Deadpool and Punisher have both had the rare honor of killing the Marvel Universe (outside of continuity, of course), which begs the question, who killed it better? In terms of personality, no two characters at Marvel share as little in common as Frank Castle and Wade Wilson. The former is a grim and relentless killing machine, best described by writer Garth Ennis as "... not so much a man as a collection of slabs of meat, first physically and spiritually disassembled, then nailed back together with cold black iron." Though he certainly has his darker moments, the latter is for the most part a motor-mouthed goofball with a tendency for pop culture references and sight gags. Apart from all the guns, knives, and ultra-violence, the two share absolutely nothing in common. How is it that both of them ended up slaughtering all of their brethren?
In 1995, the aforementioned Ennis and artist Doug Braithewaite released the now legendary one-off story Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe. Sharing a few striking similarities with Ennis' later series The Boys, the issue retells Frank's tragic origin story with a twist; his family is killed in the crossfire of a battle between Marvel's greatest heroes and a group of villains. After arriving on the scene, Frank's rampage immediately begins as he guns down Cyclops and several other superheroes. Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe is the first part of a trilogy from writer Cullen Bunn and a cadre of artists including Dalibor Talajic. Wade's reasoning for his own rampage in this story is much wilder and admittedly less personal than Frank's; Deadpool's famous fourth wall breaks become deadly serious as he rages against his creators for putting himself and all of the other fictional characters at Marvel through so much turmoil.
Deadpool's massacre takes him a trip through all of fiction, he battles several characters across classic literature before having a final showdown with the Wade Wilson of the mainline Marvel Universe. As this twisted version of the Merc With the Mouth sees it, he's on a crusade to save all of pop culture from slavery through continuity. It's just that it's all a little... sadistic. Okay, it's a lot sadistic. Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe is genuinely one of the most mean-spirited and vicious books to ever come out of Marvel. It's supposed to be a dark story, but the Fantastic Four watching each other die in gruesome fashion and mass superhero suicide is hard to read. The miniseries ends with Deadpool wiping out the Marvel Universe and escaping from his own comic to kill that same book's creators. Deadpool likes killing comic book writers apparently.
Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe is much smaller in scope. It's a single issue that pits Frank and a group of people haunted by superhero collateral damage against the world. The heroes here are initially presented as dangerously reckless and stubborn, after all, they're the ones who incite Frank's wrath after getting his family killed. Much like Deadpool's, the Punisher's quest certainly isn't presented as a virtuous one either. After putting down Daredevil, the last hero standing, Frank realizes that the final victim is his childhood friend Matt Murdock. Finally realizing he has become a monster, this guilt-rattled take on the Punisher commits suicide. It's a story that starts out pretty bonkers and takes an extremely dark turn at the end, though Punisher What If? stories are typically pretty grim. As for who was more justified in their rampage, it's a tough call. But Punisher wins this round due to losing his family and the heroes in this part of the multiverse acting careless.
In terms of just how they carry out their rampages, Deadpool and Punisher's methods are in line with their own respective characters. Deadpool's kills are extremely over the top, almost coming off as something in an extremely violent take on a Tom and Jerry short, whereas the Punisher's are much less flashy and brutally practical. Most of his prey goes down to the sound of gunfire or explosives (almost all of Marvel's mutants are actually killed by a nuclear bomb). In one memorable moment after Captain America beats him up, Frank shoots the Sentinel of Liberty in the back with a gun he had stashed. Because of course someone as inherently noble as Steve Rogers wouldn't expect someone to fight that dirty. The only hero to come to a particularly flashy end at Frank's hands is Garth Ennis' least favorite character Wolverine, who is impaled with his own claws and electrocuted until all that's left is a smoking adamantium skeleton.
While it should be noted that they both have the bright idea of killing Bruce Banner while he is asleep, Deadpool's murder spree is so much more aggressive and creative than Frank's. He puts Pym Particles in Luke Cage's coffee and blows him up from the inside immediately before using them to make Mjolnir into the size of a Hummer and crushing Thor with his signature weapon. The X-Men are subjected to some traps that would make Jigsaw blush. Wade also has to be given credit for taking out his rival here too, as Punisher is among the massive number of heroes and villains — including Thanos and Galactus — to be killed with mind-controlling puppets made by the Puppet Master. Wolverine gets a pretty nasty end in this book too, as Wade lights Daken and X-23 on fire in front of him before lopping his head off with a Carbonadium blade. Punisher can certainly be applauded for his practicality here, but Deadpool wins this round without breaking a sweat.
While they're both enjoyable comic books, Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe is a better story than Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe for multiple reasons. It's a short, sweet, action-packed story that manages to balance the darker and lighter elements of the plot pretty gracefully. The book is certainly helped by the fact that a rampage like this is actually pretty in character for the Punisher. On the other hand, Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe takes its protagonist down a road that's gratuitous, needlessly edgy, and not very believable to begin with. Wade Wilson can be an unstable man-child, but he's ultimately a pretty decent person. At the very least, he's definitely not a hateful psychopath. So congratulations, Frank Castle! You killed the Marvel Universe Better! Look on the bright side, Deadpool, at least you got a sequel.
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