Rick Remender talks FrankenCastle’s end and the Punisher’s return…. It began and ends with Daken, Dark Wolverine who also happens to be Logan’s, the original Wolverine’s, son.
Frank’s current feud Daken has been told in “Punishment,” a four part crossover story with “Dark Wolverine.” Thus far, Frank’s vengeance has been complicated by several factors, most notably the rage he feels towards Daken. That anger has been amplified by the fact that Frank is currently in possession of a mystical artifact known as the Bloodstone.
“The Bloodstone empowers you via the amount of rage you feel. It sort of becomes an infinity loop, where the more rage you feel, the more power you get from the Bloodstone – it kind of goes on and on,” Remender told CBR News. “The Bloodstone is feeding off of Frank’s rage and empowering him so he can go toe-to-toe with Daken.”
Further complicating Frank’s vendetta is the fact that his target’s father, Wolverine, decided to get involved. In the middle chapters of the crossover, the two Marvel icons came to blows as Wolverine tried to stop the Punisher from murdering his son. It’s not an unusual occurrence for the two characters to fight when they cross paths, but Remender feels that the relatinship between the two characters has taken on a different feel in recent years.
Dan Brereton illustrates the final FrankenCastle story”I think their dynamic has changed because the mutant population has become almost a cornered animal. Wolverine has had to run X-Force and go out and really immerse an element of the X-Men into ‘wetworks.’ He used to see Frank Castle as an unrepentant killer who he didn’t agree with, but I think they probably have more in common now than they used to,” Remender explained. “The reason that they square off at the initial onset of ‘Punishment’ I think is obvious; Wolverine knows that his kid is a bad seed, but he’s not going to let Frank kill him. That’s a pretty clear cut motive for them to fight.
“At the end of the third part of ‘Punishment,’ Daken was able to take the Bloodstone from Frank. As things progress and we see what Daken does with the Bloodstone, the current adversarial dynamic between Frank and Wolverine will probably change,” Remender continued. ” Their dynamic at that point will naturally sway as they both come to realizations. Frank realizes that by coming to kill Daken, he has handed over the Bloodstone to him. Wolverine realizes that by stopping Frank from killing his kid, anything that his kid does from here on out is on his hands. So they both have to make a decision about how they’re going to deal with Daken.”
Daken is dangerous enough on his own, but now that he has his hands on the Bloodstone, he just might be more than the Punisher and Wolverine can handle even with their combined powers and talents. In “FrankenCastle” #20, the final chapter of the “Punishment” crossover, Remender and artist Tony Moore chronicle the Punisher and Wolverine’s struggle to attempt to prevent Daken from exploiting the power of the Bloodstone.
Source: CBR
