The Punisher went through some pretty major changes in 2022, going from a street-level vigilante to the super-powered leader of the Hand ninja clan all in the course of a single year. 2023 looks to continue the “King of Killers” story of Frank Castle’s acceptance as leader of the Hand, so now is the perfect time to look back on the major changes the character went through over the last year.
Created by Gerry Conway, John Romita, Sr. and Ross Andru, the Punisher made his first appearance in 1974 in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man. After getting his first solo series in the 1980s, the character shot to new levels of popularity, with the Punisher starring in no less than three monthly titles at one point in the nineties. He’s remained one of Marvel’s most popular characters ever since, being adapted in numerous films, TV shows, cartoons and video games throughout the years. More recently, the Punisher’s infamous skull logo has been adopted and appropriated by various far-right extremist organizations, causing Marvel Comics to rethink the character’s future. The new Punisher series launched in 2022 seeks to address the controversy, with the Punisher adopting a new logo and trading in his guns for a sword.
Coming from the creative team of Jason Aaron, Jesus Saiz and Paul Azaceta, the new Punisher series wastes no time in shaking up Frank Castle’s world. The Punisher joins up with the Hand once they give him the one thing he could never get back, no matter how many criminals he took out of commission: his deceased wife, Maria. Making him their “High Slayer,” the Punisher uses his new army of ninja assassins to take out high-powered criminals he otherwise wouldn’t have had access to. This brings him into conflict with Ares, the god of war and Frank’s former patron saint, who is none too pleased to find his greatest disciple forsaking him to worship the Beast of the Hand. Frank’s gone through quite the transformation as a result of all of this, not just adopting a new logo and ninja weaponry, but also being gifted with his own set of supernatural abilities.
The Punisher’s Transformation Made Him Into The Leader Of the Hand.
As leader of the Hand ninja clan, the Punisher has gone through his most significant transformation in the character’s near sixty year history. The most dramatic change is the alteration of his logo from the traditional large white skull to a Japanese-styled variant with devil horns and sharpened fangs. It’s reminiscent of the Punisher's original skull logo, but far more appropriate to his new role as a ninja warlord. As a symbol to strike fear into the hearts of his enemies, it’s equally as effective as Frank’s classic skull insignia.
In addition to his new logo, the Punisher also has a new suit patterned after his Hand brethren. Aside from wearing a mask to disguise his face, Frank has fully embraced the ninja lifestyle, albeit modified to suit his own purposes. Frank also adds a touch of the samurai in the armor he wears, with a breastplate, shoulder guards and arm bands giving the character a slightly regal look, as befits a warlord. Perhaps most importantly, Frank retains his grim color scheme. Even though the Hand traditionally wear red, the Punisher’s modified his suit to be all-black -when you’ve got a trademark, you might as well stick to it.
The Punisher has also restocked his arsenal of weapons. Instead of Uzis, hand grenades and automatic pistols, Frank now makes use of a pair of katana and ninja throwing stars. Although Just because he’s switched up his tactics, it doesn’t mean that the character has softened in any way - the Punisher frequently has the worst criminals brought to him by his Hand ninjas, which he then personally decapitates with his own sword. Even if he is now using edged weapons, he hasn’t given up the use of firearms completely. Frank was given a special god-killing dagger as the High Slayer, which was shattered in his fight with the god Ares. Frank instructed the Hand to reforge the pieces of the dagger into bullets to be used in a special handgun designed to kill the god of war himself. Which is probably a good thing overall, as in a recent fight with Daredevil, the hero points out that the Punisher isn’t as gifted with a sword as he thinks he is.
The Punisher Received Powers From the Beast.
In addition to his new outfit and weaponry, Frank Castle has also been gifted with new supernatural powers in his position as High Slayer. The Hand worship a demon god known only as “the Beast,” which made its first appearance in Frank Miller and Bill Sienkiewicz’s seminal miniseries Elektra: Assassin. The Hand’s worship of the Beast is what allows them to resurrect themselves as undead ninja to serve them totally. As leader of the Hand, Frank has what are known as the Five Gifts of the Fist: The Eyes, the Fire, the Marrow, the Healing Blood and an as-yet unnamed fifth Gift.
The Eyes of the Beast appears to be a type of clairvoyance. When confronting one of Ares’ apostles of war, Frank is able to see all of the evil things he had done, not unlike Ghost Rider’s Penance Stare. Frank was also able to see the all the evil the apostle had yet to do, and sensed the apostle had a bomb wired to his heart. The Fire of the Beast gives Frank control over a demonic energy source, which manifests itself as glowing red energy emanating from his eyes and hands. Frank can imbue weapons with this energy to devastating effect, such as when he powered a dagger to kill Lord Deathstrike instantly.
The Marrow of the Beast provides Frank with increased strength, allowing him to go up against superpowered characters and hold his own, like his fight with the literal god Ares. The Healing Blood of the Beast gives Punisher a Wolverine-like healing factor. This was displayed in a scene where Frank is stabbed with a sword and pulls it out of his chest as if it were little more than a splinter, the wound healing almost instantaneously. The fifth gift has yet to be revealed, as the Hand Archpriestess who recruited Frank in the first place claims in Punisher #8, “You have now manifested all but one of the Five Gifts of the Fist.” While fighting Daredevil, Frank showed he also has the power of flight. It’s unknown if this is the unnamed fifth Gift, but given that the Hand Archpriestess claims he has yet to manifest that power yet, it can be assumed that flight comes along with his other supernatural Gifts.
The whole “King of Killers” storyline currently playing out in the monthly Punisher title will come to its conclusion this year, as Frank will face off with Ares one final time and ultimately come to a reckoning with the Hand. It remains to be seen what happens from here, but given how stories involving the Punisher usually play out, there will be a whole mess of dead bodies before the final curtain call.
2022 gave The Punisher some of his biggest changes yet, but the conclusion of the Hand storyline next year looks to be even more epic.