Frank Castle will go from The Punisher to War Machine… but will he retain that role? That remains to be seen.
At San Diego Comic Con, Marvel editor Nick Lowe disclosed:
“Frank Castle is absolutely putting on the War Machine armor, but we can’t give any more details.”
This will occur in the ‘Marvel: Legacy’ one-shot written by Jason Aaron and illustrated by Esad Ribic, which will reveal that the Avengers first assembled in 1,000,000 BC and consisted of Agamotto, Black Panther, Ghost Rider, Iron Fist, Odin, Phoenix and Star Brand.
Since Lowe couldn’t disclose the extent of Castle’s role as War Machine, it’s unclear just how long he will wield the armor, but it would certainly be a boost in his war against crime. Unlike other Marvel heroes, The Punisher has always had a vague gray area role. While he fights to enforce the law, his lethal methods have put him at odds with the other more humane heroes.
On Netflix, Jon Bernthal portrays The Punisher, initially a villain on ‘Daredevil’, but the character was so popular that he was given his own series which will debut this fall.
War Machine was the identity used by James “Rhodey” Rhodes, Tony Stark’s valet/best friend. Rhodey originally served as Iron Man, when Stark stepped away from the role for a period in the 1980s. In the movies, he was portrayed by Terrance Howard (in ‘Iron Man’) and Don Cheadle (in ‘Iron Man 2’ and in subsequent films).
In the comics, Rhodey was recently killed off in the ‘Civil War 2’ miniseries, amid much criticism. This could be Marvel’s attempt to respond to that criticism. In recent years, Marvel has been the target of complaints because of the introduction of a female Thor (Jane Foster), a black Captain America (Sam Wilson a.k.a. The Falcon), a biracial Spider-Man (Miles Morales), a Latina lesbian Miss America (America Chavez) and a Muslim Pakistani American Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan). Does having an established Caucasian male take on the role formerly occupied by an African American male balance the scales somewhat?
That remains to be seen, but at any rate, check out the comic which will be released on September 27, to see how the whole Marvel Universe connects.
Source: ComicBook.com
