I mourn this image, not for the loss of Timothy Leary, but for the loss of Vaudeville Silver Surfer. You’d think that with Keith Giffen writing Annihilation, we’d see him make a comeback.

40) WHAT IF… STARRING SABRETOOTH: SCREAMS IN THE NIGHT!

Issue: Volume 2, #87
Writer: Dan Abnett
Artist: Frank Teran
Spider-Man death: No
Background: Sabretooth was, for a time, a captive in the X-Mansion with Xavier hoping he could mentally fix what’s wrong with him. One time, when most of the team was out on a mission, a power failure in the mansion allowed Sabretooth to escape. He didn’t get too far, though. When he went after Jubilee, Bishop went up against him and knocked him out with a powerful blast. Our story here begins with Jubilee crying over the shredded-up body of Bishop. Uh oh.

Considering Sabretooth just killed Bishop, Jubilee knows she’s screwed. Beast snaps her out of it and calls for her to get the hell over to where he is. On the way up, Jubilee runs into the med-lab, where Iceman is supposed to be tending to Emma Frost. Iceman is draped unconsciously over Emma’s body, but on closer inspection, Jubilee finds that it has nothing to do with Sabretooth. Rather than figure out what’s going on with that, she just leaves. And no, they don’t revisit the Iceman/Emma Frost thing for the rest of the issue.

Jubilee hears a scream and runs towards Beast. She finds him being mauled by Sabretooth. Beast successfully kicks Sabretooth past Jubilee and into some machinery. The madman’s buried under some computer terminals for the moment, giving Jubilee and Beast some time to breathe and assess the situation. Beast tells Jubilee that he got the power back online, but they need to reboot the systems. In mid-sentence, Beast is tackled by Sabretooth. He screams at Jubilee to reboot the systems herself. She gets her head together and succeeds.

About that time, Beast dies. Jubilee zaps Sabretooth in the face and runs for it. The good news is that Sabretooth is once again trapped within the mansion with no way of getting out. The bad news is that Jubilee’s stuck in there with him. With her head start, she dashes into the Danger Room terminal and turns on the system. After selecting the training programs, she sneaks into the Danger Room and leads Sabretooth into it. With a push of her remote, Jubilee and Sabretooth are in New York City. Unfortunately for Jubilee, Sabretooth can still smell her through the façade.

The programming has Sabretooth shot at by Hellfire Club mercenaries, which keeps him busy for a moment. Before he can grab onto Jubilee, she changes the setting to a zero gravity simulation where they’re attacked by Brood aliens. Jubilee escapes with the aggravated Sabretooth following. Sabretooth finds himself in the control room, where Jubilee is cornered. With the sniff of his nose, he instantly knows it’s another hologram.

Jubilee changes the settings to a Sentinel raid in a post-apocalyptic future. Sabretooth chases her out of the setting and once again they find themselves in the control room. Thinking it’s another trick, Sabretooth misses a slash at Jubilee and cuts into the actual Shi’arr power source. Jubilee gets away just in time for Sabretooth to be washed over by nuclear fire. Jubilee rests for a second, knowing that she finally put a stop to him.

Sabretooth turns the corner, horribly mutilated. His hair and flesh have been stripped away, making him almost a charred skeleton. He grabs the Danger Room remote and crushes it. Possibly angrier than he’s ever been, Sabretooth finally has Jubilee cornered. He takes a swipe at her face…

He hits nothing.

He hears a door slam behind him. Soon he sees the window to the Danger Room control room, where Jubilee appears.

“Hey, Creed! Up here! You’re locked in now. And you ain’t never coming out! You’re toast, mister!”

With that, Jubilee presses one last button. A laser field exercise routine starts up at maximum setting with no safety overrides.

Sabretooth panics as he tries to dodge the lasers. Soon his leg gets cut off and he dashes to the door, pounding and screaming for his life. Jubilee can only watch so much before she has to turn away. It won’t bring Bishop or Beast back, but she had to do it. It was him or her. The screams are terrible, but Jubilee finds that the silence is even worse.

That was different, wasn’t it? Most What Ifs take place over the course of months, years and sometimes even decades, but this may be the only What If that takes place within an hour. There’s no sense of changed continuity or even aftermath. The story ends with Jubilee alone in the dark and so should the issue. What we have is a really well-done horror story with some cool visuals, especially with Sabretooth. This is easily the most monstrous I’ve ever seen the guy. My only real complaint is the Iceman/Emma thing. It wasn’t until years later that I actually found out what the hell was going on with that.

Jubilee still kind of sucks. Sorry, hermanos.

39) WHAT IF DAREDEVIL KILLED THE KINGPIN?

Issue: Volume 2, #2
Writer: Danny Fingeroth
Artist: Greg Capullo
Spider-Man death: No
Background: Upon finding out that Daredevil is Matt Murdock, the Kingpin made the hero’s life a living hell. Matt Murdock, at the end of his rope, confronted the Kingpin man-to-man and got his ass absolutely handed to him. Hitting the gutter, he rebuilt his life from the ground up and came out with a new lease on life. By losing, he was lucky in a way. Now, then. What if Matt stole a gun from one of the Kingpin’s bodyguards?

Way better aim than Echo.

I’d make my usual joke about how surprising it is to see the Kingpin die in a What If, but I’m too distracted by that picture. It looks like Matt Murdock just killed one of those 500-pound 3-year-olds that you see on Maury.

Matt walks out of the building feeling nervous, but a bit optimistic as nobody suspects anything. It isn’t until 15 minutes later that Fisk’s secretary walks in and finds the dead body. By then, Matt’s adrenaline has died down and he’s realized what he’s done. He just destroyed everything he’s ever worked for. We see him later, talking to a police officer and confessing his crime. Then he’s in front of a judge, given his sentence. What Matt is too nutso to realize is that he’s just talking to some confused wino on the street.

The effects of the Kingpin’s death are noticed quite quickly. Dozens have already died from mafia in-fighting. Peter Parker has heard the news and swings around the city in hopes of finding Murdock before anyone else. Karen Page feels horrible guilt for causing all of this to happen, but gets killed by her mobster boyfriend. Richard Fisk, fresh off breaking his alliance with the Hobgoblin, is completely conflicted with the news. Should he be happy or mourning in regards to his father’s passing? If he’s sad, should it be because he loved his father or because Matt Murdock stole away his own destiny? Should he keep fighting for mafia supremacy or sneak away when he can?

When he hears news that his mother has been whacked in Europe, Richard pushes towards the need for revenge. Matt Murdock’s actions just forced him into being an orphan in under a day.

On the streets, Matt keeps having delusions. All he knows is that he doesn’t want to be caught by any criminals. Even though he wants to die, he doesn’t want scum like that to do him in. He runs into the Punisher and is relieved. He begs Frank to kill him, but Frank only wants to help him out; get him out of the country, get him to a psychiatrist, etc. Spider-Man shows up and Matt sees him as a giant tarantula coming at him. Despite the efforts of the Punisher and Spider-Man, Matt gets the better of both of them and escapes. He knows one last place where he can get the justice he deserves.

At Richard Fisk’s loft, Richard talks with Alfredo, the guy who builds all of his technological gear. Richard wants to search for Murdock, kill him, then skip town. Alfredo walks off, wanting nothing to do with it. A moment later, Richard hears a knock at the door. To his surprise, it’s not Alfredo, but Matt Murdock, begging for either forgiveness or punishment. Matt explains how he’s Daredevil, how his powers work, his history with the Kingpin and all the rest. It’s up to Richard of whether he lives or dies. Richard, again, is conflicted.

Suddenly, the Hobgoblin busts through the wall on his glider. A handful of goons barge in through the doors. The Hobgoblin has joined up with Hammerhead and his first assignment is to kill Richard. Matt springs to sobriety and fights off the henchmen. Hobgoblin’s own attempt to kill Richard and Matt leads to him offing some of his own men. It becomes a shooting match between Richard’s handgun and Hobgoblin’s blaster. Hobgoblin gets bored and pulls out the money shot – a pumpkin bomb.

Matt, having finished off the last of the goons, jumps onto the glider and grabs onto the Hobgoblin. The pumpkin bomb falls from his hand and gets lodged on the end of the glider. The Hobgoblin panics, unable to use his own meta-strength to get Murdock off of him. He cries for Spider-Man to save him right before the bomb goes off. The next thing we see is Richard Fisk standing over the remains of Matt and the Hobgoblin.

“Dead. Both of them. Murdock, did you get your punishment or die a hero? I wonder… Would I have been able to kill you? Would I? Well, you saved my life… so maybe we’re even.” He covers Matt with a blanket. “Now I grant you your forgiveness. Rest in peace.”

Two weeks have passed and we see a crimson superhero taking to the streets with a billy club. Daredevil continues to fight criminals with all of his skills still intact. He can still sense his surroundings from all angles. Finishing off his first group of lowlifes, he leaves them for the police and sneaks off… to meet Alfredo on a rooftop.

Richard Fisk removes his mask and hands it to his friend, telling him that it works perfectly. The micro-circuitry that Alfredo created gives Richard the same sense abilities that Matt had when he was alive. Now Richard knows where he stands with the mafia. Even if he does have his own crimes to answer for, he’s not going to follow the path of the man who gave him life, but of the man who saved it. Richard Fisk is Daredevil.

That was cool enough that if it really happened in regular continuity, I don’t think I’d really mind. Though a lot of that comes from the fact that I’m not a gigantic Daredevil fanboy and I never liked any incarnation of the Hobgoblin. As far as “passing the buck” superhero stories go, this ranks far higher than most of the stuff DC is churning out these days. Strangely, nothing was mentioned involving Foggy, but they already had a lot of ground to cover and when you’re stuck between a Foggy Nelson scene and a Punisher cameo, you just have to go with the latter. Great issue, all in all.

38) WHAT IF WOLVERINE HAD MARRIED MARIKO?

Issue: Volume 2, #43
Writer: Ron Marz
Artist: Scott Clark
Spider-Man death: No
Background: Originally, Logan and Mariko Yashida tried to get married, but the mutant Mastermind took over Mariko and forced her to leave Logan at the alter. Here, he’s not a factor. The two can get together and Wolverine may finally know happiness.

First we get some wacky goings on at the wedding, namely a scene where Nightcrawler and Colossus have a hard time finding the Japanese food appetizing. Oh, those crazy, uncultured Americ—er, those crazy guys! Wolverine then breaks the news to Kitty that he and Mariko aren’t going to be living in America. Wolverine’s leaving the X-Men for Japan.

The newlyweds need to take care of business first. Mariko’s father had sold out their clan to the yakuza, leading to a fight to the death between him and Wolverine. Now Wolverine and Mariko are trying to sever their ties with the underworld. Wolverine interrogates a lot of lowlifes to figure out who’s the head of the yakuza, but nobody seems to know. It’s someone too talented at hiding his identity.

Mariko sends for her half-brother Harada, the Silver Samurai. She wishes to buy information on who the Samurai is working for. Harada tells her how much she’s asking. Giving out such information puts him on the chopping block. Still, he admits that there are some things worth more than his life. He’s been wanting to regain the honor he lost by betraying the Yashida Clan, so he asks his sister to allow a trade. For the information, the Silver Samurai will once again fight on their side in hopes of working towards the honor he once had. Mariko accepts the terms, though Wolverine refuses to trust him.

“Oh, wait, sorry. That’s a coupon for $10 off painting supplies. Here’s the real card.”

Wolverine goes to this obayun’s stronghold, fighting off several Hand ninjas to reach his office. Of all people, we find that the yakuza is run by the Kingpin these days. He invites Wolverine to sit down and enjoy a cigar (imported, natch). Kingpin explains that he anticipated the Silver Samurai’s betrayal and is for the most part fine about it. His organization is better off without a traitor. As for why he’s turning towards Japanese crime, he feels that the US is going to bottom out in the economy soon while Japan is going to become the top country. He refuses to allow the Yashida Clan freedom and Wolverine warns him that he’s about to be in one costly war.

For the weeks that follow, the trio of Wolverine, Mariko and Silver Samurai take on the yakuza and the Hand. At one point, when our heroes are cornered, the oncoming group of ninjas is incinerated from the sky. Sunfire, Mariko’s cousin, flies down. He offers his strength as long as they need it.

Kingpin comes to realize that Wolverine was right. This war is costing him a fortune and there’s a chance that he might lose. He makes an offer to face Wolverine in battle. If Wolverine wins, the Yashida Clan is freed from his rule. If Kingpin wins, he owns them unconditionally. Mariko first points out she’s against it since the Kingpin can’t be trusted and Silver Samurai agrees. Then he changes his mind when he hears Sunfire’s assurance that Wolverine can defeat Kingpin as the rest take care of any treachery. Wolverine sides with Sunfire’s argument.

Soon, at the courtyard outside Yashida Castle, Kingpin arrives for the contest, decked out in samurai armor. He makes it clear that he wants Sunfire gone, since he doesn’t trust the presence of someone so powerful. Despite Logan’s protests, Sunfire flies off. Kingpin fights with a katana, as does Wolverine. He’s actually carrying the Yashida honor sword, which he says is even older than him. The two duel for several pages and get a couple good cuts in. Wolverine disarms the Kingpin and the mob boss admits defeat. But one way or another, the Yashida will be his. With that, he lifts his head, turns to his right and says, “Now, Harada.”

Silver Samurai, without hesitation, proceeds to shove his katana into Mariko’s back.

Kingpin is already in his limo, ready to leave. As he puts it, even though the Yashida Clan is free, Mariko and Harada are both dead now. Who will lead the clan? Logan? A gaijin? No, it’s only a matter of time before Kingpin owns them again. He threatens Wolverine and the car drives off.

One flip of the page later, the limo explodes in fire. Sunfire, dressed as one of Kingpin’s goons, shows himself.

(Kingpin dies? I’ll be damned.)

Sunfire shows his respect for Mariko and the loss Logan feels. Logan thanks him.

“You have Yashida blood in your veins, Shiro. Take the honor sword. Take the clan. You’re the one who must guide it now.”

“But, Logan, you are part—“

“No, I’m not part of anything.”

The issue ends with Kitty Pryde hearing someone at the door, then finding Wolverine with tears in his eyes. “Hiya, kid. I’m home.”

I read this issue shortly after the New Avengers storyline with Silver Samurai, so that made it a bit better for me. Especially the betrayal at the end. I never paid attention to any of the Wolverine/Japan stuff, so everything in this issue was new to me. Turned out to be far better than I expected, though the colorist needed to lay off the saturation. Egads, man.

37) WHAT IF THE AVENGERS HAD NEVER BEEN?

Issue: Volume 1, #3
Writer: Jim Shooter
Artist: Gil Kane
Spider-Man death: No
Background: In the beginning, the Avengers line-up was Iron Man, Giant Man, Wasp, Thor and the Hulk. By the end of the second issue (or was it the beginning of the third?), the Hulk got fed up and left the team. The others, concerned for what kind of damage the Hulk could do on his own, went after him. This led to a big battle between the Avengers and the team of Hulk and Namor. In this story, there is a bit more friction in the team than just from the Hulk’s end.

Before everyone can run off to go after the Hulk, Giant Man holds back Iron Man and Thor. The Avengers is a volunteer thing, so if Hulk wants to run off, why not just let him? Iron Man, having common sense brings up that they need to keep the Hulk in check. Thor agrees with Giant Man, which causes an argument to start between he and Iron Man. Thor gets sick of Iron Man’s bitterness and decides to stick to business in Asgard. Giant Man decides that the Avengers concept is now but a joke, so he and Wasp leave.

Iron Man calls Rick Jones to keep him updated on when the Hulk shows up next. When Rick finds the Hulk, he’s so out of control that he doesn’t even recognize his little buddy. Iron Man comes in and fights the big, green brute alone. Hulk gets away, leaving Iron Man to think that if only the Avengers were still together, they could’ve won. The irony is that in regular continuity, they still failed.

Much like in 616 continuity, Hulk meets Namor and they decide to team up. In their heads, each one nurses thoughts of destroying the other once their alliance has run its course. They make a challenge to Iron Man, saying they want to meet the Avengers for a fight at Gibraltar. Iron Man accepts their challenge and agrees to meet them in 48 hours. The problem is, it would be suicide to go at them alone. He comes up with a plan and for the next 40 hours, he works tirelessly on three new suits of armor. Giant Man, Wasp and Rick Jones are each asked to wear them. Unfortunately, they’re all a bunch of idiots and stumble around like children rather than listen to Iron Man’s directions. Since Iron Man’s had no sleep in two days, he’s rather grouchy.

Everyone walks out on him. Giant Man thanks Iron Man for helping to prove that he was right to quit the Avengers. Rick is a bit reluctant to leave, but this just isn’t his thing. Iron Man assures him that he’ll just call the Fantastic Four and have them deal with the Hulk and Namor. In solitude, Iron Man decides not to. As he sees it, the Fantastic Four would just be cleaning up his problem. Which is silly if you think about it, since anything Namor is more Johnny Storm’s fault.

Iron Man decides that it’s all up to him. He designed his armor to be the ultimate in combat and it’s about time he proved it. He fills up all of its energy compartments to maximum power, which he’s never experimented with. Truth is, there’s a good chance this will short out the systems keeping his heart healthy. “In short, my armor is adjusted for one all-out battle!”

Outside, Rick Jones catches up to Giant Man and Wasp. Even though Iron Man said he’d call the Fantastic Four, Rick thinks he may be lying. Giant Man thinks it over for a second…

At Gibraltar, Iron Man comes alone to fight two guys who should, by all rights, beat him into oblivion. He first nails Hulk with an amped-up repulser ray that sends him into a large stone slab. He takes on Namor one-on-one and out-maneuvers him. Finally, he sends Namor headfirst into a boulder, which then covers him with an avalanche of rocks. The Hulk is back at it and leaps towards Iron Man. Iron Man lures Hulk into a nearby pond, where the slime underneath glues down the Hulk for a moment. Iron Man uses up a lot of his energy to electrocute the Hulk with enough force that eventually, the jade giant falls over.

The armor’s energy is down and he’s no longer primed. Namor flies out of the rock burial and proceeds to go to town on Iron Man. With a couple punches and headbutts, Namor sends Iron Man into the water, where Namor’s strength is unmatched. One uppercut later and Iron Man flies out of the water and hard onto the ground.

“Let me at him! WHERE IS HE?!”

“There he is, my brutish ally, among the rocks!”

“Hey! He’s lying so still! Is he—?”

“Dead? Of course! And now that my imperial rage subsides I am… saddened! He was valiant! At one point he had beaten us both! There is little honor in this ‘victory’, Hulk… for if the other Avengers had arrived, surely we—Wait! What’s that?”

Iron Giant Man, Iron Wasp and Iron Rick fly to the scene. Iron Wasp and Iron Rick use their newfound abilities on Namor. First, Wasp sticks his face with drugged stingers while Rick shows off his intangibility. Jeez, Tony Stark really gets a lot done in two days. Iron Giant Man takes on the Hulk himself. Pym’s doing his best, but he’s too awkward in the new armor. As Hulk gets the advantage, Namor uses the last of his strength to drop into the sea. His health and clear mind return as he madly swims back to the surface.

Iron Giant Man is lying lifelessly on the ground. He’s alive, but he’s out of power and isn’t breathing. Iron Man crawls forward, knowing that it’s up to him to repower his friend, even if it means giving up all of his reserve power. He barely succeeds and gives Pym every ounce of power he can.

In that first panel, it looks like Hulk is doing the Bushwacker strut.

Elsewhere, Namor knows that Iron Rick can’t keep turning himself intangible. It has to eat up too much energy. He catches him and realizes he’s just a kid. Still, Namor doesn’t expect mercy and he doesn’t give it either. He punches Iron Rick towards a grouping of rocks that will probably kill him.

The Hulk stops fighting once he hears the scream he recognizes as Rick’s. He hops over and catches him before he can make impact. Now the Hulk’s anger has hit its peak, but he no longer cares about the Avengers. He directs his hate on Namor in a brawl that sends them into the sea. While this is where Namor is most powerful, the Hulk is still raging enough to keep up with him. Finally, Namor swims away, as he deems this fight pointless. Hulk would go after him, but he needs air.

On the surface, we find Hank Pym and Rick Jones with their helmets off, looking down as Iron Wasp flies nearby. Tony Stark’s heart had given out during the battle from the power boost he gave Giant Man. In dedication for his selflessness, the three continue to fight on as the Armor Avengers.

Shooter and Kane knocked that one out of the park. This issue had a lot going for it: Iron Man going kamikaze, the image of a 12-foot-tall Iron Man and one of my all-time favorite fight scenes. There were a couple scene where the characters acted completely without logic – especially Giant Man. Yeah, apparently he’ll only help save the world from aliens if you promise to give him a massage and tell him how pretty he is. Plus something’s off about how Tony Stark’s idea to give his armor phasing powers only comes to him here and not for the 40+ years he’s been Iron Man in regular continuity.

36) WHAT IF THE PUNISHER’S FAMILY HADN’T BEEN KILLED?

Issue: Volume 2, #10
Writer: Doug Murray
Artist: Rik Levins
Spider-Man death: No (Hey, clean bill of health this time!)
Background: Frank Castle’s peaceful picnic with his beloved family went real sour once they came across a mob hit. Frank lost his family on that day and the criminal element gained a new nightmare. If such a moment could set off a man such as Frank, what if they didn’t notice the killing? In this reality, the rain gets a little too hard and they decide to leave before they can find the mobsters.

Frank misses the marines, but knows he can’t be part of that again now that he has a family. Instead, he becomes a police officer. Months into his job, he and his partner find a criminal webbed up, courtesy of Spider-Man. Frank truly admires the guy and hates how the Bugle spits on his image. His partner breaks the news about how Spider-Man’s intervention does nothing. The guy they caught is connected and will walk. At the trial, Frank sees the judge take a bribe and disregard all the evidence in order to let the guy go. To make things worse, he discovers that his partner is part of a protection racket.

He doesn’t know what to do. Police are helping to orchestrate the reasons he became a cop in the first place. But if he makes a big deal out of it, he’ll put his own family in danger. He decides to feel around the office and goes to Captain Carmody, a fellow marine he met briefly in Nam. He explains the situation and Carmody acts appalled. He admires Frank for his courage to come in and tell him, then gives him an assignment. He wants Frank to play along with the other cops and get as much evidence as he can, so they can nail them. After Frank leaves, Carmody calls up one of his mob contacts. Big surprise, Carmody is in on it too.

At home, the way Frank’s son takes to superheroes like Captain America and Spider-Man inspires him to go further and keep doing the right thing. Months pass and we see that his experiences on the force are beginning to take their toll. On Halloween, his son has his own original superhero costume, where he’s wearing all black except for a skull on the chest. Never in a million years would you believe me on this, but just between you and me, this is foreshadowing.

The next day, Frank gives copies of the evidence to Captain Carmody, promising that the originals are in a safe place. Carmody patronizes Frank a bit and sends him on his way. He now knows that he has no choice but to take care of things the ugly way.

That night, we see that Frank is finally at ease. His faith in the justice system has finally returned. He gets a little tense when he hears a knock at the door, but it’s only Maria’s cousin Jake. Jake, a merchant mariner with some time off, has some coffee with the Castles and they let him crash there for the night. As Frank and Maria get ready to sleep, their kids run in, suffering from horror movie-induced nightmares. They all sleep in the same bed as Carmody and some goons settle themselves outside. Frank’s daughter asks him for a glass of water and he tiredly gets up and moves to the bathroom.

Once the machine guns fire into the apartment, Frank’s mind sobers as he ducks for cover. One of the thugs tosses a grenade into the house, exploding near the bullet-ridden Jake. Frank is lucky enough to survive the explosion. His war instincts take over and he goes to find his gun. He stops and comes back to reality once he stumbles upon his family’s shot-up corpses. He collapses and cries while the fire surrounds him.

At the funeral, Captain Carmody gives Frank’s eulogy. We see his half-hearted speech mixed in with panels of Frank putting a sniper rifle together. Once Carmody mentions Frank’s family, he’s shot in the chest as Frank declares, “Enough lies!” None of the other cops know where the shot came from or even heard it in the first place. The next day, Frank watches as the judge from earlier in the story walks out of a whore house. A sniper shot to the back is all it takes. Frank is a bit discouraged about how the media thinks of him.

Next morning, guys like Robbie Robertson are given special deliveries; envelopes of the evidence Frank acquired through his police work. Frank continues to kill corrupt officials and public approval soars, seeing him as some kind of invisible force keeping things honest. The Kingpin, meanwhile, is a bit frustrated as he receives a note from Frank Castle promising to kill him in his very office.

Our story ends with Frank cornering his old partner. With a burn scar on the left side of his face and his trademark costume, he tells his partner that he’s now known as the Punisher. Then he shoots the no-good cop in the chest and walks off. Cliché scene, but a good way to finish the issue.

While there are a couple differences with the way he operates, it just goes to show that the Castle family can’t escape fate so easily. In all honesty, I like this origin better. The whole slow-burn of his time on the force brings him to a nice boiling point, hits a nice calm before the storm, and then hits him with the multiple homicides that will forever shape the rest of his life. Funny thing is, I realized that this would make for a totally fitting origin for Ultimate Punisher. One look at Wikipedia, shows that that’s exactly what they did. And I quote:

“This Castle is not a Vietnam War veteran but an ex-NYPD police officer. Upon finding corruption within the force reaching up to his captain, Artie Jillette, Castle gathered evidence that he turned over to the department’s internal affairs division. Castle’s partner, Bruce Greenwood, however, informed the captain, who sent a handful of officers to kill Castle. They ambushed Castle and his family at Central Park, making the attack look like a gangland killing.”

How about that.

Next on the countdown: I will beat the shit out your ass, Cain! I’ll beat the shit out you with Cain, as a matter of fact!

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