Conceptually, Punisher and Thanos are very different characters. Both of them might be genocidal maniacs, but their motivation for killing is completely different. They are bold enough to pull off some shit that no one in the Marvel multiverse would want to engage in. But their Motive is completely different. Frank Castle punishes criminals and crooks. he targets gangsters and operates in ways similar to Batman. On the other hand, Thanos has a tendency to end entire planets on a whim. The reason for his extremely indifferent approach to killing is because of his allure with the personification of death.
We feel that all of this senseless murder makes sense just a little because of Punisher’s wrath rather than Thanos’ nihilism. Yet, the writers at Marvel comics thought it fit to change the origin of The Punisher to be more in line with Thanos. I am not kidding. If you were to ask a comic fan, what is the origin of The Punisher, then they would be happy to point out that Frank Castle was a marine who lost his shit when his wife and daughter were killed in front of him. The story is not awfully original and marvel mostly just used the Max Payne template. The Punisher added another layer to the drunk ex-cop vigilante cliche.
Punisher And Thanos
As far Thanos is concerned, he was always a genocidal maniac. Ever since his introduction, it was thought that since Thanos was a rip-off of Darkseid, he was also supposed to be just as tyrannical and angry. But in a comic run by Jason Aaron and Simone Bianchi titled Thanos Rising, it was revealed that Thanos had not always been this way. Just like his family, The Eternals, Thanos was also a pacifist at the time of birth. But the personification of death used her powers and influence to slowly change him into the Mad Titan.
Up until this comic run, it was always thought that Thanos’ actions were only meant to appease the Goddess of Death while the latter had little interest in the said ongoing. But it seems that to death, Thanos is one of her most important pawns. A similar thing has now been done to The Punisher aka Frank Castle. Jason Aaron’s Punisher #2 makes a substantial change to the origin of Frank Castle’s vigilante persona. You see, this comic run introduces The Hand to the Punisher universe. Not only is it revealed that The High Priestess of The Hand was responsible for shaping the castle much like Death shaped Thanos.
But the audience is also told that The High Priestess believes Frank to be “First of The Beast”. We are not quite sure what it means. But it cannot be something good. The comic also reveals that Frank had violent tendencies ever since he was a child and he was susceptible to hurting people. This side of his personality was fueled by The Hand’s manipulation of his life. It is shown that Frank was a very violent child, he collected gun magazines, and knives and even killed a man before he turned 12.
The Future
The High Priestess even approached Castle when he was just a child. It is still unclear whether The Hand had anything to with the slaughter of Castle’s wife and children but we fear that that might be the case. The Hand might be the new villains for The Punisher to pursue. It doesn’t matter whether they had been responsible for the massacre historically or not. Marvel is trying to change the origin of the character to make the story more interesting. But this also changes the motivations of the character.
Punisher and Thanos are not who you say they are. They are their own characters. Thanos is not a pacifist, he is a tyrant and genocidal maniac. Similarly, Frank Castle is not crazy, he is just very angry at the death of his family. This motivation is what gives the reader the allure to pick up a comic and read it.
Let us know what you think about this new origin story for The Punisher down in the comments and keep watching this space for everything Marvel, DC, and Hollywood. Excelsior!!!
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