Almost 20 Years Later, I’m Starting to Think the Punisher Is the Next Captain America

Screen Rant Wars21/03/2025

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Almost 20 Years Later, I'm Starting to Think the Punisher Is the Next Captain America

At the floor, the Punisher and Captain The usa are two characters that appear to be polar opposites. Frank Citadel kills the ones he deems accountable with out regret, whilst Steve Rogers fights for freedom and justice for all, simplest killing his enemies as a final lodge (and generally simplest right through wartime). It’s transparent as day that those guys couldn’t be extra other. Or, is it? As a result of, in truth, I’m beginning to assume that Frank Citadel actually is the following Steve Rogers (and it simplest took me 19 years).

In 2006’s Civil Struggle via Mark Millar and Steve McNiven, the Punisher is preventing at the identical facet as Captain The usa, partially as a result of he believes that superheroes and vigilantes shouldn’t be registered, however most commonly as a result of he respects Steve Rogers greater than any person. Sadly for Frank, the sensation isn’t mutual. Captain The usa has to assume hard and long about whether or not he even desires Punisher to enroll in his facet – that’s how a lot he doesn’t believe the Punisher’s brutal strategies. Then again, Spider-Guy displays on Cap’s choice, and gives his personal take at the scenario, announcing the 2 of them are the ‘identical man, other battle’.

Kind of ten years later in Punisher MAX: The Platoon via Garth Ennis and Goran Parlov, Spider-Guy’s interpretation is confirmed true. The Platoon offers fanatics a take a look at Frank Citadel’s first command right through the Vietnam Struggle. Within the tale, Citadel’s platoon is underneath fireplace from an aerial assault, and Frank jumps on certainly one of his males, shielding the soldier’s frame together with his personal. This second displays that Frank Citadel had his personal ‘bounce at the grenade’ second, similar to Captain The usa right through WWII. This proves that Citadel and Rogers have been principally the similar males going into their respective wars – however, sadly, they become other males in a while.

Captain The usa and The Punisher are Merchandise of Their Respective Wars

Frank Citadel Skilled Horrors Past What Steve Rogers Needed to Face

Frank Castle in Vietnam before he became the Punisher.

What Spider-Guy stated 19 years in the past was once true, the Punisher and Captain The usa are the similar males who skilled other wars. That makes Frank Citadel one thing of Steve Rogers’ legacy, anyone who’s prepared to ‘bounce at the grenade’ for his fellow squaddies whilst serving his nation in a foreign country. Truthfully, in line with how a lot Captain America disapproves of the Punisher’s methods, this parallel took me virtually twenty years to determine (thank you, Spider-Guy). However, to my credit score, the preliminary similarities between Citadel and Rogers are completely overshadowed via the stark variations between the Punisher and Captain The usa.

Frank Citadel can have began his army occupation as the following Steve Rogers, however on account of the horrors he skilled right through the Vietnam Struggle, he was once twisted into one thing a lot darker. The ones horrors are in reality proven in every other ‘Punisher prequel’ comedian via Garth Ennis referred to as Born. In Born, Frank Citadel is surrounded via enemy forces, and each and every soldier in his platoon is useless. He by myself kills numerous Viet Cong, and when Frank is in spite of everything pulled out of there, he looks as if a feral animal coated in blood and surrounded via corpses. That is the instant Frank Citadel become the Punisher – a second Captain The usa by no means needed to revel in.

Frank Citadel IS the ‘Subsequent Steve Rogers’, however within the Darkest Approach

The Punisher & Captain The usa are Two Aspects of the Similar Coin

The Punisher dressed as Captain America in Marvel Comics.

Frank Citadel wasn’t preventing the Nazis, his battle didn’t encourage hope, and his struggling didn’t result in him changing into a superhero. Citadel was once a soldier prepared to sacrifice himself for the lads round him and for his nation, similar to Steve Rogers. Then again, whilst Rogers’ battle created a hero, Citadel’s battle created a monster. On account of this, I might say that the Punisher in reality is the following Captain The usa – however, much less of a worthy successor and extra of a depressing mirrored image. Each males went into their wars for a similar causes, and each fought with honor. Then again, their reports led to two very other ‘superhero’ regulate egos.

Frank Citadel survived his battle via killing his enemies any means he may just, it doesn’t matter what it did to him. Steve Rogers survived his battle via believing within the shiny long run he was once preventing for, with the reassurance that he and his motive have been objectively just right. It is smart to me that Citadel would turn into the Punisher the place Steve Rogers become Captain The usa: identical foundation, other results. Each males took what they discovered from their wars and implemented it to their ‘superhero’ regulate egos as soon as their wars have been performed. Neither may just reside with out ‘battle’ of their lives, however the best way they struggle them is vastly other.

Comparable

Punisher’s Emblem Is Extra Arguable Than Ever Earlier than, As Surprise Makes a Surprising Trade

The Punisher’s image, like his ultraviolent strategies, had been co-opted via certainly one of Surprise’s largest villains within the worst imaginable means.

So, is the Punisher actually the following Captain The usa? No, for sure now not (and Steve Rogers would agree). Then again, what Spider-Guy stated 19 years in the past was once true: ‘identical man, other battle’. That suggests, whilst the Punisher was once by no means the following Captain The usa, Frank Citadel was once the following Steve Rogers – they only become other males on account of their respective wars.