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Re: Frank Castle/The Punisher: Things to Read

[(Anonymous)]

I can think of two titles off the top of my head. OMG, this meme is making me go back and look at/scan old comics (yay). These are going to list spoilers so caveat lector:

I'm going to condense this as much as possible, but in Powerless, Matt is defending Frank against a murder charge for killing Owlsley. Frank is in Rikers (I think there's a reserved seat for Frank there), but Matt's sure Frank is innocent and in spite of Frank not helping Matt AT ALL, Matt is dogged about seeing justice served. He believes Fisk, the Kingpin, killed Leland. SPOILER: HE'S RIGHT. But Frank confessed to the crime because he'd lost all hope and figured one way or another he was about to die. Matt's brave (and dumb) enough to put Wilson Fisk on the witness stand in court while fighting for Frank's freedom and Fisk pretty much destroys Matt's life for it. Eventually Matt comes back around to fight for Frank's freedom again, wins it, Frank is released, him and Matt talk on the phone about second chances, and Frank admits how inspiring Matt has been to him. And then Fisk shows up at Matt's home and kills him up close and personal for being a stubborn little shit. And even though Matt was smart enough to know that he was probably about to die and called the police, Fisk got away with the murder. At least until the next day during a press conference where Frank showed up to put a bullet in Wilson's Fisk head, killing him. 'Consider yourself punished.' And then Frank takes red roses to Matt's grave. :(

The second one is a little harder to define. The Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe is a What If title, and I'd say you can safely ignore most of the story, but I will say it was stupidly popular. The emotional bookends of the story revolves around Frank and Matt being childhood friends and Frank rescuing Matt from neighbourhood bullies. They grow apart, they go their separate ways, and when they meet up again Matt has to remind Frank who he is. Frank doesn't know Matt is Daredevil.

So throughout the story, Frank is doing his Punisher thing, except this time he's blaming all the heroes for the 'collateral damage' of his family being dead. Matt is his lawyer (Matt does this so many times I've lost count) and tries to help and Frank's not listening. DD keeps hearing news of Frank killing heroes, and I mean he kills EVERYONE, one after the other, and Matt keeps trying to stop him as his lawyer every time Frank goes back to court. Frank never listens, he tells Matt to give up on him and Matt refuses. Matt wears the devilsuit and goes after the Punisher thinking maybe he can stop him as Daredevil. He catches up to Frank in Hell's Kitchen, back where Frank used to defend Matt from bullies when they were kids. They fight, they argue, DD thinks he's finally talking sense to the Punisher, but no, Frank takes the lull as an in and stabs Matt through the heart. Because Matt's just another hero. As Matt lays dying he pulls off his hornhead mask revealing he's Daredevil. Frank is horrified and, of course, Matt dies right there in front of him. And Frank pulls out his pistol and kills himself, ending the story. So, yeah, depressing, but can I just point out one thing? Have you ever seen the iconic picture of Bullseye killing Elektra with her own sai and it's all the way through her body and tenting the back of her shirt? I thought it was kind of unintentionally amusing they used a similar pose for Frank delivering the killing blow to Matt:

http://41.media.tumblr.com/6cef01bd9676c71844a73e824245a127/tumblr_inline_nryywkz94s1qbwzba_500.jpg
http://40.media.tumblr.com/feb79ae8ea066958dd861ce7a7173aae/tumblr_inline_nryyx2JaIb1qbwzba_500.jpg

*Aside, Matt has also died defending Kaine Parker, Peter Parker's mountain-sized evil clone. One panel they're fighting each other and the next Matt is trying to use his little body to shield Kaine from a hailstorm of bullets. And this is why Matt will break your heart eventually, because he'll try to protect everyone, even if they don't deserve it.

http://40.media.tumblr.com/6462906a3ecc147a49cb7f6167b64bae/tumblr_inline_ns166rlSnS1qbwzba_500.jpg
http://40.media.tumblr.com/9822ede52a574d9e8f4a06bed25b9b8a/tumblr_inline_ns166a92lP1qbwzba_500.jpg
http://40.media.tumblr.com/5c9802f625a85cc29a49f868549d9c28/tumblr_inline_ns167dhbg61qbwzba_500.jpg