One of the most common occurrences to happen in the Marvel Universe is for the heroes who've never met each other to come to blows over some surprising reason. It's almost a rite of passage for certain characters, like Spider-Man and Punisher. But in some worlds across the Marvel multiverse, those battles ended in tragedy for one - or eventually all - the heroes of the world.
For example, Frank Castle turned on his fellow heroes and wiped them out in many other realities, especially in Marvel's long-running alternate reality anthology What If?. Now, we're taking a look back across the Marvel Multiverse to break down what happened in the worlds where the Punisher punished Marvel's other heroes.
WHAT IF PUNISHER KILLED SPIDER-MAN?
The Punisher first appeared as a threat to Spider-Man. Having been tricked by the Jackal into thinking Spider-Man was responsible for the death of Gwen Stacy, the former soldier attacked the hero and came close to killing him. But in What If? Vol. 2 #58 by Chuck Dixon and Gordon Purcell, the Punisher was more patient in his targeting of Spider-Man. Seeing evidence of a sixth sense that protected Spider-Man from harm, Punisher decided to instead lay a trap by disguising a massive amount of plastic explosives as Doctor Octopus, luring Spider-Man in close and activating it before he could escape. The blast kills the hero instantly, and his body is quickly discovered by bystanders.
Peter's identity is revealed after the fact, proving to the world that Spider-Man had no connections to the criminal element of the city, which exonerated the late hero. Punisher quickly found himself being hunted by the various heroes of New York, who wanted to bring Castle to justice for murdering their fellow heroes. All of this came while Castle tried to hunt down Jackal. Spider-Man's many enemies tried to celebrate Spider-Man's demise with Punisher, who just uses the opportunity to wipe out all the villains. Eventually seeing Miles Warren on the news, Punisher recognizes the voice of Jackal. Punisher breaks into his office and, even while surrounded with police, seemingly pulls the trigger and kills Jackal.
WHAT IF PUNISHER KILLED DAREDEVIL?
In What If? Vol. 2 #26 by Kurt Busiek and Luke McDonnell, a confrontation between Punisher and Daredevil ended in tragedy. Although Punisher only used tranquilizers on the hero in this world and the Marvel Universe, Daredevil was too close to the edge of a building in this world and fell to his death before Punisher could respond in time. Spider-Man tries to hunt down Punisher to bring him to justice but ends up seriously wounded and unconscious in the street for his efforts. Spider-Man's identity is revealed to the world, which in turn leads to the murder of May Parker by men working for Silvermaine. In an attempt to keep superheroes from tearing up the city in pursuit of Punisher, the Mayor of New York gets a presidential order to prevent the Avengers or the Fantastic Four from getting involved in the investigation.
While Punisher continues his war on crime, Foggy Nelson and Ben Ulrich work together to bring the city's full corruption to the public, until they're murdered on the streets of New York. When Punisher finds out that Kingpin and one of his pawns have quietly used the distraction of the Punisher's antics as cover for a power grab, Castle makes his move to take them down. While he's forced to confront an enraged and maddened Peter Parker, he empties a gun into the young man's chest and makes his way to Kingpin's office. Although the villain quickly subdues and murders Castle with his bare hands, Castle is revealed to have left a bomb behind which blows up, killing Kingpin and the corrupt mayor in Castle's last moments.
WHAT IF PUNISHER KILLED THE MARVEL UNIVERSE?
In the grim Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe by Garth Ennis and Doug Braithwaite, the Punisher ended up targeting the entire universe. In this corner of the multiverse, a world exists where Frank Castle didn't lose his family due to criminal intervention. Instead, they were casualties of a battle between the Avengers, the X-Men, and an army of Kree and Skrull invaders. Enraged, Frank takes a gun and opens fire on the heroes - killing Cyclops, Jubilee and Hawkeye. Frank is sentenced to life in prison but is released by the mysterious Kesselring, who gives Frank the means to take revenge on all the superheroes of the world.
Frank's crusade takes him across the Marvel Universe, where he kills Spider-Man, Venom, Hulk and Kingpin by surprise. He murders Doom inside his own castle and lures the X-Men and their enemies to the moon only to nuke them. Over the next few months, Punisher made his way through the heroes of the universe, eventually even killing Captain America with a revolver to the head. The only hero left is Daredevil, after which Punisher decides to give up his mission. Punisher kills him, only to discover that the hero was Matt Murdock, who was a childhood friend of Castle in this world. As Daredevil dies, Punisher realizes what he's done and kills himself, permanently taking the last hero out of this world.