The most bizarre thing about ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ season 2 is just how lonely Matt Murdock was when Wilson Fisk was on the rise. There were plenty of heroes in New York. However, Daredevil was the lone survivor for much of the season.
Fans particularly wondered why Frank Castle wasn’t there, as the Punisher should have had a lot of control over the city as it developed. Now, ‘The Punisher: One Last Kill’ finally reveals why Frank has not been around, and it’s a much darker answer than expected.
Frank Castle Wasn’t Missing, He Was Broken
Frank was not helping Daredevil as he was battling himself. The special shows that Frank’s long-running revenge mission came to a standstill when he reached an emotional crossroads. His life had been devoted to tracking down the killers of his family for years. After this mission, he had nothing else to cling to.
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It was that void that almost killed him. What’s interesting about ‘The Punisher: One Last Kill’ is that it doesn’t depict Frank as invulnerable. Rather, it depicts a man slowly being overwhelmed by all that he has done. Frank is haunted by hallucinations and has a lack of direction, leading him to become emotionally detached from the world around him.
It’s a pretty bleak turn for the MCU character and also one of the worst ones in years. That’s why he never joined Daredevil’s fight against Fisk, either. Frank wasn’t in any condition to help anyone. Even though Fisk’s influence was spreading throughout New York, the Punisher was too caught up in his own psychological spiral to pay attention to a bigger fight.
And unlike heroes like Matt Murdock or Spider-Man, Frank doesn’t have a support system to pull him back from the edge. He’s completely cut off from the world, and his fall is even more sad.
Frank Has A New Purpose In The MCU
The special’s significance for the wider MCU is where Frank ends up at the end of it. He has endured yet another round of violence and is now beginning to understand that his quest must not be a quest for revenge. Rather than blaming others for his suffering, he starts to turn that anger into a way of helping others.
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That doesn’t make him a traditional hero, of course. Frank remains a terrifyingly cruel figure, and the MCU definitely isn’t making him softer. The Punisher is more dangerous than ever before, and now he’s back to his clarity.
That change is particularly thrilling for him, as he is returning in the upcoming ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’. Peter Parker is a man of restraint and mercy, while Frank Castle is someone who believes in results rather than morality, and that’s a recipe for conflict.
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