Summary
Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Get Fury #3!Everyone knows that thePunisherwas born when Frank Castle watched his family get gunned down in the park by two warring gangs. At least, that’s when Frank Castle officially dedicated himself to being the lethal vigilante, as the actual ‘birth’ of the Punisher came far earlier. And now, with the ongoing changes being made to his origin, it seems one character is actuallyresponsible for creating the Punisher: Nick Fury.
In a preview forGet Fury#3 by Garth Ennis and Jacen Burrows,Frank Castle’s secret mission with Nick Fury during the Vietnam Warunfolds even further. In the previous two issues, it’s revealed that Fury has been kidnapped by the vietcong, and Frank has been tasked by the CIA to assassinate him. Fury knows too much about the opium-smuggling operation the CIA is conducting out of Vietnam, which is the real reason the CIA wants him dead. However, what they don’t initially count on is the fact that Frank knows all about it too.
Castle and Fury are working together to shut down the CIA’s drug-smuggling operation, and the CIA doesn’t discover that until the end of the last issue, after they send Castle after Fury. In the preview for this issue, the CIA agents are discussing the possibilities surrounding Castle and Fury’s plot, including one particularly striking revelation: Fury was at least partially responsible for Castle re-upping for his third tour in Vietnam, as he needed to stick around to thwart the corrupt CIA agents.
Nick Fury Created the Punisher By Being Responsible for Frank’s Third Tour - But, How?
Born#1-4 by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson
Frank Castle didn’t become the Punisher when his family was killed, he became the Punisher during the massacre at Firebase Valley Forge, which fans now know Nick Fury was partially responsible for Castle experiencing. In the official origin story for the Punisher,Born#1-4, readers see Frank Castle as a Marine Captain during his third tour in Vietnam, which saw him stationed at Firebase Valley Forge. Throughout the miniseries, a dark voice was speaking to Frank in his head, pushing him to accept the ambiguous offer that would allow him to become the ultimate killer.
When Firebase Valley Forge was surrounded by vietcong, and the platoon was outmanned, outgunned, and as good as dead, Frank accepted this dark entity’s offer. At that point, Frank blacked out, and when he came to, every vietcong soldier was dead under his feet, along with all his fellow marines. Castle only learned later that the deal he made with this entity (presumably death itself) came at the cost of his family’s lives, as the bargain wouldn’t be complete until Frank Castle officially became the Punisher.
Garth Ennis Succeeds in Making the Punisher’s Origin Even More Interesting
It’s no secret thatGarth Ennis is the definitivePunisherwriter. Ennis was responsible forBorn, he gave the world the epically brutalPunisher Kills the Marvel Universe(which paved the way for Deadpool), and his original Punisher run was adapted nearly shot-for-shot in the 2004 film. The Punisher’s origin has been tweaked in the past by other Marvel writers, but it’s safe to say that Garth Ennis has the final word on what’s part of Castle’s origin, and what can be ignored. And now, Ennis has made that origin even more interesting in a way that only he can.
10 Unforgettable Moments From Garth Ennis' Original Punisher Run
Garth Ennis wrote The Punisher from Vol 5 into Vol 7, with the first 12 issues of Vol 5 being perhaps the most memorable. Here’s the 10 best moments!
By adding Nick Fury to the Punisher’s origin in such an integral way, Garth Ennis has interwoven the storylines of two of the most badass Marvel Comics characters in the publisher’s history, and he’s done so while shaping one of the best Punisher stories in recent memory. Indeed, the Punisher’s origin change makes Nick Fury at least partially responsible for the lethal vigilante’s existence, which is a really cool detail that’s tied in perfectly with thePunisher’s established lore.
