Battles between marksmen are something that a lot of people enjoy to discuss, and a potential battle between The Punisher and John Wick was fairly obvious. They are both ruthless fighters with tragic backstories and both of them use guns as their weapons of choice, which is pivotal for this discussion. They can also do hand-to-hand combat and also have a ton of sheer cool factor.
However, who would win in a battle between the two of them? Punisher certainly has a lot more history since he started back in the mid-70s but John Wick also has proven to be a very capable assassin. Let’s find out who would come up on top.
Brief Rundown Of Their History
Frank Castle, also known as The Punisher, was created by writer Gerry Conway and artists John Romita Sr. and Ross Andru. He first showed up in Marvel Comics in The Amazing Spider-Man #124 in 1974 when he was hired to kill Spider-Man himself, although it was later revealed that he had been tricked into thinking the wall-crawler was a bad person.
While the character has gone through a lot of ups and downs in terms of writing and characterization, his origin story remains basically the same: he is a former Marine whose wife and kids were killed by the mob, and this prompts Frank to wage a one-man war on crime. He became one of the most prominent antiheroes in fiction and one of the few popular Marvel characters who were willing to kill his enemies.
John Wick is the main character of the movie franchise of the same name, which was created by Derek Kolstad and the first movie came out back in 2014. Keanu Reeves has played Wick since the original film and the franchise has had three sequels, a spinoff series (The Continental), and has become a worldwide success over the years.
He was a former hitman and worldwide-known assassin who decided to call it quits and live a peaceful life with his wife, Helen. However, Helen eventually died due to a disease and all John had left was her dog. The dog is eventually killed by a group of criminals, which sends John on a killing spree, kick-starting an all-out world in the underworld.
Powers And Abilities
Both Frank and John are regular human beings, so they don’t have any special powers or abilities. They have supreme marksmanship, great hand-to-hand combat abilities, a long history fighting people, and they are both supremely skilled when it comes to assassination.
How The Fight Would Go?
The setup is actually quite straightforward: while John Wick has been the audience’s protagonist during the movies, he is also a guy who has done a lot of assassination jobs throughout his life. In that regard, The Punisher could have heard of him and decided to put him down for good. Both characters fight to the death, so that would also be established from the get-go.
How Each Could Gain The Edge In Battle?
The big issue with this battle comes with power-scaling, if we are being objective. While John Wick has fought and killed some very strong fighters across the movies and has shown to be a very skilled assassin, The Punisher’s range and abilities have been challenged a lot more often in the Marvel Universe.
After all, Frank is fighting in a world where there are super-powered individuals and this is a huge difference because of the challenges he has to face. His fights with Daredevil are a very good example of this notion: he was fighting a guy whose senses were amplified by his blindness and has some of the best hand-to-hand combat abilities in the world. Enemies like Bullseye, whose entire skillset is based around being a supreme marksman, are also quite similar to John Wick in that regard.
While its hard to gauge, John might be a bit faster but Frank is certainly physically stronger, which could play a role in the confrontation. And while The Punisher has been (wrongly) depicted as a brute in some comics or adaptations, his military background actually taught him a lot about strategies and he has enough know-how to set up his opponents, which could also prove to be beneficial for him in this battle.
The Punisher probably wins this because he has been shown fighting and even outclassing people with superpowers, which is something that plays a major role here in terms of scale. Heck, The Punisher has held his own against the likes of the Hulk and Wolverine over the years. John is certainly very capable when compared to most film hitmen, but compared to the Marvel Universe, he would probably rank as a lesser version of Bullseye.
The Result – Who Would Win?
The Punisher wins this because he has a lot more experience facing enemies with super powers and who have a lot more experience dealing with opponents similar to John Wick. It is an element of power scaling and how one character is part of a significantly stronger universe as a whole.
And if people ask “What if Frank kills John’s dog?” I’d make this comeback: “What if John killed Frank’s family?”
It’s worth pointing out that our YouTube poll had a 50-50 divide when it came to this battle.