PC POST #276: TOP 8 Badass Moments of the Punisher in Thunderbolts!

Thunderbolts run is far from being memorable... The writers promised so much but the team itself didn't accomplished nothing relevant in the universe 616.

With an amazing cast with Red Hulk, Punisher, Deadpool, Elektra, Agent Venom and later on Ghost Rider.. This team had enough arguments to shake the Marvel universe but due to lack of ambition from editors and writers this run turn out to be almost absolete.

Although there are some few points in all these stories being the last arc my favorite "Punisher vs Thunderbolts", some dialogues are really bad, but the action is pretty good. At least it's the best we've seen in all this run.

The Punisher had a few "badass" moments and i will show you what were the best in my opinion...




8. Leader... a brief wake!
The Leader is a vilain from Hulk stories, he is probably one of the brilliant minds in the Marvel Universe.
Ross told Deadpool the advantages of using the Leader brain resources, but Deadpool warning that if the Punisher knew, he would put a bullet in him.

Deadpool behaves like a moron most of the time, but he is right most of the times too.

 
 

7. Punisher saves Elektra

Mercy was supposed to be a member of Thunderbolts but she had her own agenda. Despite she was tortured and imprisoned by Ross.

At some time she bring some troubles to the team. Ross, Deadpool and Ghost Rider went to Hell to get rid of her, while Punisher and Elektra went to do a mission together.
Mercy felt the presence of Ross and went looking for Punisher and Elektra and the fight started.

Soon we knew that Elektra and Punisher couldn't fight long against Mercy, when she was called to Hell both fighters fall from an high altitude, Frank gets most of the impact.

 

Frank is dying... Deadpool bring a feather from Hell after some angelic invasion and the surprise happened when the feather healed Frank and saved his life.
For those who read Punisher Vol.3 when he is doing some angelic stuff, will know why.

6. Punisher dismember Deadpool. 

Poor Deadpool... In the arc Punisher vs Thunderbolts not even him "get a pass" from Frank revenge. 

Most of this payback was totally unecessary but it was a good the dialogue from Deadpool while the Punisher dismembered him and put his various body parts in Vibranium jars.

5. Punisher vs Orestez Natchios.

Probably my favorite issue... Orestez Natchios is Elektra's brother, terrorist and an excelent martial artist. He said that he was better than his sister (which i doubt).

Elektra let her brother escape during the Crimson Dynamos arc, Frank knew this and we all know that he don't let loose ends. He ended him in hand to hand combat (so good to see Frank fighting in h2h again!).

4. Punisher eliminates a false Dr. Strange (Witch).

During the annual, the Thunderbolts got a mission to eliminate Dr.Strange, because he was spreading "joy" through the city and was gaining huge amounts of power.

Regular enemies that were affected were now almost best friends.
 

Thunderbolts equipped with various magical weaponry to face this threat, most of team members fall from this witch "joy" power, but not the Punisher.

3.Explosive Punisher against Madman.

Madman (Philip Sterns) is brother of Leader (Samuel Sterns) and he has some gamma power that turn himself into an Hulk.

Punisher and Deadpool were fighting him but without success. Punisher take almost a desperate action to get rid of him temporarily. He equipped a landmine in his chest and hug Madman.

With his Madman turned into his human form.

2. Punisher fights Red Hulk with a "Hulkbuster".

During the "Punisher vs Thunderbolts" arc, the Punisher surprised every one of us when he fought against Red Hulk with some sort of Hulkbuster.

It didn't last too long but he purpose was served, distracting Red Hulk from a weapon that shot a bullet that make him turn into his human form.

 1. Punisher vs Ghost Rider

And for the number one is... the fight against Ghost Rider! 

As a whole it was priceless... The Punisher had a contingency plan just in case Ghost Rider turned against him and this was what it makes it so cool.

The Punisher studied many ways to get rid of Ghost Rider, but he knew he couldn't beat him using human weapons and he visit a big bad villain called Zadkiel a powerful angel that was cast out to hell but he was operating on earth.

He add a sword of Mephisto that was of highly interest of Frank when he got a chance he took it and eliminate Zadkiel and his demonic minions with the sword. 

Who knew that Frank would use a sword to get rid of this big boy?

 After acquiring the sword and other items, Frank was "ready" to take out Ghost Rider... But things wasn't all that easy...

 

 I don't know much about Ghost Rider but the Penance Stare works for those who harm innocent lives, it doesn't work like "regrets". 

 

 

Maybe this fight was way overated for Frank's side but it was really fun to see him doing some prep work to take out Ghost Rider.

All the action since the prep work plus the fight itself and the way he resisted to Penance Stare make this the badass number one moment in this run.

Article by @Ivo Santos

 

PC POST #230: -REVIEW- THUNDERBOLTS #32

 

Review by @Ivo Santos (facebook/twitter)

After two and half years this team finally was disbanded and this series has meet it's end. Everytime i think about the opportunities this team could have in Marvel U, it's not good for any fan of this anti-heroes... not good at all.

About this issue, overall it was better than the last two... Acker and Blacker did a decent job on finishing this last issue, even the art seemed more polished and slightly better than previous issues. It was nice seeing Leader as ruler of Kata Jaya but Acker and Blacker should've wasted less pages on him.

After the Avengers release the arrested Thunderbolts to clean up their mess ( Leader) for the first time while invading Kata Jaya they show us some great team work while taking out Leader's forces. But despite the good result this was their last ride together, no one from this team wanted to continue. And what's great is that Deadpool figure it out in the last pages why this team didn't work out.

Like i have said in the first paragraph it was a shame that after being written by four writers no one could find the right pace for this team, or could unchained them in Marvel Universe. They got an opportunity in "Infinity" event and they could have done something relevant while Thanos forces were invading earth but no, they focused on small fry. I could imagine this team turning 616 upside down by their ways, that the only team that could handle them were the Avengers... The real Avengers, not a second rated roster.

Personally i don't think that it's the writers fault, Soule, Acker and Blacker are really talented, i don't have any doubt in this but something or someone didn't let them do their work properly.

My favorite issues are Thunderbolts #12 ( Punisher solo story) and Thunderbolts Annual, the quality was really good that i don't know what went wrong. But i have to say that issue #30 is the worst of this series and i risk to say that is the worst of the last years regarding the Punisher. I hope someone from Marvel should learn something from this.  

OVERALL ISSUE RATE: 7.0 / 10

OVERALL ARC RATE: 7.0 / 10

PC POST #229:-PREVIEW- THUNDERBOLTS #32

Last issue of Thunderbolts! The ending is unpredictable who will win Leader or the dismantled team? Tomorrow we will find out!

PC POST #202:-REVIEWS- What if #4 A.O.U & Thunderbolts #25

posted by @Ivo

(W) Joe Keatinge (A) Piotr Kowalski & Neil Edwards

 Review(spoiler free):

This is another "What if" with Frank being Captain America. Like the name say this is an alternate world when Steve Rogers is dead and the Avengers need a replacement.
But this is not the the real purpose, there is some hidden agenda on making Castle a Captain America... 

We can see Frank kick ass as Cap for a few pages with no guns. Only fists, kicks and guts!
I didn't read anything from Joe Keatinge but i felt the plot a little weak, not to mention the artwork by Kowalsky, sometimes we will see some stupid faces and the suit he draw make Frank look like a goofy thug. The second half of this issue is by Neil Edwards and the artwork improved.
I liked a lot better of the old "What If? Punisher became Captain America"...
  
OVERAL RATING: 5 out of 10

Review: Good issue! I'm liking where Soule is taking the team in these last two issues. Since i haven't done any review on #24 i will resume what is happening...
Ross gathered the team to look for his lost Soldiers in the jungles of Honduras, he sent these soldiers to look for a mysterious source of ancient power, Ross got a mysterious map but only Leader can red it.

I think finally Soule is handle the team in the right way, in my humble opinion. He abandoned some excessive humorous tone and this is looking way more interesting than before. It's action packed and got interesting character dialogs. The Leader continues to be a sneaky "bastard" and he is definetely trying to get rid of the team, but he is being very cautious.
At the end of this issue we got a very interesting dialog between Frank and Elektra, i get a feel that is getting tired of a bad leadership from Ross.

Still think that Frank is too much a soldier boy. He questions Ross in some options but in the end he always do what he wants, he is limited to following orders. This is one of my major critic that i have to make in Soule take on Frank. In some sort, this limits the character into a one dimensional depth. The other characters in my view are well developed.

OVERAL RATING: 7.5 out of 10