The New Punisher Just Killed His First Marvel Villain

After Frank Castle was banished to a different realm and gave up his title and guns, Marvel's main comic universe was without a Punisher. Granted that doesn't mean that Marvel will no longer have a Punisher, as just this week a brand new Punisher #1 was published by Marvel Comics. The new Punisher #1 introduces a brand new man with a bulletproof vest and a skull design. Frank Castle isn't dead, but for all intents and purposes moving forward, Marvel's Punisher is a new guy on the block named Joe Garrison. Now Joe Garrison has only been The Punisher for one comic so far, but he's already put a big Marvel villain in a body bag. Spoilers follow!

Punisher #1 hits the ground running, with Joe Garrison on the hunt for someone from his past who did the unthinkable, killed his family in retaliation for something he did previously. See, Garrison isn't just a guy, he's a former black-ops soldier that has done shady things previously. As a result, someone wants revenge, and when they get it he decides to get his own revenge, suiting up in a costume reminiscent of The Punisher, Garrison is on the trail of a man called The Sokovian, a criminal that knows who killed his family. The Sokovian tries to hide from Garrison at first by paying of The Inner Demon Gang to protect him, when that goes south he finds a Marvel villain to do the same thing, paying him with a ton of Mutant Growth Hormone. That villain, none other than Doctor Zabo aka Hyde.

When Garrison finds their location, Zabo quickly injects himself to become his super-strong alternate persona. Hyde immediately takes a shot to the chest from Garrison's railgun, grabbing The Punisher with his giant hand. Garrison reacts quickly though, stabbing him in the eye with a tool. Their fight continues through the subway tunnels and eventually lands them inside a station. Faced with potentially dying on just his first night out as The Punisher, Garrison thinks fast and shoves a giant handful of Mutant Growth Hormone. As he explains, in excessive doses, MGH is fatal, and though it does cause Hyde to grow and mutate even further it then causes his eyes to roll back into his head, and his body to slump to the floor.

Who is Marvel's new Punisher?

Only a bit is revealed about Joe Garrison's backstory in Punisher #1, but since he's a brand new character we'll continue to learn more about him as the series continues. What we do find out is that he's a former black-ops SHIELD agent, one who worked "off the books" from the primary organization. So what did Joe Garrison do for SHIELD? Nothing nice, but the examples he gives are "assassinating Hydra generals" to "wiping out Latverian splinter cells." His former handler that he worked with at SHIELD, known only as Triple-A, who helps him track targets and assemble his equipment.

At home Joe had a wife, Stephanie, and two children, Danny and Laura (sound familiar?). What becomes clear in the pages of Punisher #1 is that Joe's work with SHIELD was dirty, but he hung it up and retired to be with his family. Someone however found out who he was, and took out their revenge on him by planting explosives in his house, killing his wife and two children. Like Frank Castle before him, the revenge mission begins with a personal vendetta.

Punisher #2
(W) David Pepose (A) Dave Wachter (CA) Rod ReisNO ONE ESCAPES THE PUNISHER!
Deep in the heart of New York City, the crime lord known as the Offer trades in every currency on the planet. Barricaded within his fortified tower, he is defended by an army of guards, the latest in cutting-edge security and a team of stone-cold super villains capable of slaughtering a battalion. With the limitless resources at his disposal, the Offer thinks he is untouchable. He's about to learn that no one escapes the Punisher.
Rated T+

In Shops: Dec 13, 2023

SRP: $4.99