6 Times That 'The Punisher' Crossed The Line And Killed Superheroes

It's fascinating to think that one of the most formidable characters in the entire Marvel Universe wouldn't have a single superpower, yet Frank Castle fits that build. Frank Castle, aka The Punisher, is a fan-favorite among the plethora of heroes in Marvel Comics - yet his strength is sheer willpower, military training and a thirst for vengeance.

With Jon Bernthal's powerful portrayal of The Punisher in Marvel's Daredevil Season 2 on Netflix, fans wanted more and a solo-series was fast tracked to released in November 2017 to countless fans excitement. Yet his lack of superpowers has always led many to dispute his status as one of the most powerful, but once you look through the comics you find dozens of instances where The Punisher goes toe-to-toe with some of the most well-known heroes in the Marvel Universe. Although these interactions are often in alternate universes, the fact remains that The Punisher has gone through the heroes of Marvel like a hot knife through butter.

The Fall of Spider-Man

In an alternate Marvel Universe, 95126 to be specific, we run into the aptly named story line: The Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe, where that is exactly what happens. In this arc, we learn that heroes with superpowers are the reason that Frank's family was killed. Since we know The Punisher as a man who won't stop until bringing vengeance to every person involved in his families' death, Frank begins on his quest by going after the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. While battling Venom, Spider-Man notices that the sewer is rigged with tasers everywhere, but neither he nor Venom can escape and are rendered helpless. Spider-Man sees The Punisher and asks why he's being targeted. Frank responds by saying to himself, "because somebody had to be first."

Lights Out For Cyclops

Another powerful story line in the Marvel Comics is when The Punisher takes on the Marvel Universe. With a similar tone to The Punisher Kills The Marvel Universe, this story finds Frank Castle as part of the NYPD Swat Team when it arrives to find the aftermath of an invading force, the X-Men and the Avengers - with Franks wife and child killed in the conflict.

Cyclops is the first hero to interact with Frank and tries to console him by explaining that there was no time for an evacuation. This is when The Punisher is "born" and he shoots Cyclops in the head before shooting at the remaining heroes killing Jubilee and Hawkeye before being subdued by Wolverine and Colossus.

Wolverine Is Shocked To Death... Literally

Toward the end of the Punisher's warpath in the Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe saga, Frank encounters a drunk Wolverine. With Wolverine already out of sorts, it doesn't take The Punisher long to gain the upper hand in the fight and toss Wolverine into an electrical generator.

This is the sort of flexibility that an alternative universe allows, since Wolverine has survived similar near-death experiences before. But in this venture, Wolverine is left as nothing more than a skeleton and allows The Punisher to move on to his final targets.

Captain America Surrenders

In probably the darkest alternative universe, we find Earth-11080, where a powerful virus has taken control of the majority of the planet causing countless citizens to turn into unstoppable cannibals. The virus effects the entire world's population, including several superheroes and villains alike - which gives the Punisher the means in which to add to his kill count.

Early on in this story line, The Punisher is given one of his greatest tests: killing his hero, Captain America. It's here that The Punisher teams up with Captain America, Wolverine and Deadpool to stop the enraged and infected Hulk. While searching, the team splits up to face the growing mob of cannibals and search for Hulk - Captain America stays with The Punisher to focus on the mob, but in the middle of the fight it appears that Cap starts showing signs of infection.

While still in control of his own actions, Captain America begs The Punisher to kill him.

Captain America ... Again

In the same The Punisher Kills story line where The Punisher kills three heroes within a page turn, we find that Captain America is the main cause of The Punisher's misery. As the leader of the Avengers, Cap is directly responsible for the death of Frank Castle's family - at least that's how he sees it.

Although it appears that Cap has the upper hand in their scuffle, Captain America calls Frank a disgrace to the military. Frank's resolve is only hardened as he points out that Captain America had no idea what sort of war Frank had been waging as he had thought their entire fight through and stashed a pistol. As Frank reveals the pistol, he pulls the trigger and shoots Captain America in the head, leaving only one more hero to be hunted down.

Daredevil Tries To Sway The Punisher, But Fails

After watching Daredevil and The Punisher in the Netflix series, the relationship between two unlikely heroes was born in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But the two characters have a long history in the comics, and that is no different in the Punisher Kills alternate universe. Daredevil, aka Matt Murdock, is one of The Punisher's closest allies - even though Frank doesn't know Matt's true identity. Throughout the comics The Punisher has killed Daredevil a couple times: cannibal Daredevil on purpose, and accidentally by shooting him with a tranquilizer dart that causes him to fall from a building. Yet, in the Punisher Kills story line, we find that The Punisher saves Daredevil to be his final foe.

As the battle rages, Daredevil tries to sway The Punisher, but his words fall on deaf ears as The Punisher stabs Daredevil. Yet, with his final, Daredevil reveals that his true identity was Matt Murdock - teaching Frank that every person he has killed was a real person behind the mask.