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00:00So with Daredevil Season 2 coming out this week, what I wanted to do here is spend the
00:04next several days running over the miniseries titled Marvel Universe vs. The Punisher.
00:09And what I'm hoping is that at the end of all this, you'll have had a pretty good time,
00:12but also have a better understanding of how Frank Castle deals with being one of the last
00:16surviving humans on Earth, as well as how this story differentiates itself from the one-shot
00:21comic, Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe. So the Marvel Universe vs. The Punisher was a
00:26four-part series written in 2010 by Jonathan Mayberry and was designed to isolate and highlight
00:31the one-man army concept of Frank Castle as it had been established by writer Garth Ennis.
00:37What I mean here is that for those of you who have not seen my video on The Punisher Explained,
00:40which you'll find in the description, prior to Ennis' run on Marvel Knights Punisher in 2000 and
00:452001, as well as the start of Punisher Max Volume 1 in January of 2004, most of Frank Castle's stories
00:51in the late 1980s leading up to the mid-1990s were largely considered one-shots contained within a
00:56single volume. While this allowed writers the freedom to depict Frank Castle in different ways,
01:01ranging from team-ups with and against major heroes, as well as focus on efforts in subduing
01:05criminals, the problem with this method of storytelling was that it took away from creating
01:09an immersive environment where the reader could literally track the actions of Frank Castle over time.
01:14While Ennis had been slowly building towards this idea with Marvel Knights, which served as a way for
01:19Marvel to outsource their publications amidst the near collapse of the comic industry, in 2004 when
01:24Garth Ennis launched Punisher Max, because the Max line of comics was designed to be adult-oriented,
01:29the violence, nudity, and language contained within allowed Ennis to literally provide fans with the
01:33Punisher series they'd been waiting for. This combined with the fact that Garth Ennis' first Max run
01:38spanned 75 issues and was composed of 13 story arcs, all of which maintained a singular continuity,
01:44the cohesiveness of the Punisher series came together to form this wholly celebrated story
01:48that elevated Frank Castle from an anti-hero restrained by decency to an absolute wrecking
01:52machine cutting a swath of the criminal underworld in a hail of bullets and blood.
01:56Now while Mayberry was restricted a bit in that the Marvel Universe vs the Punisher was not part of
02:01the Marvel Max line and did not allow him to depict acts of gratuitous violence and carnage,
02:06the story still maintained elements of Punisher Max in terms of the darker nature and the melancholy
02:10tone of the story dealing with the collapse of society. Having said that, as we get into this,
02:16one of the best elements of Mayberry's writing came in the form of Frank Castle's monologue
02:20by way of the War Journal. To sidetrack here, the concept of the War Journal dates back to 1988
02:25with the series Punisher War Journal. Designed to be a companion to the main Punisher series in that
02:30War Journal was essentially a sequence of entries regarding Punisher's missions, who he was killing
02:34and why, because the concept proved to be so popular within the pages of the main Punisher comics,
02:40Marvel began the process of including War Journal entries explaining his current exploits outside of the
02:44events within the War Journal line of comics. That said, in this alternate reality, the mission of
02:49the Punisher is to track down and attempt to kill Deadpool, something he spent the last two days
02:54trying to do. In addition to this, the problem Castle faces is that while he has killed Wade 32
03:00times before which included burying, burning, dropping him into a river, and even weighing him down with
03:04rocks, because of his healing factor and because an unknown individual keeps freeing him, Wade keeps
03:09reforming himself where he goes on to taunt Castle in a cat and mouse game. Now, where he is finally
03:14successful in capturing Wade and cuts him into pieces believing that if he buries them in separate
03:19locations, it'll keep Wade from reforming, Mayberry takes the opportunity to provide us with a backstory
03:24of what had happened, leading to the world ending up the way it did. What we're told is that somewhere
03:29along the line, Punisher had killed Daredevil and while both Matt Murdock and Wade had been a part of
03:34whatever laid waste to the planet, neither of them were the catalyst. Traveling back to the first
03:38signs that something was wrong, Castle tells us that prior to the collapse of everything, Spider-Man
03:43and Rhino had engaged in a fight with one another. Where their battle had stretched several blocks in
03:47New York leading to Madison Square Garden and interrupting a Rangers hockey game, instead of
03:52standing down once Rhino had been defeated, Spider-Man actually began to eat him. Now, regarding this bit of
03:57storytelling, Mayberry is actually drawing from two elements. The first is the Marvel Zombies event,
04:03and the second is the inherent nature of the human community in the Marvel Universe.
04:08What I mean here is that with Mayberry having contributed to the Marvel Zombies landscape with
04:12the Wolverine tie-in, which focused on Logan during the Zombies Civil War, within the comics themselves,
04:17because Spider-Man was so popular as a hero, the initial response of humanity was that he was
04:21defeating a well-known villain in front of their eyes, something many of them had only ever seen on
04:26television. While the Fantastic Four had been called in and were able to subdue Peter, in the days
04:31following the incident, as the world's foremost scientist, Reed Richards had been answering a
04:35series of questions from all directions as to whether or not it was an isolated incident and
04:39if Peter had become a zombie. Now, the influence of the Marvel Zombies series came in that with
04:44Peter not really being a zombie, instead, his mind had been altered in a way that resulted in him
04:49devolving into an animalistic state. In addition to this, the idea of Spider-Man's actions being an
04:54isolated incident were proven false when Frank Dukes, also known as The Blob, had gone into a
04:58Chinese restaurant and consumed every human being inside. Following this and over the course of the
05:04next several days, the pattern of cannibalistic behavior among Marvel's heroes and villains
05:08continued to sweep across North America, with Daredevil consuming several nuns as well as humans
05:12themselves being affected and attacking other humans. Now again, the final step in Mayberry differentiating
05:18this story from the events of Marvel Zombies is that instead of simply consuming flesh,
05:22these cannibals were actually waging war on one another using human remains as decorative pieces
05:27and taking on a culture similar to the primitive Germanic tribes during the days of the Roman Empire.
05:32Now for Frank Castle himself, while the internet blacked out after a month in the wake of utilities
05:37failing and society collapsing, small groups of heroes and humans emerged in an effort to stave off
05:41the cannibals and consolidate the remnants of society. Where most of these groups were short-lived in
05:46that Castle, Wolverine, and Rogers had fought together and Susan Storm had attempted to keep her family
05:50protected. When Rogers became infected, Castle had put him down and Susan Storm had killed Valeria and
05:56Franklin once they turned as well. Continuing to fast-track the history of events, Castle tells us
06:01that somewhere along the line, Ben Grimm had formed a tribe within the remnants of the Baxter building
06:05taking Carol Danvers and Polaris' wives, where he also consumed a large majority of people.
06:10While Castle was able to destroy him after spending a year amassing enough armament to pull it off,
06:14Naaman the Submariner had killed those humans taking refuge in ships and Thor had simply left for Asgard
06:19after he was forced to kill the infected warriors of Ares and Hercules. Now where Mayberry had left
06:24things largely ambiguous regarding how it was that Punisher had survived so long amidst the
06:29cannibalistic heroes with powers, this question is answered when Castle winds back to the events
06:34before the start of the infection. What he tells us is that at some point he had come across information
06:39regarding the Russian Mafia engaging in an arms deal with a Middle Eastern extremist group involving the
06:44possibility of a suitcase nuke. While Castle was able to break into the warehouse and interrupt the arms deal,
06:49after engaging in a firefight and killing all those involved, he was splashed with a biological weapon
06:53of unknown origin. Now the reason for Mayberry including this bit of writing is to point to the
06:58inherent flaw of Frank Castle himself. What I mean here is that when Castle discovers the criminal
07:03activities of nefarious individuals within Marvel Comics, he does not usually take the time to
07:08investigate what's happening and why. Instead, he simply arrives at the scene and if he witnesses a crime
07:13taking place, he kills everyone and walks away. As a result, Castle does not take into account the
07:19issue of collateral damage and the idea that his violent acts may have unforeseen consequences.
07:25Seeing this to its fruition within the story, after the collapse of society and while investigating
07:29the chemicals himself, Castle learned that the biological weapon was an unfinished experiment on how
07:34to survive in an environment following global nuclear war or some other kind of unspecified calamity.
07:39To this end, the chemical modified the genes of humans allowing their bodies to adapt to virtually
07:44any environment, allowing them to breathe any kind of toxic atmosphere but also consume virtually any
07:50material in order to keep their bodies alive. Now while Mayberry does not provide a direct answer
07:55as to why Castle had not succumbed to cannibalism, he instead offers a theory picked by Hank McCoy stating
08:00that because Frank Castle had been hit with such a heavy dose of the chemical, his body had essentially
08:05formed an immunity to all forms of illness and disease without the side effects of cannibalism.
08:10Now again, because Castle didn't give any thought to the aftermath of his actions,
08:14instead of calling in a hazardous material crew to clean up the mess, instead, he simply left.
08:19As a result, the chemical made its way into New York's water supply due to its ability to survive in
08:23any environment. To this end, the chemical itself was spread throughout the crops and food sources all
08:28along the eastern seaboard where it was consumed by virtually everyone in the country. While not all
08:33individuals became cannibals due to their immunity to the infection, once the scientific community
08:38became aware of the fact that the chemical had spread across the country, because it had been
08:42developed in a private lab, none of the scientists knew what it was or how to handle it. Now during
08:47this time, and because those becoming cannibals were considered isolated incidents, with New York
08:51containing JFK International Airport, infected individuals were continuing to travel internationally
08:56not knowing that they were infected, which led to the illness spreading to every corner of the planet.
09:01However, once the infection began to hit the mainstream after Peter Parker's incident,
09:06because the chemical did not provide any symptoms of its presence besides cannibalistic behavior and
09:10primitive actions, the early attacks were attributed to violence related to the economic downturn or
09:15violent video games. But as more and more scientists operated under the leadership of Richards in
09:19investigating the infection, after tracing the chronology of the attacks to their source,
09:23the world's top minds including Hank Pym, Beast, Adam Brashear, Victor Von Doom, and Reed Richards himself,
09:29had all come to the realization that while they had figured out the cause of the infection,
09:33because it had been spreading around the world for a year, it was virtually impossible to react
09:37in a way that would maintain society as they knew it. And so as the first issue comes to a close,
09:42we continue with Frank Castle as he works to track down Spider-Man, who he considers to be patient zero,
09:47or the first person to be infected with the virus, but also openly admitting and coming to grips with the
09:52fact that because of his negligence, he had essentially killed the world.
09:57With that being said, we're going to bring this video to an end, I hope you guys enjoyed it,
10:00and let me know down in the comments section what you guys think about this story so far,
10:04because to be honest, I think it's probably one of the best stories from Punisher in a long time,
10:09and I will catch you guys later. Peace.
10:13So as we continue our series on the Marvel Universe vs. the Punisher, we pick up now with issue number
10:18two and Frank Castle's attempts to track down and eliminate Spider-Man. So opening up with Castle
10:24engaging in a fight with the Incredible Hulk, Punisher continues the trend of providing bits and
10:28pieces of backstory to the events that unfolded during the collapse of society after the infection
10:33of Earth's superpowered community and normal humans. While Castle admits that he has avidly avoided
10:38fighting the Incredible Hulk due to his tremendous strength, he also tells us that following the
10:42infection of the world, while Castle had been forced to put down Captain America after he became
10:46infected, Wolverine had attempted to subdue the Hulk. Now something to take note of here is that Mayberry
10:52is actually setting a precedent in relation to Adamantium. Where Marvel Comics as a whole have
10:57routinely established that Adamantium is considered to be unbreakable, one of the biggest questions that has
11:02played comics is whether or not the unlimited strength of the Hulk could actually break Adamantium
11:07at some point along the line. Answering this question, while this is an alternate reality and
11:12not part of the main Marvel continuity, Mayberry tells us that if the Hulk were made angry enough,
11:17he would actually be able to break Adamantium, something demonstrated when he had broken Wolverine's
11:22arm off and consumed Wolverine entirely. In addition to this, Mayberry also tells us that despite his
11:28incredible strength, Hulk is not without his weaknesses. Taking aim with an arrow and using
11:32a knife as a tip, Castle is able to penetrate the orbital socket of the Hulk, penetrating his brain
11:37and killing him in the process. Now to be honest, I wouldn't really put too much stock in this since
11:42Castle killing the Hulk in this manner really seems to be more about progressing the story more so than
11:47anything else, especially since the Hulk is popular enough that fans would undoubtedly want to see what
11:52had happened to his character. But when Castle is able to neutralize the Hulk, his attention is drawn by a
11:57cry for help from a normal human. Now as we go forward into this bit of the story, something I'd
12:02like you to take notice of is that Mayberry is essentially telling us that there's more going
12:06on than meets the eye. Referencing our last video and our discussion on how Punisher simply barges into
12:12situations with no real thought to the consequences, this trend continues when the calls of help lead
12:17him to a church where he finds a priest and a young girl housed within. While Castle is able to pull
12:22him up using a rope, in the midst of his efforts he's attacked from behind by Venom. Now I'd like
12:27you to pay special attention to what happens within these next few pages and that firstly,
12:31Mayberry does not tell us whether or not this version of Venom is Eddie Brock. While this isn't
12:36the most important thing, those individuals who were Venom fans largely wanted to know whether or not
12:41this was the case to simply see if this reality had unfolded in a very similar way to the main Marvel
12:46continuity. But where Punisher pulls out a sonic pistol designed to disrupt the symbiotes due to their
12:50weakness to sonic vibrations, in the moments before he dies, Venom attempts to reason with
12:55Castle who ignores the pleas and kills Venom without mercy. Now again, the reason why I want
13:00you to keep this in the back of your head is because this will largely impact what happens
13:05in the next video. But with the priest and the young girl and Punisher leaving the church,
13:09the group travels back to Castle's base of operations where the priest provides a bit of
13:13backstory on society's collapse from his perspective. What he tells us is that prior to the outbreak,
13:19he had ran a soup kitchen in the Bronx feeding both the homeless and the unemployed. Now to sidetrack
13:23for a second, one of the great aspects about this story is that Mayberry is taking real-world elements
13:28and throwing them in as a way to provide relatability and realism to the events as
13:32they're unfolding. What I mean here is that for those who are unfamiliar with the economic crisis of
13:372008, the catalyst for this collapse was found in the mortgage sector due in large part to the
13:41subprime mortgage sector and people buying homes without any understanding of how mortgages worked or how to
13:46organize their finances. As a result, and following the collapse, multiple banks had stopped lending
13:51money to virtually anyone including small businesses resulting in massive layoffs and
13:55high levels of unemployment across the country. Incorporating this into the story, when the outbreak
14:00occurred and humanity began turning into cannibals, the soup kitchen was turned into a veritable house
14:05of horrors as several individuals began consuming the various humans inside. Taking to the streets and
14:10attempting to save those who appeared to be immune, the priest was forced to both watch innocent people die,
14:15but also killed individuals who attempted to harm him or those who was trying to save.
14:20In addition to this, the priest went on to explain that prior to Frank Castle's arrival,
14:23their group had numbered in four including a woman and another little girl, but that at some point
14:28in the night, they had seemingly vanished without a trace, leaving the priest to wonder whether or not
14:32they had left or been taken. Now the reason why Mayberry included this in the story was to highlight
14:37the idea that with society crumbling around them, instead of coming together and bonding over their
14:41experiences, humanity is simply doing what they can to survive and casting aside all ties of
14:47dependence. Now one of the most important points made during the exchange between the priest and
14:51Frank Castle is that Castle is the exact same as the cannibals. The reason for this is that prior to
14:57the outbreak, the role of the Punisher in this alternate reality seems to have been identical to
15:01the mainstream Marvel continuity and Castle routinely killing criminals and had amassed a reputation for
15:06himself as a cold-blooded murderer. At the same time, the cannibals had killed without mercy as well,
15:11meaning that in the eyes of normal humans, the only difference between the cannibals and Castle
15:15was that he didn't eat humans. However, in the midst of their discussion, Frank Castle and the priest
15:20are met with the return of Deadpool. Now where Castle instructs the priest to take cover and allow
15:25him to deal with Deadpool, a funny little thing here is that Mayberry depicts Wade as being the same
15:30kind of slapstick mercenary from the mainstream continuity who cracks jokes and can be a little over
15:35annoying at times. In addition to this, where Castle indicates his intention to kill Wade yet again in
15:40a way that will keep him from reforming, it's revealed that the presence of Wade comes with a
15:44message informing Castle that there are actually more survivors who have not yet been consumed by
15:48the cannibals. Furthermore, the message provided by Deadpool states that in the eyes of Spider-Man
15:53and his ilk, the actions of the Punisher in killing the various cannibals he finds aren't
15:58necessarily an act of aggression so much as Punisher protecting his own tribe of non-infected humans.
16:03Now again, as the reader, we're aware of the fact that this is not the case and that Punisher is
16:08killing the cannibals since he was the cause of the outbreak and looks to eliminate the cannibals
16:12to atone for his actions. But the inclusion of this goes towards the argument of the priest in
16:16establishing that despite not being infected, Castle operates in the same capacity as the cannibals
16:22themselves. And so where Wade finally gets to the point of his arrival after rambling on for a few
16:26minutes, he informs Punisher that while Spider-Man has left him alone all this time, he now looks to have a
16:32sit-down and request the help of Castle for reasons unexplained. And so where Castle initially questions
16:37the offer and asking why both Deadpool and Spider-Man would believe him foolish enough
16:41to walk into the lion's den, Wade informs Castle that Spider-Man has already arrived at his location.
16:47And so as the issue comes to a close, with Frank Castle searching for the priest and the young boy,
16:52he discovers that Spider-Man has him held captive in an effort to force a sit-down between the two.
16:56With that being said, we're going to go ahead and bring this video to an end. And in the next video,
17:02we'll pick up with the outbreak from the perspective of Spider-Man, as well as the events that led into
17:07Iron Man dying after being stuck in his armor for five days. With that being said, I will catch you
17:13guys later. Peace. So as we continue our series on the Marvel Universe versus the Punisher, we pick up
17:22now with issue number three and the reveal of society's collapse from the perspective of Spider-Man.
17:28So where the last video ended with Peter Parker making his presence known by taking the priest and
17:32the young boy hostage, with Frank Castle arriving, his showdown with Spider-Man is actually a bit of a
17:37bluff. What I mean here is that where Peter threatens to kill the child if Castle makes any sudden
17:41movements. Castle responds by stating that he would have no qualms with executing Spider-Man on the
17:46spot and sacrificing the child in the process. Now, the reason why I say this is a bluff is that
17:50because the Punisher had lost his wife and child, which set him on the course of becoming a vigilante
17:54in the first place. On the whole, he harbors somewhat of a sensitive side for women and children.
17:59While this doesn't mean that he's unwilling to kill women who attempt to harm themselves or others,
18:04it does mean that he allows them a little more slack. For children, on the other hand, Castle avidly avoids
18:09allowing them to be harmed by either his direct or indirect actions due to their innocence and the
18:13fact that he believes that children are taught to become criminals. Furthermore, while Spider-Man
18:18does call his bluff, he also recognizes the Castle as curious as to why Spider-Man would risk dying
18:23by showing up at the home of Castle knowing that Punisher kills cannibals on sight.
18:27And so establishing his good intentions by letting the child live and releasing him,
18:31Peter initially provides a short run of the events that transpired in relating to the collapse of
18:35society by telling us that when most of the superhero community emerged as infected beings,
18:39a civil war had occurred between the groups who split off into different factions, forming their
18:43own tribes and claiming sections of Manhattan as their own. However, this shorter story is expanded
18:48on when Peter tells us that prior to the civil war and after the infected had split into tribes,
18:53a massive battle occurred between the infected and non-infected, both human and hero alike.
18:58Making a last stand at Coney Island, where heroes like Tony Stark were able to organize the
19:01National Guard and use this technology to provide a tactical advantage, their efforts were hindered
19:06by the overpowering strength of infected superhumans like Red Hulk, Sabertooth, and Beast.
19:11However, while this seemed to be a series of uncoordinated attacks, Spider-Man tells us
19:15that an unknown individual behind the scenes had been manipulating the conflict, driving the infected
19:20and uninfected to battle one another in an effort to thin out the population and establish control
19:24over Manhattan. In addition to this, during the battle, where Captain America, Wolverine,
19:28and Iron Man had done their best to hold off the cannibals and end their rampage, when the utilities
19:32began failing and power started dropping off, because Stark's ability to operate his suit was
19:36tied directly into Jarvis' technology, when the power went out, the connection was severed,
19:41leaving Stark unable to exit his suit, turning the Iron Man armor into a literal coffin, trapping
19:46Tony Stark alive where he screamed for five days until he died. And so when the conflict concluded,
19:51most of the tribes who had previously taken up residence in Manhattan after the outbreak
19:55had either been killed in the war or simply moved on to other parts of the world,
19:59leaving the unknown mastermind largely in control of Manhattan. Furthermore, in the months following
20:04the end of the battle at Coney Island, those cannibalistic individuals who had remained outliers
20:08and refused to join any one tribe were either forced to join the King of Death's tribe or
20:12systematically wiped out along with a handful of remaining tribes attempting to maintain claim to
20:16Manhattan. And so the actions of Peter coming to the Punisher for aid are revealed when he informs
20:21Castle that while the King of Death had been killing members of Spider-Man's tribe during
20:25their hunting trips, somewhere along the line, the King of Death had also kidnapped Spider-Man's mate.
20:30Now where Punisher is a little skeptical about Peter's request and that it could be a trap
20:34designed to kill Punisher and rid Peter of Castle's constant attempts to kill his ilk,
20:38the offer Spider-Man makes is that if Punisher is willing to fulfill his request,
20:42Peter will provide the location of where a massive number of humans are in hiding,
20:45as well as maintain a ceasefire allowing Castle and the humans to live in the territories
20:49around Manhattan without fear of being attacked, meaning that the Punisher's goal of defeating
20:53the cannibals will ultimately come to fruition, even if by indirect means. Now what's interesting
20:58about this is that Mayberry toys with us a bit on the possibility of whether or not Punisher would
21:02actually engage in helping Spider-Man achieve his goal. One of the reasons why I like this is that
21:06it walks a line between the way that we view the Punisher and how he views his role in the Marvel
21:11Universe. What I mean here is that historically, Castle was always a more extreme version of Batman in that
21:15like Bruce, Castle had lost his loved ones due to the actions of criminals and had launched a crusade
21:20to ensure that others didn't suffer the same experiences as him. On the other hand, Punisher
21:25is also a little more selfish in that he doesn't grant criminals the opportunity for redemption and
21:29instead acts as judge, jury, and executioner immediately determining their guilt and killing
21:34them on the spot. However, the request of Spider-Man presents a scenario where Castle would essentially
21:39have to give up all of that for the sake of protecting others, something that he's never really done before.
21:43And so after a heartfelt speech by the priest, Castle takes to the streets of New York in an effort to
21:48take out the King of Death and return Spider-Man's mate. During his travels however, he's also met
21:53with the return of Deadpool as well as the arrival of Black Widow and Scorpion. Now something I want to
21:58point out here is that much like the appearance of the Incredible Hulk in our last video, the appearance
22:02of Scorpion and Black Widow in this video isn't really meant to add a whole lot to the situation.
22:07Where they do operate as backup for Castle, their inclusion is also designed to beef up the comic a bit and
22:12established that Spider-Man's tribe is largely composed of both different members of his rogues
22:16gallery as well as heroes who are modeled after arachnids. Something else to take notice here is
22:22that when Castle, Black Widow, Scorpion, and Deadpool arrive at the King of Death's camp, we're informed
22:26that the base of operations has been set up at the former battle site between the infected and
22:30uninfected heroes. Now Maymere doesn't really tell us why this was done and even Punisher himself simply
22:36hazards a guess, but for the sake of rolling with the story, I would argue that using this particular location is
22:41designed to be a way for the King of Death to celebrate his victory over both Manhattan proper
22:45as well as the surrounding areas. While Punisher reveals that Spider-Man's kidnapped mate is this
22:50reality's version of Mary Jane Watson, he also begins his campaign of invading the base of operations
22:55by sniping the various cannibals who operate as part of the King of Death's tribe. Where some of these
23:00cannibals include Toad as well as Strong Guy who has super strength, after the initial attack, they realize
23:05the entire scenario is an ambush when Sandman, She-Hulk, and a multitude of other superpowered
23:10heroes and villains emerge. Engaging in a massive battle which involved Banshee, Hammerhead, and a
23:14host of other members of the King of Death's tribe, after realizing that the odds are stacked against
23:19them, Castle comes to the conclusion that while there are a thousand ways to lose a battle,
23:23the only way to truly win is Scorched Earth. Now for those individuals who are unfamiliar with this
23:28figure of speech, a Scorched Earth policy is a military strategy designed to destroy anything of value
23:33or use while advancing through or withdrawing from the enemy territory. While the United States
23:37has used this policy on several occasions including the Civil War when the North salted the ground in
23:42the South and pulled up railroad tracks, within the story the Punisher throws grenades into the
23:46fighting crowd killing ally and enemy alike, after which he attempts to rescue Mary Jane. Now where Mayberry
23:52also tells us that Mary Jane is immune from the infection but is also pregnant with Spider-Man's child,
23:57when Castle is distracted by this revelation, he's suddenly knocked over the head by the King of Death
24:02who is revealed to be none other than Wilson Fisk the Kingpin.
24:08With that being said, we're going to bring this video to an end and in the next video we'll pick
24:11up with the conclusion of this story and how the events unfold regarding the humans, the cannibals,
24:17and Frank Castle. With that being said, I will catch you guys later. Peace.
24:24So as we continue our series on the Marvel Universe vs the Punisher, we pick up now with the conclusion of
24:29the event and the reveal that the Kingpin has taken over New York City proper, along with his tribe of
24:34cannibalistic heroes and villains. So with the last issue seeing the Punisher being hit from behind by
24:39Wilson Fisk after coming to the realization that Fisk had been manipulating the actions of the cannibals
24:44from the time the outbreak first started up into the current day in order to solidify his control over
24:48New York. The problem faced by Castle is that in his mind, his current predicament isn't really the
24:53fault of Spider-Man so much as it was his willingness to go out on a limb and offer assistance to Peter.
24:59However, these feelings are mingled with the lessons he learned in the last issue regarding
25:03the importance of fighting for something greater than himself and that even if he doesn't see himself
25:07as the leader of the uninfected humans, the fact that he's been killing cannibals and ensuring the
25:11safety of the uninfected humans in the process has solidified the fact that he is their leader.
25:17And so after throwing several flashbangs into the area allowing him to attempt to escape with
25:21Mary Jane while leaving Kingpin and his tribe blind, in the process he's attacked by Sauron.
25:26Now to sidetrack here, Sauron is a character that we haven't really talked about before,
25:30but mostly this was due to the fact that we haven't really had a reason to.
25:34But Sauron is actually a man named Karl Lykos who was bitten by radioactive pterodactyls,
25:38which mutated his genome allowing him to drain others of their energy.
25:42The issue with this is that while draining normal humans allows Karl Lykos some
25:45measure of enhanced abilities, his mutation resulted in a Bruce Banner Incredible Hulk
25:50dichotomy meaning that when Karl Lykos absorbs the energies of superhumans,
25:54he takes on the form of Sauron, a humanoid pterodactyl,
25:57which acts in accordance with his own wishes and without Lykos knowing what Sauron is doing.
26:02Having said that, where Punisher attempts to hold his own, after a short battle,
26:05Castle is knocked unconscious after being flung against the wall,
26:08after which he waked up as a prisoner of the Kingpin.
26:11Now where Kingpin and his group torture Punisher for information on where Spider-Man is located,
26:16during a moment of reflection while refusing to provide an answer,
26:19Mayberry provides us with an amazing flashback where Punisher gives us as the reader his perspective
26:24on how he used to view the world versus how he views it now.
26:27What Castle tells us is that despite operating to gain revenge for the deaths of his family,
26:31instead of feeling some measure of success with each person that he murdered,
26:35instead, he didn't actually feel anything.
26:38Now this requires us to read a bit between the lines on what Mayberry is saying,
26:42but the overall theme here is that the deaths of Castle's family created his own personal hell
26:47in the form of his family's deaths creating a psychotic break,
26:49which removed Punisher from feeling anything whenever he committed his murders.
26:53Now where he does go on to say that eliminating the world's criminals was based on the premise
26:57of wiping the world clean of evil and allowing only the pure to exist,
27:01Castle had not taken into account the concept of human nature,
27:04and that as long as humans were procreating and producing offspring,
27:07there would always be individuals who grew to become criminals for a multitude of reasons,
27:12some of which were predictable, and some of which were not.
27:14However, when the world went to pot and was overran by cannibals,
27:18instead of having to differentiate between criminals and good guys,
27:20or having to deal with heroes whose moral compass placed roadblocks in his path,
27:24instead, with all of the humans in hiding,
27:26Punisher was able to take the stance of himself versus the Marvel Universe,
27:30where he could literally travel the landscape of New York and kill virtually anyone and everyone
27:34that he saw since cannibals were the only individuals brave enough to travel in plain sight.
27:39Now after this bit of reflection from the Punisher, it's revealed that while he had been
27:43held prisoner by Kingpin and his forces, the priest and the young boy had attempted a rescue
27:47mission by gathering various arms and armament from Castle's base of operations and infiltrating the
27:52camp. Now while they were called by Jamie Madrox as the multiple man and held prisoner,
27:56I'd like you to keep this in the forefront since this will be an instrument for the conclusion of
28:00the story. But transitioning back to the Punisher, with Kingpin threatening to kill Mary Jane and her
28:04unborn child, as well as consume them both, after overpowering one of Kingpin's henchmen,
28:09Mary Jane puts herself in a no-win situation. What I mean here is that because the cannibals consume
28:14humans, if Mary Jane kills herself, the Kingpin and his crew will simply eat her, her unborn child,
28:19and the Punisher, as well as track down Spider-Man anyway. But if she lives, she'll remain in the same
28:25situation that she's currently in. Now transitioning away from the situation for a minute and focusing
28:30on Deadpool, where his healing factor had kept him from dying when Punisher threw grenades at
28:34everyone, he was taken prisoner in the pens under the watch of the Red Skull. Now while Mayberry throws
28:39a bit of humor into this part of the story in likeness of the mainstream Deadpool, the only real
28:43inclusion of this bit was to provide an out for the conclusion of the story. What I mean here is that
28:48after taking out Red Skull and escaping the prison, after summoning across the weapons brought by the
28:53priests and the young boy, Wade orchestrates everyone's escape by taking out one of the
28:57henchmen and dropping the weapons where they could be reached by Mary Jane. Using the momentary
29:02distraction to free Frank Castle and allow him to do the Lord's work, after throwing grenades into
29:06the crowd, he unloads with an absolute hail of bullets, killing all of Kingpin's henchmen,
29:10ranging from Domino to Sauron to multiple men, and everyone in between. Following this, where Kingpin
29:16initially argues that Castle wants to see him beg or else plead for his life, instead of giving Kingpin
29:21the opportunity to finish, Castle simply shoots him in the face and walks away. And so transitioning
29:26to the reunion of Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson, where the last three issues had focused on Castle
29:31coming to grips with his role in the post-apocalyptic landscape and the fact that the situation
29:35represented itself in a way where a peace could be achieved between the forces of Parker and Castle,
29:40instead of upholding his end of the bargain and maintaining a peaceful coexistence between the
29:43cannibals and the humans, instead, Punisher kills Spider-Man arguing that he doesn't make deals with
29:48monsters. Now something that I actually want to do here is I want to focus on this for a second.
29:53While Mayberry doesn't tell us why Castle did this, if I can offer my own opinion on the subject,
29:58I would argue that the reason for this was that Punisher himself doesn't believe he deserves to be
30:03happy. The reason why I make this case is that the Punisher's life is defined by his desire for revenge
30:10and killing virtually all criminals he came across. However, the prospect of walking away from this
30:14lifestyle would fly in the face of his very existence meaning that without an enemy or a war to fight,
30:20his life would be virtually pointless and that he wouldn't have a reason to exist.
30:24Now while I wouldn't swear to this line of logic as gospel truth, because he considers himself to
30:28be the same monster as those that he's been fighting but operating under a different cause,
30:32as the story comes to a close and the remaining humans leave New York, Punisher continues his task of
30:37killing whatever cannibals remain in New York, after which we're left to guess where he'll go.
30:41With that being said, we're going to bring this video to an end. I hope you guys enjoyed it.
30:47And let me know what you guys think about this story, Punisher vs. The Marvel Universe. I personally
30:52really, really enjoyed it. I thought it was one of the best Punisher stories that I've read in a long
30:56time. But with that being said, I will catch you guys later. Peace.
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