WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Cosmic Ghost Rider #4 by Donny Cates, Dylan Burnett and Antonio Fabela, on sale now!
Countless memes and snarky demotivational posters have been made comparing the logic of The Punisher’s war on crime to that of other vigilante heroes like Batman. The latter’s mantra is often reduced to “if I kill a killer, the number of killers stays the same.” Castle doesn’t see it this way. Instead, he takes things further by putting the ledger of these proposed “killers” deep in the red, both in deficits and in blood.
But the problem with this is that, when a man becomes judge, jury and executioner, any notion of true justice (at least in terms of civility) goes out the window, which turns the man into the very thing he has set out to eradicate. Any sense of romantic heroism wilts away because there is an inherent hypocrisy to the ideology of Frank Castle.
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The Punisher is often best framed as a force of nature in comics. In doing so, he can easily be stripped of humanity. A barrier between the harsh reality of his crusade and the mythological version of Frank Castle can easily be erected to protect readers from applying the antihero’s methods into practice. After all, it’s nothing short of tyrannical. Now don’t get us wrong, we love seeing Castle kick in doors and lay waste to waves of scumbags who have been established as such in acts of pulpy, bullet-riddled violence.
However, the collateral damage of the Punisher’s actions are rarely quantified on a macro level. The question of what would happen if Castle’s twisted dream of creating a world free of horrendous murder actually came true has never really been answered… until now. Cosmic Ghost Rider #4 gives readers a glimpse into this becoming a reality by implanting the ideology of Castle into the Mad Titan himself, Thanos.
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Donny Cates and Dylan Burnett have created something of an anomaly in comic book hypotheticals, seeing as how, from all accounts (at least, according to Cates), the miniseries Cosmic Ghost Rider takes place in the primary Marvel continuity (Earth-616), which we suppose technically strips away any notion of “what if” and supplants it with “what is”… well, sort of (all this time-travel business will melt your brain). The story thus far revolves around Frank Castle, who, for the last several millennia, has been imbued with the Spirit of Vengeance by Mephisto and a healthy dose of cosmic powers by Galactus, resulting in him gallivanting around the galaxy in search of the wicked to punish (or just someone to talk to).
After a spell as the Black Right Hand of King Thanos, Castle finally meets his demise and heads to Valhalla, where he is promptly kicked out for being… well, being too Frank Castle-y (the guy isn't the easiest person to get along with). Granted the chance to be sent back to anywhere and anytime he wishes by the Asgardians, Castle, being the ever-vigilant voice of compassion, decides to head back to when Thanos was a baby and stop his reign of terror before it ever has a chance to blossom.
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Unfortunately, it turned out Baby Thanos was too cute, even for a cold-blooded Spirit of Vengeance. And in all of Frank Castle’s infinite wisdom, instead of snuffing out the Mad Titan, he decided it best to rehabilitate him (let that sink in for a minute). Despite not exactly leading by example, his plan worked. The results, however, were not what Castle had hoped for. It turns out the severity of punishing the wicked for their transgressions varies wildly depending on who is administering the punishment. Despite the Punisher's broken rationale, he still has a moral code. Just because Castle doesn't like someone, or maybe sees them as an eventual threat, they're not going to catch a bullet unless they act out violently.
Thanos, on the other hand, obviously sees things a bit differently. In the world he has built under the tutelage of his adoptive father (quick side note: seeing Thanos call the Punisher "dad" might be one of the most surreal things we've seen in comics in quite some time) is far more brutal than Castle could have imagined. Those who have been deemed wicked by Thanos are relegated to an inferno from which they can never escape. The Mad Titan argues that leaving someone to die and taking their lives are not one in the same, which is reasoning he learned from his "father." The argument between Castle and Thanos only highlights the failings of both of their worldviews, and, more importantly, it makes us question our own.