Marvel Fan Imagines What Old Man Punisher Would Look Like

The Mark Millar and Steve McNiven comic series Old Man Logan quickly became a blockbuster corner [...]

By Spencer Perry

The Mark Millar and Steve McNiven comic series Old Man Logan quickly became a blockbuster corner of the Marvel Universe since it premiered as the publisher has gone back to the wasteland a lot in the time since. Old Man Logan not only joined the proper Marvel Universe (and even went back to his own timeline) but other tales in other corners of that world have had their own comics with Old Man Hawkeye, Old Man Quill, and Avengers of the Wastelands all being published. Unlike what we saw in the pages of Old Man Logan Annual #1, one fan took it upon themselves to further explore one character's life as an "Old Man" with some Old Man Punisher fan art that gives him the title but takes him out of the wasteland.

Reddit user /u/victorhartworks posted the art in the Marvel subreddit, showing off a tattered and grizzled old Frank Castle ready to get down to business. They write, "Lately, I've been thinking about a new Punisher story, darker and grittier than ever, and I made what would be my idea for this 'Old Man' Punisher cover and just wanted to share with some fans. It wouldn't be set in the future like other 'old man' comic versions, this would take place in the present day."

The above idea seems to have more in common in with writer Brian Michael Bendis' proposed "Punisher: End of Days" comic storyline, a spin-off of the Daredevil: End of Days series, which would have focused on a very old and still very active Frank Castle in the far future. The series was announced by Bendis and Marvel in 2017, focusing on a world with The Punisher "trying to attempt his final 'Punish.'"

"What I love about [The Punisher]...is that it's like the Angel of Death comes to the story," Bendis said at the time. "There are the good guys vs bad guys and then the Angel of Death shows up and you don't know who he is for, we don't know why and we don't know when, and it's pretty amazing. When I'm writing him, you not only hear about him and his days in other places but you also get what people think about Frank. That is so much scarier than he actually is. In real life, he is a wounded soul, but everyone's perspective of him is terror. Think about it: Whenever somebody says 'I'm going to punish you for your sins'—and everyone knows they've done something wrong—or they start to think 'what have I done for him to punish me?' you get terrified!"

The project never saw the light of day after Bendis' surprise move over to DC Comics, but he remains supportive is Marvel wished to publish it anyway.

"If Marvel decides to continue the project with David and others I completely support that decision," Bendis wrote on Tumblr. "David had done a lot more groundwork on it [than] I had. I hope they pursue it… if it fits their editorial plans."

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