The Punisher (Frank Castle) is a Marvel Comics anti-hero. Created by Gerry Conway, he first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #129 (1974).

Although sometimes considered a superhero, The Punisher is a savage vigilante who slaughters criminals at will. Driven by the massacre of his family in a gangland crossfire, Castle wages a one-man war on organized crime, using all manner of conventional and state of the art weaponry. The Punisher is a master of unarmed and armed combat, and marksmanship. Recognized by the white skull icon on his chest, the Punisher is feared by criminals, while most superheroes oppose his extreme methods.

The Punisher's brutish nature and willingness to kill made him a novel character in mainstream American comic books in 1974. By the late 1980s, he was part of a wave of psychologically troubled anti-heroes and was featured in several monthly series. His popularity has since cooled but he remains a popular Marvel property and was adapted into two films, in 1989 and 2004 respectively.

Origin story

Francis Castiglione was a U.S. Marine who served in the Vietnam War in a special forces unit. After finishing his first tour of duty in Vietnam, he illegally re-entered the army under the name of "Frank Castle" in order to return to battle. After this second tour of duty was over, he came back to the United States and, now legally going by the name of Frank Castle, had a son and daughter with his wife Maria. However, several years later, Maria and the children were killed in a gangland crossfire orchestrated by the Costa crime family. Frank was believed dead at the scene, but survived, and for his revenge he hunted down and killed or mutilated the Costas and their men. Since then, Frank has devoted his life to destroying organized crime, using the nom de guerre of the Punisher, and using whatever resources and means necessary to do so. As the Punisher, he wears a distinctive costume consisting of black and white body armour with a large white skull as a chest symbol. The Punisher has an extensive criminal record due to his activities, and law enforcement is aware of his existence.

Publication history

The Punisher was inspired by, and is very similar to, Mack Bolan, "The Executioner", a character created by Don Pendleton for a series of novels published since 1969. His early depictions and some magazine-format adult-oriented specials make it clear that the early Punisher was heavily influenced by Charles Bronson's character in Death Wish.

The Punisher was originally conceived as a one-issue antagonist for Spider-Man. The story involved the Punisher stalking Spider-Man, whom Castle believed to be a murderer due to the deceptions of Spider-Man's foe, the Jackal. The character was immediately popular, and made appearances in other series, primarily Daredevil, usually clashing with the hero of the piece over his methods.

After a successful 1985 mini-series, Marvel launched an ongoing The Punisher series in 1987. It was very popular and Marvel added a spin-off Punisher War Journal in 1988 and another Punisher War Zone in 1992. The Punisher was also used in numerous guest appearances in other Marvel series at the time, ranging from superhero comics to the Vietnam-era war comic The 'Nam. Due to the character's homicidal nature, few of his foes became recurring antagonists, the most notable of these being the severely scarred enforcer called Jigsaw. He also acquired a nemesis in the form of the Kingpin, the longtime Spider-Man and Daredevil foe. He often worked alongside the hacker and machinist Microchip, and drove the heavily armed and armored "Battle Van".

In 1995, Marvel cancelled all three Punisher series due to low sales. Several unsuccessful revivals were attempted; one featured the Punisher working for the mob, while another revamped the character as an agent of various angels and demons. A darkly comic 2000/2001 mini-series by writer Garth Ennis and artist Steve Dillon under the "Marvel Knights" imprint made the character popular once again. A new ongoing series has since been launched. In 2003 the series was again relaunched as a "mature readers" title in Marvel's "MAX" imprint, which allows the series to feature profanity and occasionally extreme violence.

Ironically, the Punisher is one of the few Marvel characters who has aged at a rate equivalent to real time. He is still portrayed as a Vietnam vet and is illustrated as a wiry, heavily scarred Italian in his late fifties to early sixties; he looks more like an aging mob enforcer than a traditional superhero.

Television, movies and video games

A film adaptation, The Punisher, starring Dolph Lundgren, was released in 1989. A second film adaptation, starring Thomas Jane as the Punisher and John Travolta as the main villain, was released in the United States on April 16, 2004. Neither were exceptionally well-liked either by critics or by fans of the comic book series.

The Punisher has also been the main character in several video games. The Punisher arcade game [1] (http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=P&game_id=9156) was a side-scrolling beat 'em up in the vein of Double Dragon in which the Punisher or one of three other characters would engage various foes in hand-to-hand combat, occasionally drawing firearms in lieu of melee combat. The Punisher computer game for the Amiga and PC [2] (http://www.mobygames.com/game/sheet/p,2/gameId,120/) featured three different modes of gameplay: driving the Punisher's "Battle Van", gunplay on foot, and scuba diving.

A new The Punisher game was released January 18, 2005 for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and PC. It was being developed by Volition and published by THQ. The game, scripted by Jimmy Palmiotti and Garth Ennis, is extremely violent, and directly draws upon the character's more recent comic book outings.

Fans of the Punisher thoroughly enjoyed the game and many reviewers found it a very well-done game with several innovative features. The ending of the game shows that there may be a sequel, possibly on one of the Next-Gen consoles.

External links

• Official webpage at Marvel.com (http://www.marvel.com/publishing/showcomic.htm?id=1)
• A comprehensive fan-site thePunisher.com  (http://www.thepunisher.com)
• Read The Punisher Video Game Review on FileFront.com (http://articles.filefront.com/The_Punisher_Review/;376;;;/article.html)