The Punisher/Heartwarming

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • In the MAX series story The Long, Cold Dark, there's Castle caring for his infant daughter whom he wasn't aware of until recently.
    • At the end of that arc, as Frank is giving his daughter away to O'Brien's sister he shares a moment of when he and O'Brien were in Afghanistan and he saw O'Brien watching the sunrise, with a small, content smile on her face.

Frank: Memories like that I like to kill, but you can do something with it if you wish.

  • Frank retrieves a bottle of rare vodka in Russia and leaves it at a Brighton Beach bar for a Russian WWII vet to drink.
  • Frank leaving his neighbors (and the first friends he has had in years) with a large pile of the mob's money, with a note telling Joan to use it to move away from a city that scares her.

I may be damned, but I'm not going to drag you good people down with me.

  • Frank helping out Daredevil in The Devil, Inside And Out counts (see the CMOA page for more details). Especially this exchange:

Matt: "I never thought I'd say these words but... Thanks, Frank."
Frank: "Not necessary. You're hurtin' a lot right now, Murdock, with good reason. But you don't want to be me. You needed to remember that"

    • This is especially notable since Daredevil is the superhero who is the most determined to put a stop to the Punisher.
  • Dont know if this really counts but in Kitchen Irish, the moment when the gangsters decide to put an end to all the bloodshed and open the old Nesbitt treasure together, made me feel warmy and fuzzy inside.
  • In one issue, Punisher and Spider-Man team up to rescue several persons at the Daily Bugle (Mary Jane among them) from a hostage situation; however, their differing views on Thou Shalt Not Kill result in the two acting separately. At the end of the story, the hostages are rescued, the bad guys are caught, and Frank happens to stumble across an unmasked Spidey (who he only sees from behind) having a tender moment with Mary Jane. Seeing this, Frank leaves quietly.
  • In the almost unbearingly bleak Punisher MAX story arc "The Slavers" Frank launches an assault on a group of human sex trafficers by first drugging their food to knock them out so he can take out the bad guys without harming the sex slaves, but one of the girls passes out face down in her stew and suffocates. It's a small scene in a very bleak story, but seeing Frank calmly and gently cleaning the girl's face, his inner monolgue "I figured I'd cross this bridge when I came to it. But nothing came." brought a lump to my throat.
  • In the very last issue of Punisher MAX after Frank's deathNick Fury is sitting in a bar, in low spirits about how little lasting impact Frank actually had on the city. Cue him seeing a news report of numerous vigilante uprisings and an image of several people wearing tributes to the Punisher (skull facepaint, skull mask, etc). Fury notes that Frank got his rightful eulogy. The next and final panel being the Castle family grave with a new tombstone featuring Frank's name alongside his family. Doubles as a Crowning Moment of Awesome.

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