Punisher (Comics)



"If you want peace, prepare for war."

-Punisher, The Punisher

Punisher's History
Frank Castle, although born into Italian Mob blood, would grow up to be the greatest enemy of crime on the face of the planet. A Vietnam War veteran, Frank had just settled into a peaceful life with his family when fate kicked him in the face: while on a picnic with his wife and two children in Central Park, Frank accidentally stumbled upon a Mob killing. When they were discovered, the hitmen opened fire on the innocent family, killing everyone except for Castle, who survived against all odds. From that day forth, Frank declared a one-man war against all criminals, quickly hunting down and killing those responsible for his family's murder. Now calling himself the Punisher, and equipped with enough weapons to supply a small nation, Frank travels the world, exterminating criminals wherever he finds them.

Battle
Punisher is on the third floor of a building under construction, setting up his M60 to overlook the ground floor. Rorschach enters, and Punisher takes aim at his target. As he is about to fire, Rorschach sees the moonlight glint off the gun, and dodges just as Punisher opens fire. He runs into a covered stairwell, and heads up just as Punisher's gun jams. Punisher curses and takes out his M4A1 before heading down to the second floor to finish the job.

Rorschach warily walks through the girders, but fails to see Punisher watching him from behind a pile of sandbags. The vigilante readies his garrote, and, as Rorschach walks in front of the bags, jumps out and puts the garrote around Rorschach's neck. Rorschach struggles with his attacker, but can't pull the garrote away. He desperately grabs his grapple gun, and quickly fires it into Punisher's chest. The grappling hook lodges in Punisher's body armor, and causes him to drop the garrote. He tries to pull the hook out, and looks up to see that Rorschach has brought out a can of hairspray and a match. Rorschach sprays Punisher with his makeshift flamethrower, distracting him long enough to flee. Punisher beats out the remaining flames and heads after him.

Rorschach makes it up to the third floor, and grabs a power saw off a sawhorse as he hears Punisher coming up behind him. Punisher opens fire with his M4A1, but Rorschach dodges the bullets as he starts up the saw. He charges Punisher and takes a swing, but Punisher blocks it with his gun, then counters with a kick. Rorschach drops the saw, and pulls out his butcher knife. Punisher also draws his knife, and the two start exchanging blows. Rorschach starts to get the upper hand, and slashes at Punisher's chest, but the armor holds. Punisher retaliates by slashing Rorschach's own, unarmored chest, before circling behind him and thrusting his knife into Rorschach's neck. He pats Rorschach's cheek a few times to make sure he's dead, wipes the blood off his knife, and leaves.

Winner: Punisher

Rorschach may be terrifying to simple thugs, but a heavily-armed war veteran is another matter entirely. Punisher, on the other hand, is used to taking on equally skilled opponents on a regular basis. One of the voters said it best when they said "training triumphs over hatred."