Punisher vs Marvel’s God of War Is The Epic Fight Fans Have Been Waiting For

The new Punisherseries delivered the brutal showdown that fans have been waiting for since its beginning, pitting Frank Castle against Marvel’s very own god of war: Ares of the Olympians. While the result was perhaps obvious, the battle was absolutely satisfying and it helped the series in digging even deeper into the Punisher’s past and motivations.

Ares has been around for a very long time in Marvel Comics, making his debut back in 1966’s Thor #129. He became a prominent character only many years later with the critically acclaimed miniseries Ares, written by Mike Oeming with art by Travel Foreman. After that, Ares became a popular member of the Avengers and even transitioned to Norman Osborn’s evil Dark Avengers, until the Sentry killed him during the Siege of Asgard. After his inevitable return from the dead, Ares created the Apostles of War, a criminal organization that worships him as the god of war and sells advanced weapons to spread conflict around the world, thus attracting the attention of the Punisher, who is leading the Hand in a crusade to eradicate crime.

After discovering that the Punisher is the new leader of the Hand, Ares is enraged because he feels that the sect of killers has stolen his best “disciple.” After the Punisher invades Ares’ citadel to wipe out the Apostles, a confrontation between the two is inevitable. In Punisher #6, by Jason Aaron, Jesùs Saiz, and Paul Azaceta, Frank tries everything to stop the god of war, using his own high-tech weapons against him, including a gamma-powered Hulk gun called “Banner cannon.” Nothing seems to put even a scratch on Ares, until the Punisher uses a sacred knife that the Hand’s supreme priestess gives him, piercing the god’s chest. However, this only makes Ares angrier, and he finishes the fight by brutally smashing Frank’s face to the ground, and then leaving him to drown in a fountain.

The outcome of the battle proves that, despite the powers that the Hand bestowed upon him, the Punisher is not a superhero. Frank is inevitably out of his league when facing superhuman opponents, especially those with unbelievable power like an Olympian. However, the clash between Ares and the Punisher was also another step towards the retconning of the character that is being developed in the current series. Ares sees the Punisher as his best apostle, going as far as calling him his “son,” “the greatest machine of war ever born,” and “baptized in the blood of war.” However, Frank does not believe that war made him what he is today. In line with what was shown in the previous issues of the series, he believes that the Punisher was created by his personality and experiences before he ever enlisted in the army.

This is another major retcon of the character, who has always been defined by his wartime experience (in the Vietnam War originally, then changed to the Siancong War to adapt to Marvel’s sliding timescale). Jason Aaron is using Ares as the villain of this story to demonstrate that, long before he became a soldier and even before the tragic death of his family, the Punisher was already inside Frank Castle, just waiting for the right moment to come out. Not even the brutal lesson he received from Marvel’s god of war will be enough to stop the Punisher, and this will certainly not be their last encounter.

The Punisher #6 is available now from Marvel Comics.