Two Years Ago, Marvel Revealed the Punisher’s Darkest Secret

He may be one of the Marvel Universe’s most lethal killers, but there’s always been a real, tragic side to the Punisher. There’s not a Marvel fan alive who doesn’t know the awful origin story behind the gun-toting vigilante. Frank Castle, a soldier and family man, was with his wife and children enjoying a normal day in the park when they were caught in the crossfire of two warring mob families. Castle was the only survivor, and he dedicated his life to eliminating crime in all its forms.

Nearly every creator who has worked on the Punisher has emphasized this tragic element. It drives him just as much as Peter losing Uncle Ben or Batman losing his parents. It also really humanizes Frank because, really, who can’t empathize with someone who lost the people closest to him? But while most stories often paint the picture of Castle’s pre-Punisher life as a more ideal one, there’s a dark secret in Frank Castle’s past, and he was forced to come face-to-face with a painful truth that completely flips his origin on its head.

Punisher was Facing Divorce Before His Family Was Killed

The 2022 Punisher run by Jason Aaron, Paul Azaceta, and Jesus Saiz took Frank to a dark place, turning him into the Fist of the Beast and the leader of the immortal clan, the Hand. But what kept him in this role was the fact that the Hand had resurrected Maria Castle, Frank’s deceased wife. It wasn’t a trick or stunt, but his honest-to-goodness wife. However, Maria didn’t know just how much killing Frank had done in her and their children’s name, only to discover his history as the Punisher, which horrified her.

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Eventually, the heroes of the Marvel Universe stormed the Hand’s compound to liberate Frank and figure out what to do with him. He spent days in Doctor Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum, visited by numerous people he’s worked with. Among the visitors is Maria, but she didn’t come to help Frank; she came to make her feelings completely clear. She told Frank that before that day in the park, she was going to ask for a divorce, and with a fresh opportunity, she officially broke it off with him, taking his assets in the process.

This series makes it clear that the days before Frank became the Punisher were not as ideal as fans thought. After serving in combat, Frank was distant and colder towards his family. He couldn’t connect with Maria or their children, and it got to a point where Maria felt their family had already fallen apart. Unable to cope with the shift in Frank’s personality, Maria was going to end things, but Frank never knew because she was killed before ever getting a chance to bring it up.

The Punisher’s War is the Exact Opposite of What His Family Wanted

On the surface, you can kind of understand why Frank chose his path as the Punisher. He was an extremely skilled soldier, his family was killed by criminals, and he wanted to use his skills as a soldier to avenge his wife and children’s deaths by taking out criminals. But the tragedy is that Frank had already lost his family. He was massively affected by the PTSD he was quietly suffering from, and it took a toll on Maria (and most likely the children as well).

What makes the Punisher’s whole dynamic worse is that in becoming the infamous vigilante, Frank only went further down the path that led him away from his family. As Maria pointed out before breaking things off completely, Frank could have honored their memories in other ways. Donating to charities, doing good works. Instead, he went back into soldier mode, giving himself over to violence instead of confronting the pain he was harboring. Had Frank confronted that pain a little earlier, things could have been different for him and his family.

As popular as he is, we have to accept that Frank is, at his core, a damaged person. He didn’t have the tools to help himself when he and his family needed him, and that was going to drive them away long before Maria and the children lost their lives. It was tragic enough with Frank losing his family and becoming the Punisher. But knowing that Frank was already in the process of pushing them away before they were taken makes the Punisher’s origin sting just a little bit more.

What do you think about the Punisher’s origin story? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts on the ComicBook Forum!