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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
00:31highlight the 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 of what
03:24had happened, leading to the world ending up the way it did. What we're told is that somewhere along the line,
03:30Punisher had killed Daredevil, and while both Matt Murdock and Wade had been a part of whatever laid waste to the planet,
03:35neither of them were the catalyst. Traveling back to the first signs that something was wrong,
03:40Castle tells us that prior to the collapse of everything, Spider-Man and Rhino had engaged in
03:44a fight with one another. Where their battle had stretched several blocks in New York leading to
03:48Madison Square Garden and interrupting a Rangers hockey game, instead of standing down once Rhino had
03:53been defeated, Spider-Man actually began to eat him. Now regarding this bit of storytelling, Mayberry is
03:59actually drawing from two elements. The first is the Marvel Zombies event, and the second is the inherent
04:04nature of the human community in the Marvel Universe. What I mean here is that with Mayberry
04:10having contributed to the Marvel Zombies landscape with the Wolverine tie-in, which focused on Logan
04:14during the zombie civil war, within the comics themselves, because Spider-Man was so popular as a
04:18hero, the initial response of humanity was that he was defeating a well-known villain in front of their
04:23eyes, something many of them had only ever seen on television. While the Fantastic Four had been
04:28called in and were able to subdue Peter, in the days following the incident, as the world's foremost
04:33scientist, Reed Richards had been answering a series of questions from all directions as to whether or
04:38not it was an isolated incident and if Peter had become a zombie. Now the influence of the Marvel
04:42Zombies series came in that with Peter not really being a zombie, instead his mind had been altered
04:47in a way that resulted in him devolving into an animalistic state. In addition to this, the idea of
04:52Spider-Man's actions being an isolated incident were proven false when Frank Dukes, also known as the
04:57Blob, had gone into a Chinese restaurant and consumed every human being inside. Following this,
05:03and over the course of the next several days, the pattern of cannibalistic behavior among Marvel's
05:07heroes and villains continued to sweep across North America, with Daredevil consuming several nuns,
05:12as well as humans themselves being affected and attacking other humans.
05:15Now again, the final step in Mayberry differentiating this story from the events of Marvel Zombies
05:20is that instead of simply consuming flesh, these cannibals were actually waging war on one another
05:25using human remains as decorative pieces and taking on a culture similar to the primitive
05:29Germanic tribes during the days of the Roman Empire. Now for Frank Castle himself, while the
05:34internet blacked out after a month in the wake of utilities failing and society collapsing,
05:38small groups of heroes and humans emerged in an effort to stave off the cannibals and consolidate
05:42the remnants of society. Where most of these groups were short-lived in that Castle, Wolverine,
05:47and Rogers had fought together and Susan Storm had attempted to keep her family protected,
05:51when Rogers became infected, Castle had put him down, and Susan Storm had killed Valeria and Franklin
05:56once they turned as well. Continuing to fast-track the history of events, Castle tells us that
06:01somewhere 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
06:19Asgard after he was forced to kill the infected warriors of Ares and Hercules.
06:23Now where Mayberry had left things largely ambiguous regarding how it was that Punisher had survived so
06:28long amidst the cannibalistic heroes with powers, this question is answered when Castle winds back to
06:33the events before the start of the infection. What he tells us is that at some point he had come across
06:38information regarding the Russian Mafia engaging in an arms deal with a Middle Eastern extremist group
06:43involving the possibility of a suitcase nuke. While Castle was able to break into the warehouse and
06:48interrupt the arms deal, after engaging in a firefight and killing all those involved,
06:52he was splashed with a biological weapon of unknown origin. Now the reason for Mayberry including this
06:56bit of writing is to point to the inherent flaw of Frank Castle himself. What I mean here is that
07:02when Castle discovers the criminal activities of nefarious individuals within Marvel Comics,
07:06he does not usually take the time to investigate what's happening and why. Instead, he simply arrives at the
07:12scene and if he witnesses a crime taking place, he kills everyone and walks away. As a result, Castle
07:18does not take into account the issue of collateral damage and the idea that his violent acts may have
07:23unforeseen consequences. Seeing this to its fruition within the story, after the collapse of society and
07:28while investigating the chemicals himself, Castle learned that the biological weapon was an unfinished
07:33experiment on how to survive in an environment following global nuclear war or some other kind of
07:38unspecified calamity. To this end, the chemical modified the genes of humans allowing their bodies
07:43to adapt to virtually any environment, allowing them to breathe any kind of toxic atmosphere but also
07:48consume virtually any material in order to keep their bodies alive. Now while Mayberry does not
07:53provide a direct answer as to why Castle had not succumbed to cannibalism, he instead offers a theory
07:58picked by Hank McCoy stating that because Frank Castle had been hit with such a heavy dose of the chemical,
08:04his body had essentially formed an immunity to all forms of illness and disease without the side
08:08effects of cannibalism. Now again, because Castle didn't give any thought to the aftermath of his
08:13actions, instead 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 this
08:47time, and because those becoming cannibals were considered isolated incidents, with New York
08:51containing JFK International Airport, infected individuals were continuing to travel internationally not
08:56knowing 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 2,
10:19and Frank Castle's attempts to track down and eliminate Spider-Man.
10:23So opening up with Castle engaging in a fight with the Incredible Hulk,
10:26Punisher continues the trend of providing bits and pieces of backstory to the events that unfolded
10:30during the collapse of society after the infection of Earth's superpowered community and normal humans.
10:36While Castle admits that he has avidly avoided fighting the Incredible Hulk due to his tremendous
10:40strength, he also tells us that following the infection of the world, while Castle had been
10:44forced to put down Captain America after he became infected, Wolverine had attempted to subdue the
10:49Hulk. Now something to take note of here is that Mayberry is actually setting a precedent in
10:54relation to Adamantium. Where Marvel Comics as a whole have routinely established that Adamantium
10:59is considered to be unbreakable, one of the biggest questions that has plagued comics is whether or
11:04not the unlimited strength of the Hulk could actually break Adamantium at some point along the line.
11:09Answering this question, while this is an alternate reality and not part of the main Marvel continuity,
11:14Mayberry tells us that if the Hulk were made angry enough, he would actually be able to break Adamantium,
11:20something demonstrated when he had broken Wolverine's arm off and consumed Wolverine entirely.
11:25In addition to this, Mayberry also tells us that despite his incredible strength,
11:29Hulk is not without his weaknesses. Taking aim with an arrow and using a knife as a tip, Castle is able
11:34to penetrate the orbital socket of the Hulk, penetrating his brain and killing him in the
11:38process. Now to be honest, I wouldn't really put too much stock in this since Castle killing the
11:43Hulk in this manner really seems to be more about progressing the story more so than anything else,
11:48especially since the Hulk is popular enough that fans would undoubtedly want to see what had happened to
11:52his character. But when Castle is able to neutralize the Hulk, his attention is drawn by a cry for help from a
11:58normal human. Now as we go forward into this bit of the story, something I'd like you to take notice of
12:04is that Mayberry is essentially telling us that there's more going on than meets the eye.
12:08Referencing our last video and our discussion on how Punisher simply barges into situations
12:12with no real thought to the consequences, this trend continues when the calls of help lead him to a
12:17church where he finds a priest and a young girl housed within. While Castle is able to pull them up using a rope,
12:23in the midst of his efforts, he's attacked from behind by Venom. Now I'd like you to pay special
12:27attention to what happens within these next few pages in that firstly, Mayberry does not tell
12:33us whether or not this version of Venom is Eddie Brock. While this isn't the most important thing,
12:38those individuals who were Venom fans largely wanted to know whether or not this was the case,
12:42to simply see if this reality had unfolded in a very similar way to the main Marvel continuity.
12:47But where Punisher pulls out a sonic pistol designed to disrupt the symbiotes due to their weakness to
12:51sonic vibrations, in the moments before he dies, Venom attempts to reason with Castle who ignores the
12:56pleas and kills Venom without mercy. Now again, the reason why I want you to keep this in the back
13:01of your head is because this will largely impact what happens in the next video. But with the priest
13:07and the young girl and Punisher leaving the church, the group travels back to Castle's base of operations
13:12where the priest provides a bit of backstory on society's collapse from his perspective.
13:17What he tells us is that prior to the outbreak, he had ran a soup kitchen in the Bronx feeding both the
13:21homeless and the unemployed. Now to sidetrack for a second, one of the great aspects about
13:25this story is that Mayberry is taking real-world elements and throwing them in as a way to provide
13:30relatability and realism to the events as they're unfolding. What I mean here is that for those who
13:35are unfamiliar with the economic crisis of 2008, the catalyst for this collapse was found in the
13:39mortgage sector due in large part to the subprime mortgage sector and people buying homes without
13:44any understanding of how mortgages worked or how to organize their finances. As a result and following the
13:49collapse, multiple banks had stopped lending money to virtually anyone including small businesses
13:54resulting in massive layoffs and high levels of unemployment across the country. Incorporating this
13:59into the story, when the outbreak occurred and humanity began turning into cannibals, the soup
14:03kitchen was turned into a veritable house of horrors as several individuals began consuming the various
14:08humans inside. Taking to the streets and attempting to save those who appeared to be immune, the priest was
14:13forced to both watch innocent people die but also kill individuals who attempted to harm him or those
14:18who was trying to save. In addition to this, the priest went on to explain that prior to Frank Castle's
14:23arrival, their group had numbered in four including a woman and another little girl but that at some
14:28point in the night, they had seemingly vanished without a trace leaving the priest to wonder whether
14:32or not they 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 dependence.
14:48Now one of the most important points made during the exchange between the priest and Frank Castle
14:52is that Castle is the exact same as the cannibals. The reason for this is that prior to the outbreak,
14:58the role of the Punisher in this alternate reality seems to have been identical to the mainstream
15:02Marvel continuity and Castle routinely killing criminals and had amassed a reputation for himself as a
15:06cold-blooded murderer. At the same time, the cannibals had killed without mercy as well, meaning that in
15:11the eyes of normal humans, the only difference between the cannibals and Castle was that he didn't
15:16eat humans. However, in the midst of their discussion, Frank Castle and the priest are met with the
15:21return of Deadpool. Now where Castle instructs the priest to take cover and allow him to deal with
15:26Deadpool, a funny little thing here is that Mayberry depicts Wade as being the same kind of slapstick
15:31mercenary from the mainstream continuity who cracks jokes and can be a little over annoying at times.
15:36In addition to this, where Castle indicates his intention to kill Wade yet again in a way that
15:40will keep him from reforming, it's revealed that the presence of Wade comes with a message informing
15:45Castle that there are actually more survivors who have not yet been consumed by the cannibals.
15:50Furthermore, the message provided by Deadpool states that in the eyes of Spider-Man and his ilk,
15:54the actions of the Punisher in killing the various cannibals he finds aren't necessarily an act of
15:59aggression 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,
16:07and that Punisher is killing the cannibals since he was the cause of the outbreak and looks to
16:11eliminate the cannibals to atone for his actions. But the inclusion of this goes towards the argument
16:15of the priest in establishing that despite not being infected, Castle operates in the same capacity
16:21as the cannibals themselves. And so where Wade finally gets to the point of his arrival after
16:25rambling on for a few minutes, he informs Punisher that while Spider-Man has left him alone all this time,
16:33for reasons unexplained. And so where Castle initially questions the offer and asking why
16:38both Deadpool and Spider-Man would believe him foolish enough to walk into the lion's den,
16:43Wade 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,
17:22we pick up now with issue number three and the reveal of society's collapse from the perspective
17:26of Spider-Man. So where the last video ended with Peter Parker making his presence known by taking the
17:31priest and the young boy hostage, with Frank Castle arriving, his showdown with Spider-Man is actually
17:36a bit of a bluff. What I mean here is that where Peter threatens to kill the child if Castle makes any
17:41sudden movements? Castle responds by stating that he would have no qualms with executing Spider-Man
17:46on the spot and sacrificing the child in the process. Now, the reason why I say this is a bluff is
17:50that because the Punisher had lost his wife and child, which set him on the course of becoming
17:54a vigilante in the first place. On the whole, he harbors somewhat of a sensitive side for women and
17:59children. While this doesn't mean that he's unwilling to kill women who attempt to harm themselves or
18:03others, it does mean that he allows them a little more slack. For children, on the other hand,
18:07Castle avidly avoids allowing them to be harmed by either his direct or indirect actions
18:12due to their innocence and the fact that he believes that children are taught to become criminals.
18:16Furthermore, while Spider-Man does call his bluff, he also recognizes that Castle is curious as to
18:21why Spider-Man would risk dying by showing up at the home of Castle knowing that Punisher kills
18:25cannibals on sight. And so establishing his good intentions by letting the child live and releasing
18:30him, Peter 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 over
19:24Manhattan. In addition to this, during the battle where Captain America, Wolverine and Iron Man had done their
19:29best to hold off the cannibals and end their rampage, when the utilities began failing and
19:33power started dropping off, because Stark's ability to operate his suit was tied directly into Jarvis's
19:38technology, when the power went out, the connection was severed, leaving Stark unable to exit his suit,
19:43turning the Iron Man armor into a literal coffin, trapping Tony Stark alive where he screamed for five
19:48days until he died. And so when the conflict concluded, most of the tribes who had previously taken
19:53up residence in Manhattan after the outbreak had either been killed in the war or simply moved on to other
19:58parts of the world, leaving the unknown mastermind largely in control of Manhattan.
20:02Furthermore, in the months following the end of the battle at Coney Island, those cannibalistic
20:06individuals who had remained outliers and refused to join any one tribe were either forced to join the
20:11King of Death's tribe were systematically wiped out along with a handful of remaining tribes attempting
20:15to maintain claim to Manhattan. And so the actions of Peter coming to the Punisher for aid are revealed
20:20when he informs Castle that while the King of Death had been killing members of Spider-Man's tribe during their hunting trips,
20:26somewhere 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 around
20:49Manhattan without fear of being attacked, meaning that the Punisher's goal of defeating the
20:53cannibals will ultimately come to fruition even if by indirect means. Now what's interesting about
20:58this 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
21:15that like Bruce, Castle had lost his loved ones due to the actions of criminals and had launched a
21:20crusade to ensure that others didn't suffer the same experiences as him. On the other hand,
21:24Punisher is also a little more selfish in that he doesn't grant criminals the opportunity for
21:28redemption and instead acts as judge, jury and executioner immediately determining their guilt
21:33and killing them on the spot. However, the request of Spider-Man presents a scenario where Castle
21:38would essentially have to give up all of that for the sake of protecting others, something that he's
21:42never really done before. And so after a heartfelt speech by the priest, Castle takes to the streets of
21:47New York in an effort to take out the King of Death and return Spider-Man's mate. During his travels,
21:52however, he's also met with the return of Deadpool as well as the arrival of Black Widow and Scorpion.
21:57Now, something I want to point out here is that much like the appearance of the Incredible Hulk in
22:01our last video, the appearance of Scorpion and Black Widow in this video isn't really meant to add a whole
22:06lot to the situation. Where they do operate as backup for Castle, their inclusion is also designed to
22:11beef up the comic a bit and establish that Spider-Man's tribe is largely composed of both different
22:16members of his rogues gallery as well as heroes who are modeled after arachnids. Something else to
22:21take notice here is that when Castle, Black Widow, Scorpion and Deadpool arrive at the King of Death's
22:25camp, we're informed that the base of operations has been set up at the former battle site between
22:30the infected and uninfected heroes. Now Maymere doesn't really tell us why this was done and even
22:34Punisher himself simply hazards a guess, but for the sake of rolling with the story, I would argue that
22:39using this particular location is designed to be a way for the King of Death to celebrate his victory over
22:44both Manhattan proper as well as the surrounding areas. While Punisher reveals that Spider-Man's
22:49kidnapped mate is this reality's version of Mary Jane Watson, he also begins his campaign of invading
22:54the base of operations by sniping the various cannibals who operate as part of the King of Death's
22:58tribe. Where some of these cannibals include Toad as well as Strong Guy who has super strength,
23:03after the initial attack they realize the entire scenario is an ambush when Sandman, She-Hulk and a multitude of
23:09other super-powered heroes and villains emerge. Engaging in a massive battle which involved Banshee,
23:14Hammerhead and a host of other members of the King of Death's tribe, after realizing that the odds are
23:18stacked against them, Castle comes to the conclusion that while there are a thousand ways to lose a
23:22battle, the only way to truly win is Scorched Earth. Now for those individuals who are unfamiliar
23:28with this figure of speech, a Scorched Earth policy is a military strategy designed to destroy anything of
23:32value or use while advancing through or withdrawing from the enemy territory. While the United States has used
23:38this policy on several occasions including the Civil War when the North salted the ground in the South
23:42and pulled up railroad tracks, within the story the Punisher throws grenades into the fighting crowd
23:47killing ally and enemy alike, after which he attempts to rescue Mary Jane. Now where Mayberry also tells
23:53us that Mary Jane is immune from the infection but is also pregnant with Spider-Man's child, when Castle
23:58is distracted by this revelation, he's suddenly knocked over the head by the King of Death, who's revealed to
24:03be none other than Wilson Fisk the Kingpin. With that being said, we're going to bring this video to an
24:10end and in the next video we'll pick up with the conclusion of this story and how the events unfold
24:15regarding the humans, the cannibals, and Frank Castle. With that being said, I will catch you guys later.
24:22Peace!
24:24So as we continue our series on the Marvel Universe vs the Punisher, we pick up now with the conclusion of the
24:29event 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 until 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.
24:58However, these feelings are mingled with the lessons he learned in the last issue regarding the
25:03importance of fighting for something greater than himself and that even if he doesn't see himself as
25:07the leader of the uninfected humans, the fact that he's been killing cannibals and ensuring the safety of
25:12the uninfected humans in the process has solidified the fact that he is their leader. And so after
25:17throwing several flashbangs into the area allowing him to attempt to escape with Mary Jane while leaving
25:22Kingpin and his tribe blind, in the process he's attacked by Sauron. Now to sidetrack here, Sauron is
25:28a character that we haven't really talked about before but mostly this was due to the fact that
25:32we haven't really had a reason to. But Sauron is actually a man named Karl Lykos who was bitten by
25:36radioactive pterodactyls which 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 measure of enhanced
25:46abilities, his mutation resulted in a Bruce Banner Incredible Hulk dichotomy meaning that when Karl
25:52Lykos absorbs the energies of superhumans, he 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, after which he
26:09waked up as a prisoner of the Kingpin. Now where Kingpin and his group torture Punisher for
26:13information on where Spider-Man is located, during a moment of reflection while refusing to provide
26:18an answer, Mayberry provides us with an amazing flashback where Punisher gives us as the reader
26:23his perspective on how he used to view the world versus how he views it now. What Castle tells us
26:28is that despite operating to gain revenge for the deaths of his family, instead of feeling some measure
26:33of success with each person that he murdered, instead he didn't actually feel anything. Now this
26:38requires us to read a bit between the lines on what Mayberry is saying, but the overall theme here
26:43is that the deaths of Castle's family created his own personal hell in the form of his family's
26:48deaths creating a psychotic break which removed Punisher from feeling anything whenever he committed
26:52his murders. Now where he does go on to say that eliminating the world's criminals was based on the
26:57premise of wiping the world clean of evil and allowing only the pure to exist, Castle had not
27:02taken into account the concept of human nature and that as long as humans were procreating and producing
27:07offspring, there 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. However, when the world went to pot and
27:16was overran by cannibals, instead of having to differentiate between criminals and good guys
27:20or having to deal with heroes whose moral compass placed roadblocks in his path, instead, with all of
27:25the humans in hiding, Punisher 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 that he
27:35saw since cannibals were the only individuals brave enough to travel in plain sight. Now after this bit of
27:40reflection from the Punisher, it's revealed that while he had been held prisoner by Kingpin and
27:44his forces, the priest and the young boy had attempted a rescue mission by gathering various
27:48arms and armament from Castle's base of operations and infiltrating the camp. Now while they were
27:53called by Jamie Madrox as the multiple man and held prisoner, I'd like you to keep this in the
27:57forefront since this will be an instrument for the conclusion of the story. But transitioning back to
28:02the Punisher, with Kingpin threatening to kill Mary Jane and her unborn child, as well as consume them both,
28:07after overpowering one of Kingpin's henchmen, Mary Jane puts herself in a no-win situation.
28:12What I mean here is that because the cannibals consume humans, if Mary Jane kills herself,
28:17the Kingpin and his crew will simply eat her, her unborn child and the Punisher, as well as track
28:21down Spider-Man anyway. But if she lives, she'll remain in the same situation that she's currently in.
28:27Now transitioning away from the situation for a minute and focusing on Deadpool, where his healing
28:31factor had kept him from dying when Punisher threw grenades at everyone, he was taken prisoner in the
28:35pens under the watch of the Red Skull. Now while Mayberry throws a bit of humor into this part of
28:40the story in likeness of the mainstream Deadpool, the only real inclusion of this bit was to provide
28:45an out for the conclusion of the story. What I mean here is that after taking out Red Skull and
28:50escaping the prison, after summoning across the weapons brought by the priests and the young boy,
28:54Wade orchestrates everyone's escape by taking out one of the henchmen and dropping the weapons
28:59where they could be reached by Mary Jane. Using the momentary distraction to free Frank Castle and
29:03allow him to do the Lord's work, after throwing grenades into the crowd, he unloads with an absolute
29:08hail of bullets, killing all of Kingpin's henchmen, ranging from Domino to Sauron to multiple man,
29:13and everyone in between. Following this, where Kingpin initially argues that Castle wants to see
29:18him beg or else plead for his life, instead of giving Kingpin the opportunity to finish, Castle simply
29:23shoots him in the face and walks away. And so transitioning to the reunion of Peter Parker and Mary
29:28Jane Watson, where the last three issues had focused on Castle coming to grips with his role in the
29:32post-apocalyptic landscape and the fact that the situation represented itself in a way where peace
29:37could be achieved between the forces of Parker and Castle, instead of upholding his end of the bargain
29:41and maintaining a peaceful coexistence between the cannibals and the humans, instead, Punisher
29:46kills Spider-Man, arguing that he doesn't make deals with monsters. Now something that I actually
29:50want to do here is I want to focus on this for a second. While Mayberry doesn't tell us why Castle did
29:55this, if I can offer my own opinion on the subject, I would argue that the reason for this was that
30:01Punisher himself doesn't believe he deserves to be happy. The reason why I make this case is that
30:07the Punisher's life is defined by his desire for revenge and killing virtually all criminals he came
30:12across. However, the prospect of walking away from this lifestyle would fly in the face of his very
30:17existence, meaning that without an enemy or a war to fight, his life would be virtually pointless and
30:22that he wouldn't have a reason to exist. Now while I wouldn't swear to this line of logic as gospel truth,
30:27because he considers himself to be the same monster as those that he's been fighting,
30:30but operating under a different cause, as the story comes to a close and the remaining humans
30:35leave New York, Punisher continues his task of killing whatever cannibals remain in New York,
30:39after which we're left to guess where he'll go.
30:43With 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
30:51personally really, really enjoyed it. I thought it was one of the best Punisher stories
30:54that I've read in a long time, but with that being said, I will catch you guys later. Peace.
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