It’s certainly shaping up to be a week to remember if you’re a fan of The Punisher, now isn’t it? Aside from yesterday’s reveal of Jon Bernthal in full costume taken from the upcoming Netflix series, more details are slowly creeping their way online when it comes to what lies ahead for Frank Castle in the comic book medium.
As you may remember, James Rhodes unfortunately met his end during the events of Civil War II. But, as it turns out, his War Machine armor won’t be going to waste because – get this – Castle will be picking up where Iron Man’s best buddy left off this fall as part of the Marvel Legacy initiative! That’s right, the deadliest mech suit around has fallen into the most dangerous hands possible.
Originally, I scoffed at this idea because I like seeing Castle as more of a stripped down vigilante who can easily exist outside of the Marvel Universe – and often has in his feature films. But when I really thought about it, I couldn’t help but open myself to the possibility of seeing the Punisher mowing down fools with Gatling guns mounted on his shoulders. If I could swallow Death Wish 3’s over the top third act, then I can surely buy into this, right?
Recently, the new creative team of Matthew Rosenberg and Guiu Vilanova sat down with Newsarama to talk about the new status quo. Here’s what Rosenberg had to say about the situation after first likening a Punisher imbued with War Machine armor to a “kid in a candy store,” and then saying this he’s nothing like his predecessor:
“Frank is the inverted nightmare version of that. He is all the anger and hatred and vengeance that is built into our society, personified. The Punisher brings up a lot of uncomfortable questions about who we are as a society and what we are willing to let happen and what we’d like to see done. So, putting Frank in Rhodey’s armor felt so wrong to me at first. It felt almost blasphemous. It wasn’t until I realized this wasn’t a superhero story anymore that I got it. This isn’t a celebration of the Punisher taking on the mantle of War Machine and becoming a hero. This is a look into how easily War Machine can become overshadowed by the Punisher when it falls into the wrong hands.”
The mayhem begins this November in the pages of The Punisher #218, so be sure to pick up a copy once it hits stands.
