Punisher’s 10 Most Ruthless Villains, Ranked

The Punisher has very few notable villains, and there is a good reason for this. Frank Castle is not a superhero who captures villains and sends them to prison, only to fight them later when they break out. Instead, Punisher kills his enemies and any criminals he feels the court systems have allowed to run loose for too long. Since he just shoots to kill, his rogues’ gallery is primarily full of dead people, and if anyone fights Frank more than once, they are extremely lucky or extremely deadly. This means anyone who makes a list of Punisher’s best villains is already deadlier than most Marvel Comics villains.

From his actual repeat villains to bad guys who gave him a lot of trouble before he finally eliminated them, here is a look at Punisher’s most ruthless villains in Marvel Comics.

10) Russian

The villain known as Russian was so popular that he ended up being added to two different movies. He appeared in the 2004 The Punisher film, played by former WWE superstar Kevin Nash, and then a character that looked and dressed like him appeared in Deadpool and Wolverine, played by Billy Clements. However, as with most Punisher villains, he only appeared for a short time in Marvel Comics, debuting in Punisher Vol. 5 #8 and dying in Punisher Vol. 6 #5, one year later. He worked for Ma Gnucci and was hired to kill Punisher, so he was a hunter for Frank, rather than an initial target. He actually died three issues after his first appearance, but was resurrected with SHIELD tech, which is why he lasted over a year in the comics before Castle attached a bomb to him and threw him out of a plane to explode.

9) Agent William Rawlins

One of The Punisher’s most dangerous villains was Agent William Rawlins, and what made him so dangerous was that he was a corrupt CIA officer, so he had the United States government on his side. Rawlings was often dealing with the mafia criminal Nicky Cavella, and he was trusted inside the CIA since his father was a former field agent as well. He became more dangerous when Punisher took out one of his eyes after learning of what he did to his former co-agent, Kathryn O’Brien (he left her to the Taliban to protect a drug shipment). He ended up escaping and became a terrorist, helping the Russians, before Frank finally found and killed him. Rawlings lasted longer than many Punisher villains, debuting in Punisher Vol. 7 #14 and not dying until issue #42.

8) The Hood

The Hood is a rare Punisher villain because Frank has never killed him, and Hood remains a nemesis to many different heroes in the Marvel Comics world. Of course, right now, Hood is gone thanks to a cloak that ate him after he held Peter Parker hostage, and Black Cat got revenge. As for Hood and Punisher, they are obvious enemies since Hood took over as the kingpin when Wilson Fisk was gone from the crime scene, which made him a massive target for Frank. They encountered each other in Dark Reign when Punisher attempted to assassinate Norman Osborn, prompting Hood to request Dormammu’s powers to resurrect recently killed villains and send them after Punisher. Hood failed, and Daken killed Punisher, but Parker Robbins was still a thorn in his side.

7) Nicky Cavella

Nicky Cavella was the son of a Mafia leader who began to show a sadistic side, and his brutality allowed him to move to the top of the criminal scene. He eventually started working with Agent William Rawlins, and this gave him protection since Rawlins was still with the CIA at the time. Nicky was then sent after the Punisher after Frank took out the Cesare crime family. However, with Micro trying to convince the Punisher to work with the American counterterrorism units, this put him in a position to attack government agents as well. Nicky did so many bad things that Punisher was especially cruel to him, shooting him in the stomach and leaving him in the mountains to bleed out and die slowly. Cavella debuted in Punisher Vol. 7 #2 and died in issue #24.

6) Bushwacker

Bushwacker is a long-time Punisher villain, a bad guy who survived over 37 years of Marvel Comics history. Originally a Catholic priest, he quit when several of his young parishioners died of drug-related deaths. He joined the CIA and became an assassin, equipped with a cybernetic arm. It didn’t take long for him to become an assassin for hire and a villain, initially taking paydays to kill mutants from people who feated them. He finally caught Punisher’s attention when Bushwacker began working for Kingpin. However, Bushwacker is a complicated villain, one who has some morals and isn’t always in it for the money. However, most of his battles with Punisher were about money, as Jackal and Hood both brought him out to hunt down Frank, a job he always failed. Bushwacker did end up dead, but it was at the hands of Eddie Brock as Carnage, not Punisher.

5) Bullseye

Bullseye is, first and foremost, a Daredevil villain. He is a remorseless killer, sometimes as a gun for hire and sometimes just because Lester is a very evil and demented man. He has killed more people whom Daredevil loved than anybody, but the Man Without Fear won’t kill him. However, Punisher doesn’t have the same morals as Daredevil, and he has encountered Bullseye more than once, primarily thanks to the assassin’s relationship with Kingpin. He even fought Punisher years before he ever met Daredevil. With that said, Bullseye always escaped the final bullet from Frank Castle, and their battles were always fought almost to a draw before Bullseye always seemed to escape into the shadows. Bullseye’s biggest win over Punisher came in the Punisher vs. Bullseye miniseries from 2006, where one mafia family hired Bullseye to kill another, so he tricked Punisher into doing the killing for him.

4) Kingpin

Kingpin is someone that Punisher has wanted to kill for many years. However, the first time they faced off, it was Kingpin who almost beat Frank to death after the Punisher threatened Vanessa Fisk. This led to Punisher ending up in prison, which led to more carnage behind bars. This led to their biggest war in The Punisher Vol. 2, where Frank tried to train a small group of people to help him attack Fisk and his empire, and this caused Kingpin to send assassins after the Punisher in response. As with most of their battles, both men escaped alive, and Kingpin is yet another major villain that Punisher has never been able to kill or even take down in a fight.

3) Ma Gnucci

Ma Gnucci is the head of the Gnucci crime family. She was a massive part of one of Punisher’s best Marvel Comics storylines in Garth Ennis’s 2000 series, where Frank moved into a new apartment building and met a group of outcast friends while planning to take out the entire Gnucci family. Ma Gnucci was ruthless, though, and had connections in the NYPD, which she used to start an all-out war against Frank Castle. It was Gnucci who paid off the NYPD to start the Punisher Task Force to bring him in, and she even hired men like Russian to go after Castle. Ma Gnucci was a hugely important Punisher villain, even though she debuted in Punisher Vol. 5 #4 and was dead eight issues later. However, those eight issues made her one of Punisher’s most memorable villains.

2) Jigsaw

Jigsaw is a rare villain that Punisher left alive, but what he did instead made the man an even worse villain. Jigsaw was Billy Russo, a man who was one of the best hitmen for the Costa mob, and who was known for his good looks. After Frank’s family was killed, Billy was sent to try to kill Frank again, but failed and ended up being thrown through a glass pane, which tore his face to shreds, resulting in him becoming Jigsaw. He ended up as a persistent villain for Punisher for many years, debuting in Amazing Spider-Man #161 and not dying until Punisher: War Journal: Brother #1 in 2022. Jigsaw was also in the MAX Punisher comics, but was dead after just three issues there.

1) Barracuda

The deadliest Punisher villain of all time was part of the Punisher MAX series named Barracuda. He was one of the few villains who was good enough to warrant his storyline being named after him, as he was hired to kill Punisher once and for all. He was up to the task, with a similar past as Frank, having served in the Contra War in Nicaragua as part of the United States Special Forces. However, while Frank was a good soldier, Barracuda was more interested in drug deals and more underhanded tactics. When Henry Ebbing hired him to kill Punisher, he set his sights on him, but eventually helped Punisher take out Ebbing once and for all, only to meet a bullet from Frank’s gun for his help. Amazingly, Barracuda survived and fought Punisher two more times before he finally met his end two years later.

What are your thoughts about The Punisher and his enemies? Who do you consider his most dangerous villain in Marvel Comics history? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

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