It turns out that one of the Punisher's exceptions to his mission aren't getting off as lightly as previously thought. One brutal moment shows that killing isn't the only way that Frank Castle knows how to dish out punishment.
As one of the most feared figures in the Marvel Universe, the Punisher stops at nothing to make criminals who bring death and terror to innocents pay. From street-level baddies to powerful supervillains, Frank Castle's operation has taken out a number of killers. However, while Castle is determined to stop every criminal he can, there are limits to his work. The Punisher won't kill cops, or other members of legitimate authority such as soldiers. Even when pursued by forces intent on killing him, Frank won’t kill police officers. The Punisher is, after all, a former Marine and a firm believer that armed forces are one of the few things that can keep law and order.
However, Frank definitely proved that just because there's a line he won't cross, that doesn't mean anyone is safe from him. So how exactly does the Punisher handle overzealous cops and other authoritative groups? The alarmingly brutal answer comes in Tim Bradstreet and Garth Ennis’ Punisher Max #57. A group of soliders is tasked with bringing in the Punisher, and even though Frank has already left several injured, the group presses on with their mission. They track Punisher to a building where the vigilante is already prepared to disarm them. The soldiers breach Frank's hideout, only to be met with baseball bats to the head and a crate full of flash grenades all triggered at once. Though several soldiers wind up with their eardrums blown out, one suspects that this was an instance of the Punisher pulling his punches and trying not to kill anyone.
Needless to say, despite being one of Marvel’s greatest killers, Punisher effectively manages to handle an extremely intense situation with absolutely no bloodshed. While some fans have argued that there's a bit of hypocrisy to Frank Castle's methods of being judge, jury and executionor, he remains remarkably consistent on his rule that cops, soldiers and the like are not to be killed. But Frank needs a way to handle law enforcement if he wants to stay committed to his mission and his brutal, yet non-lethal methods may be his only option.
Frank knows he’s committing illegal acts as a vigilante and he knows that it’s the job of peacekeepers to stop the Punisher. But Frank can't, or more likely, won't stop his endless war to eliminate crime, so colliding with law enforcement is bound to happen from time to time. Frank needs a way of handling cops or soldiers in a way that acts like a deterrent, but one that won't punish people simply for doing their jobs. Perhaps it's not the most effective system, but it prevents the Punisher from crossing the one line he's set for himself.