregnant. With the help of the Black Widow, she sells all of the anti-hero’s assets, keeping part for herself and donating the rest to charities.
And before Castle even knows the fate the heroes have for him, the Punisher uses the remaining magic within the bullets removed from his body to ignite himself, disappearing without a trace. After the Punisher disappears, Doctor Strange says, “He is no longer on this plane of existence. The Punisher is no more”.
In fact, Castle went to another realm, called Weirdworld. This magical domain, cited in 2015, is a reality with its own rules, and, it seems, it is in this “limbo” that the Punisher will live out his adventures, when — and if — he returns.
Now, the Punisher on Earth-616, in the main Marvel Comics timeline, acting alongside the heroes in his traditional uniform and the way we’ve become accustomed to seeing it for decades… Sadly, this Frank Castle is gone indefinitely.
