Superhero Comics 101

[Kirsten]

Punisher Warzone was awesome. I preferred Thomas Jane playing the role, but the second film was much better than the first. I felt like the first film wasn't quite sure how to approach the comics, whether it should include the villains or just be a dude who kills baddies, or what the tone should be. whereas the second film just went, 'he is the punisher, he will shoot everybody' and didn't worry so much.

[YorkNecromancer]

Punisher is the greatest Marvel villain of all time, but only when he's written by Garth Ennis. 'The Slavers' is easily one of the most disturbing comics Marvel has ever put out.









Not to mention 'Punisher: Born', which has the single most awful scene in Marvel comics history. The Punisher isn't The Punisher yet; he's a captain in 'Nam, and his squad captures a VC sniper. One of his men starts raping her, then her head explodes in the rapist's face. Punisher kneels down, his gun smoking from the shot he just fired, and very calmly states:

"We're not here to rape them. We're here to kill them."

Easily one of the most horrible things I've ever read in comics. No Punisher film has ever gotten him right, because they insist on making him an anti-hero, which he isn't. He's an anti-villain; over the course of Ennis' run, he makes it abundantly clear that Frank Castle is an absolute psychopath, and one who became addicted to combat during 'Nam. He never truly loved his family in anything except a detached sense, but their deaths provided him with a useful excuse. His whole 'no cops, no innocents' rule is nothing but a piece of mental sophistry he practises which allows him to live with the fact he's far, far worse than anyone he kills.

Best Marvel character bar none.

And there IS a good Punisher film, but it's not a Marvel one. It's called 'Harry Brown' and it is awesome.



'Taken' is very, very close to a mid 90's version of the Punisher; he's got all the death-dealing, but is a little too human, a little too not-insane to really count. But the principle's there.

[Mr Mystery]

Best thing about Harry Brown, other than Michael Caine is just how loathsome the main villain is.

[YorkNecromancer]

Yup.

Plan B is a great heel. The thing I love about 'Harry Brown' (other than everything) is how the villains are so totally one dimensional. Why are they bad? THEY JUST ARE! SHUT UP AND WATCH MICHAEL CAINE KILL THEM!

Just a fun, fun film.

[Kirsten]

Harry Brown is amazing.

Punisher Born was great, I loved that. the Punisher Max series too.

[Mr Mystery]

Yup.

Plan B is a great heel. The thing I love about 'Harry Brown' (other than everything) is how the villains are so totally one dimensional. Why are they bad? THEY JUST ARE! SHUT UP AND WATCH MICHAEL CAINE KILL THEM!

Just a fun, fun film.

Not sure 'fun' is the right word.

Cockneys versus Zombies is fun ('Ave some of this, twinkle toes)

Harry Brown is just powerful.

[Kirsten]

a lot like Get Carter

[Mr Mystery]

Been ages since I watched Get Carter.

[Kirsten]

it is great

[YorkNecromancer]

Harry Brown is just powerful.

As someone who spent his formative years growing up on some pretty unpleasant UK council estates, I thought the villains were far too much of a caricature to be remotely credible as anything except cartoon baddies, so I don't think I'd say it was powerful. There were plenty of druggies and skag heads, and more than a few lunatics, but no-one as absurdly, hyperbolically evil as Plan B's villain. For me, a film needs to be about more than generic middle class fears of poor people to be powerful.

In terms of a pure power fantasy though? Loads of fun. I'd show it to the Marvel bigwigs and go: "THIS. This is what our Punisher film is, only with Clint Eastwood in a skull t-shirt, even though he's twenty years too old now. So... maybe Karl Urban instead?"